In Local Audi News: Car goes up in flames in downtown street

[Mike Arman]

Question . . . could this be specifically a Bosch/VW/Audi related problem?


Some years back I had a 914 and I needed some bits - went to a joint called Nick and Noel's Salvage 
in Orlando, Porsche and M-B only. They had a LINE of low mileage 914s which had had "minor" engine 
fires, enough to total the cars. I understand there was a recall on the fuel injectors on these, the 
rubber hose between the injector body and the high pressure rail leaked and managed to spray fuel on 
the hot engine, with completely predictable results.

I also wonder if we hear about this because we talk about our cars. I've seen very, very few auto 
fires in fifty years. One was in about 1968, a Pontiac convertible which scraped the gas tank on a 
concrete divider, my date and I watched the whole thing from the initial sparks to the smoking hulk. 
(Nobody was hurt.) This wasn't the car's fault. It turned out to be a hot date, but not in exactly 
the way we expected . . .

The next one was a Rolls Corniche convertible which was burned in a house fire. I bought the engine 
out of that one for $129.95 at the You-Pull-It and sold it for a grand through Hemmings. Turns out 
there is a group that hot-rods these cars (!) and they wanted it for that. This one wasn't the car's 
fault either, it was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then there was a Triumph Trident on which one of the carb ticklers got stuck - or at least that is 
what the owner told the insurance company. I knew both him and the bike and have my own opinion as 
to what really happened.

So we're 0 for 3 on non-Audi/Bosch/VW vehicles.

Then we read on the list about the various Audis which have done the do-it-yourself Viking funeral 
trick, and there have been more than a few, far outnumbering other makes. Why do WE see "so many" 
and don't hear about other makes of cars burning down.

There's a known problem with A-8s and leaky high-pressure fuel lines, there seems to be an endemic 
problem with older type 44s and their variants, and there was the 914 debacle. Commonality: Bosch 
fuel system components.

Do other makes/models have the same incidences of fires, or are we something special? I wonder what 
the percentages are, same for everyone, or higher for specific makes due to the suppliers of fuel 
system components? Is Bosch the problem? Fuel lines? Connections?

Statistics?

Best Regards,

Mike Arman
90V8Q