They turned themselves on! And the motor started up on its own.

After it was fully engulfed we watched in amazement as the car came to life on its own!!

Then it finally revved up real high and died. Puking its guts.

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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP)
1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex
2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper
1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome

www.cphilip.com

Makes sense, it it should see IGN HOT only. Surprised if IGN hot is not fused. Is the ignition switch fused? I remember when Ford saved a few too many cents on their exploder, i mean explorer ignition switches. A few simply lit off when unattended. Now there's a design review meeting.

Truly sorry to see what happened to your car. The important thing is you're safe.

I invested in a cheap fire extinguisher, and leave it in the trunk. I guess I should get two more, one for each car that doesn't have one.

What rating (amp) fuse is the best to install for the aux pump?

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http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

Indeed. Looks like I'll replace the one in the trunk with a normal ABC extinguisher and keep the Tundra one in the house.

I'm so sorry, electrical fires do happen fast. I had a close call with one many years ago. The important thing is that no one was hurt.

I think I will go buy fire extinguishers for all of my cars tomorrow. Maybe we all should, eh?

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- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

Sheesh, very sorry about that cphilip!! It's redundant by now, but I too am glad there were no injuries from the fire or from the ammo. That could have made a bad situation terrible.....

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Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

You don't too much have to worry about ammo. It caries little velocity when it just cooks off like that. Will bruise you good if your close enough. But if your back 20 -30 feet it won't do much. It rarely will even exit a car door. Average ammo cook off velocities range from 58 ft/s to 123 ft/s and pistol ammo is in the lower of that range... and things like the tires are exploding at much higher velocities than that. Shrapnel from a lot of things is as or more dangerous. Its the loss of a $500 gun and custom holster I lament. Another thing, in my haste, I regret not thinking of getting. My ipod was in there as well as a lot of my receipts for the car. Could have and should have thought to get them all out.

Hind sight is what?

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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP)
1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex
2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper
1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome

www.cphilip.com

I just got back from Lowes with $65 of extinguishers for all of my cars.

__________________
1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

I'll be going by tomorrow and getting some. I will do it on my way over to my Indy where I hope he can reconstruct all the receipts for me.

If something good can come of all this I think it will ease my pain.

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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP)
1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex
2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper
1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome

www.cphilip.com

Sorry to learn of your loss, cphilip. Glad you are okay, though.

I had a blower issue back in late summer .....my other ACC..fan switch on high, but no blower sound....could smell something; turned fan switch to low and blower started. Have to wonder if my fan motor brushes are worn.

I have a small fire extinguisher in my garage.....from the ex-truck (small). I think I'll go tape it to the front of the driver's seat. Wire tie would be too strong, I would rip the seat out before breaking it. I need some weak tape, but strong enough to hold it when the ABS engages.

Good Luck.

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daw_two
Germantown, TN

Links:
Sold last car --- 05/2012 1984 300D Light Ivory, Red interior
No longer selling Cluster Needles Paint
No longer selling New Old Stock (NOS) parts

Past:
3/2008 1986 300SDL "Coda"
04/2010 1965 190D(c) "Ben"
& many more

It's all so obvious when you look back at what should have been done- e.g. 20/20 hindsight

I am so sorry. Sweet car. Hope it gets treated fairly by the ins. company.

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83 300SD Dark Silver Dark brown inside

Oh no! Sorry to hear about your poor 300D! She was a beauty, too. I hope you find one worthy of your love and attention soon.

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2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI - 103,000 miles
2004 Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI - 160,000 miles
2003 Ford F-350 PowerStroke 6.0 -- sold
1987 Mercedes-Benz 300SDL -- 307,500 miles -- Retired
1991 VW Jetta GL ECOdiesel -- 429,531 miles -- RIP
2000 Volkswagen New Beetle TDI -- RIP
1987 Mercedes-Benz 190D 2.5 Turbo -- sold

I have a large Auto-extinguisher in my 300SD, and there's one of those little red "bottle type" ones in the 300D and in my wife's car. I might upgrade hers to a real one like mine now!

Sorry about your loss....its terrible that it had to happen to such a nice car. I don't know what I would do if that happened to me....it would take a long long time to recover.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)