My air filter caught on fire today on the freeway!

[Anton CH.]

Has anyone else heard of these things happening?

[ryan roopnarine]

sorry to hear that. was it a k&n or other such cai element? did the fire have anything to do with the useless coolant thermostat located in the airbox? or was it related to backfiring or such.


Has anyone else heard of these things happening?

[winfred]

inhailed someones ashtray dumpings?

[Anton CH.]

It was the stock airbox, air filter was some generic model (Mann or Mahle?) with 20k mi on it. The bottom of the air box was very warm where the fire originated. It could've been ashtray dumping since it was heavy traffic. Debating whether I should take the car to dealer or keep on driving until same thing happens next time. Could the gas have possible leaked from the injectors down the manifold into the filter box?

Ryan: I put my hand near the intake with the filter off and even at idle the engine sucks air in at a very high rate, so I don't think the fire could have carried all the way down to the filter box. It would probably just get sucked in by the next cylinder.

Could the engine management system fired the spark at the wrong time possible?

Here's what happened in detail:
I was going about 70 mph, bam check engine light starts flashing and car feels sluggish. 2 Seconds later oil pressure light comes on and engine dies. I thought something was wrong with oil prressure so I turned off the engine and coast down a 1/2 a mile to a shoulder (construction zone). I saw smoke coming out of my hood, checked water temp, dead center. Open hood up see smoke coming out of air box, grab a screw driver from the back, open it up and see the air filter on fire. Luckily didn't burn my airbox but the air filter burned to ashes on the side of the road. Luckily had a friend drop by and bring an air filter from Kragen.