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

[mboucher70 hotmail.com]

Mike mentioned "there seems to be an endemic problem with older type 44s and 
their variants" in relation to either fuel lines or fires.  Since I own an 
older type 44, I had to ask what these problems are?  I needed a new fuel 
pump at about the 130K Mile mark, which is expected, but that's all I've 
ever had in the way of fuel system problems.  In the engine bay, I changed 
the fuel filter but all the fuel lines in the engine bay were steel braided 
fuel lines in good condition.  And I think that's the standard factory 
equipped fuel line.

Tihol estimated that the car in the video was about a 2009, so we're talking 
about fuel lines fuel lines about 5 years old...vs 25 years old in my case 
:-(



-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike Arman
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 5:35 PM
To: quattro at audifans.com
Subject: In Local Audi News: Car goes up in flames in downtown street



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



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