Brakes on fire!

Maintenance advice to keep your Spider in shape.
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So Cal Mark
Posts: 13839
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:45 pm
Your car is a: Fiat
Location: upland, ca.

Brakes on fire!

Postby So Cal Mark » Wed Mar 15, 2017 11:59 pm

We had a Spider come in today that survived a rear brake fire; the caliper was seized, turning the rotor into a glowing red ember. When the cracked brake hose began dripping fluid onto the glowing rotor, fire! Luckily there wasn't much brake fluid so the fire only damaged the brake cable and what was left of any rubber on the caliper.
What I think is the most amazing aspect is that the disc pad rear plate got so hot it warped. The disc plate is very attached to the piston at this point
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Mark Allison
allisonsautomotive.com Fiat and Alfa Romeo parts and service. Performance parts our specialty!
Headers, ignitions, wheels, cams, flywheels
starsmark@hotmail.com 909-981-3566

DieselSpider
Posts: 2130
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:21 pm
Your car is a: 1978 124 Spider with Isuzu Turbo Diesel

Re: Brakes on fire!

Postby DieselSpider » Thu Mar 16, 2017 12:41 am

Fortunate thats alll that happened. I lost a P35 powered by the 500 CI Chevy from a front brake issue. It caught the fuel line and gasoline spraying out at 75 PSI did a good job of making it a total loss. The fire took out the brake lines while I was on the Interstate in a 70 mph zone and I went through a few fire extinguishers without making any progress with it bursting back into flames every time the spray from the extinguishers stopped. Had over 80 gallons of gas and 120 lbs of propane on board at the time too.

stpher
Posts: 111
Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 11:12 pm
Your car is a: 1982 F I spider
Location: Coquitlam, BC, Canada

Re: Brakes on fire!

Postby stpher » Thu Mar 16, 2017 3:29 am

and whomever was driving the car didn't hear or notice anything? Better check how loud the radio goes in this car!! It is unbelievable that people can be driving around like this, every time the brakes were applied, there must have been one hell of a lotta noise

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So Cal Mark
Posts: 13839
Joined: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:45 pm
Your car is a: Fiat
Location: upland, ca.

Re: Brakes on fire!

Postby So Cal Mark » Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:51 am

it was mentioned that the car wouldn't accelerate :(
Mark Allison
allisonsautomotive.com Fiat and Alfa Romeo parts and service. Performance parts our specialty!
Headers, ignitions, wheels, cams, flywheels
starsmark@hotmail.com 909-981-3566

baltobernie
Patron 2020
Patron 2020
Posts: 3466
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:00 pm
Your car is a: 1973 Spider [sold]
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: Brakes on fire!

Postby baltobernie » Thu Mar 16, 2017 9:25 pm

He probably tried this first :wink:

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Turbofiat124
Posts: 183
Joined: Thu Sep 29, 2011 5:18 am
Your car is a: 1980 Spider 2000 turbo
Location: Kingsport, TN

Re: Brakes on fire!

Postby Turbofiat124 » Sun May 07, 2017 6:02 pm

I didn't know brake fluid was actually flammable to be honest! I had always heard it was glycol based so I assumed it was like antifreeze. That's why it replaced alcohol as a coolant back in the 1920s or 1930s because it wasn't flammable.

Years ago every now and then the parking brake cable would hang up on the driver's side. A quick jerk would cause it to release. Then for no apparent reason, I haven't had any issues with the parking brake for years.

The weird thing is this same thing happens to my Trabant on the same side if the car sits for more than a few days with the parking brake engaged. So I'm trying to "break" me of this habit!

With both cars, if one of the rear brakes is sticking, I can definitely feel a loss in power. You would think the guy driving the car would have smelled burned brake lining before it actually caught fire.

Speaking of brakes but a different type of vehicle. I bought a 1997 Polaris Xplorer 300 for $950 a couple of months ago. I couldn't justify spending more than $1000 on a "toy" that I could not legally drive on the road.

I excepted I would need to do some work to it but had no idea the brakes were in the condition they were in. When I tested this thing, it was pouring down rain and the brakes seem to work fine on it. After pulling the front wheels off I discovered someone had ran the pads down to nothing. Literally.

On one side the outer backing plate was paper thin and on the other the backing plate had worn down to the point it fell off so the fingers on the brake caliper were rubbing against the rotor. So I ended up have to replace both calipers. The rear center caliper on the drive was down to the metal but luckily not as bad as the fronts so I was able to save the rear caliper. Surprisingly, I measured all three rotors and they were still in spec!

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mpollock
Posts: 88
Joined: Mon May 09, 2011 10:06 pm
Your car is a: 1979 spider 2000
Location: North side of Indianapolis

Re: Brakes on fire!

Postby mpollock » Tue May 09, 2017 1:05 am

An automotive parts manufacturer I worked for forbade us from using the word 'fire'. We had highly reactive thermal events.

fiatfactory
Posts: 506
Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2010 11:22 pm
Your car is a: 1970 128

Re: Brakes on fire!

Postby fiatfactory » Wed May 10, 2017 1:01 am

.
nothing to see here... move along.


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