JEEP catches fire--

a couple of intrepid prospectors came into the workshop with a jeep (petrol) which they had bush bashing through the rough spinny infested areas of the pilbra and sure as hell the dam thing gathered a heap of dry spinny around the exhaust and gear box and caught fire..

some serious damage under there and at least we were able to fix the their gear shift so they could get drive and park gear and also start the car without having to burn their hands underneath trying to click the gear box into drive every time they wanted to go anywhere..

Did I mention that they had 100 litres of stored petrol in the back of their car--holy hell batman--it certainly would have gone up with a bang if it burned the whole car.

the boys are on their way back to perth after their short trip in the Pilbra.

if u r driving a petrol car please be careful and check underneath.

regards
oneday

All cars  can all catch fire after traveling through spinifex  ,it buids up & jams at any point it can underneath  . What happens usually is when your traveling along the highway  at  a higher speed after this event the exhaust gets hotter & the stuff starts burning so now you have a fire under the car . If you don't have a fire extinguisher on  hand , truly the best thing to do is keep driving, real fast  & the stuff will burn out & fall away . if you stop the spinifex will burn you out . albo
yep I know that one it works.

Lucky boys by the sounds of it Oneday! I like the advice to drive fast Albo - wouldn't have thought of that!

FYI, it also works for a leaky tyre. Stop and you have a flat. Before it gets too low you gotta go and drive fast, real fast, centrifical force keeps it up, just like a drag car.  Can vouch for that one too… but to be used only as a last resort.

Stingray

I was heading down the Bussell Highway at night in my old Mazda bus with a 3.5L NA Diesel and lifted the engine cover between the seats, I can't remember what for but the exhaust extractors were beyond red hot. They were a light pink, almost white and it seemed you could almost see through them. If a Diesel exhaust can get that hot it will ignite anything that comes close.

Better off not using a petrol vehicle for prospecting anyway, diesels are far safer, have less heat related problems such as vaporising in really hot weather, and its safer to carry diesel fuel than petrol on the roof rack or in a carrier at least if it splits open it will for the most part just make a hell of a mess rather than ignite and burn you out.  

Apparently some aboriginal communities wont let you through their territory/communities with petrol vehicles, only diesel powered ones due to the petrol sniffing issues  , this is what I have heard so you would have to look into it if you were planning a trip through some northern areas.

au-fever

I guess if its not petrol the kids will go for paint , fly spray, anything poor buggers , don't know what drives a person to do that .