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So as I was about to get some gas for my Mx-3 right after work, i drove up to a pump and noticed a guy right next to me trying to top up his oil while filling up gas.

I was just about to start pumpin and noticed him trying to fill it up and his engine started smoking pretty bad. I thought he ran outta coolant or something but then he grabbed a full bottle of WINDSHILED washer fluid and DUMPED it on his engine in an attempt to smother some flames...BAD MISTAKE, im not sure if he was aware that windshield washer fluid is HIGHLY flammable, but his entire engine went up in FLAMES while he was pumping gas!!!

At this point i had just started pumping and my friend in the car started screaming and trying to get me in the car, i was still holding the lid to my tank in my hand, pulled out the nozzle, jumped in my car, turned it on and floored it in reverse ( mind you at this point i was STILL holding on to the lid of my tank not even realizing it)

The flames were about 5 feet high and the person working at the gas station was just standing there with a fire extinguisher not daring to go near it, to be honest i wouldnt have either. a few mins later he put the fire out and the fire dept showed up.

I was very confident that his car was gonna blow up and shortly after the entire station, i didnt even pay for my gas and got the hell outta there, i came back shortly after and paid for it, BUT WOW!!!!

has this ever happened to anyone before?? I mean a fire at a gas station, I couldnt have cared less if his car was on fire elsewhere but WHILE pumping gas?!?!

he was inside talking to the guy that works there and said he dumped some oil and his manifold and it cought fire. What i dont understand is why he would pour windshield washer fluid on it...and mind you, this guy was well over his 30's.

wow we are on a roll with amazing mx-3 stories this week!! LOL at least you are OK! I've seen videos before of gas pumps on fire and stuff. Recently near my house an escalade had crashed into a gas station pump... it didn't blow up but the escalade was pretty messed up! crazy stuff!

im not sure but i think gas stations are designed to not blow up. It would make alot of sense because idiots like the guy dumping windshield washer fluid on his car are everywhere. i especially like it how he was pumping gas and left to top up his oil. Did he leave the gas pump pumping while he was topping up the oil?

Originally, the gas stations ARE designed to not blow up, but the Moron was STILL pumping gas while his car was on fire. now had the car blown up, the entire station would have as the gas was passing out of the pump and into his car.

my goal was to safe my car... I know some people are dumb, but what state of mind do you have to be in to dump windshield washer fluid on an open flame..

it puzzles me lol

The pumps that pump the gas at most stations are designed to NOT let flame pass through. That being said I don't think that safety will work if gas is flowing through the nozzel. Also, every station I've seen has an emergency shut off inside near the register. The attendant should have pressed that button at the first sign of trouble to shut off the pumps and seal the tanks from flame.
I also didn't know that windshield washer fluid was flamable. I would likely do the same thing if my car was on fire and a bottle was the firs thing I saw when looking for a way to put it out. Good to know and I will definately be testing just how flammable it is tonight at the MOCA meet Should be fun to burn some things in my back yard.

Good Luck with that, make sure your not anywhere near a car where someone is topping off their oil lol, nor pumping gas.

Let me know how it goes.

i didnt know it was flammable either, but boy did i find out the hard way.
if it isnt flammable maybe it reacted with the oil and the heat...who knows.

I dont think he shut the pumps off as i was pumping at the same time the flames burst out and had to stop pumping myself to get the hell outta there.

flammable or not, you are never to use water on Chemical fires. I would also imagine it is pretty hard to blow up a gas station, as gas burns rather than explodes. Stations also have chemical extinguishers and some liquid chemical that can neutralize gasoline.

Still that must have been exciting. I've seen hoses pop out of peoples cars while they were filling up, but none of them caught on fire.

I once saw a kia sephia 5 explode after hitting a pole, but thats a separate story.

Probably a Mitsubishi or Honda owner

Tunes67

well in every gas station its a law to have a ABC fire extinguisher. I dont know why he bothered getting washer fluid when FOR SURE there was a fire extinguisher just in reach. but i cant blame him, i bet he was scared shitless and couldnt believe what was going on. poor guy, kinda feel sorry for him, seeing as how all his vacum hoses, electrical, and much more were most likely damaged in the fire.

most exciting thing i've seen is a guy was fillin up his car and the tube fell off the handle and gas started pouring everywhere.. nonetheless i moved far away

while we're on the topic of exploding cars... I was traveling down to southern mississippi... somewhere between mobile and montgomery though... the highway was shut down. Thankfully I was stopped in traffic right at an OFF ramp, so I went on the off ramp (wrong direction, who cares)
well, there was a small road exactly adjacent to the highway... turned out there was a car completely in blazes. Just randomly spontaneously combusted on the spot.

bad thing is, I met up with the fire trucks while on the exit ramp, and they weren't making a move towards the vehicle. They parked some distance away from the car and didn't move to put out the flames.

That sucker was on FIRE, too! front to back, completely in blazes. How random!

wow SuperK,

I hope there was no one in that car!

I have seen something similar like this happen before just not quite as bad.

On the drive back from the cottage one night I stopped at a gas station to refill and there was some guy there filling up as well and adding some oil to his engine.

At some point I guess he spilled some of the oil on the hot engine and as a result the oil caught fire. He freaked out for a minute but quickly grabbed a window washer fluid bottle from the gas station and poured a little on it.

In this case it seemed to have put it out and there was no major harm done. It did scare the hell out of him though.

another reason not to fill your car with oil while pumping gas...
another reason all the autofill clicky thingys are removed from pumps in canada..