GU 4.5 air filter caught fire

[veeate]

hi guys... had bit of a drama today.. went for a bit of a fourby on the beach & dunes and then my car stalled.. i tried starting it but it just wouldnt fire... i opened the bonnet & one of the breather pipes had popped off and smoke was coming out of it.. i pulled the air filter out and it was on fire !! ive never seen that before ? has anyone else seen it before... would love to know how this happens... also the mesh on the air flow meter has been burnt too.. should i replace this too ?

i drove the car back for about 8kms with a bucket lid where the filter should be and i replaced the air filter. it runs fine on petrol & gas now...

so yeah just seeing if anyone has had this happen before & if you think its worth replacing the AF meter.

[Maxhead]

Was it backfiring before this happened. Thats the only way I can think of lighting the air filter up

I would also replace the MAF

[veeate]

i dont distinctively remember it backfiring, but thinking back i remember there being a little pop... but i had a commodore on gas and wen that backfired you knew about it. it used to blow the air box apart all the time...

but seeing as one of the breather pipes popped off im thinking it may have backfired somewhere blew a flame back to the air filter possibly. ?

[blake_gq4.2]

yeah mate sounds like she has backfired and lit up ur airfilter, i probly would replace ur airflow meter to cos no doubt the heat from the fire has damaged something in it. cheers blake.

[brynk]

fire in the intake system could also hint at a slight retardation in the timing - might be worth throwing the light onto it to see what happens.

another thing a mate of mine holds true is when starting an efi donk (don't know if this one is carby or efi??) that you should not use the accelerator for risk of destroying the maf/map sensor(s) ... maybe this is one of those risks?

thumbs up on the bucket - was it a kiddie's sand castle bucket? cause that would've been the ultimate in bush-mechanic!

[Bigrig]

Crikey boss!! That was close!! I don't use the throttle either when starting - same as below, don't know if it's true or not, but mine kicks over fine without it anyway. X2 on using the lid of the bucket - top bit of ingenuity!!