Volkswagen fire closes Thepprasit Road in the early hours

[webfact]

Volkswagen fire closes Thepprasit Road in the early hours

By Digital Admin -

 

 

PATTAYA: -- At 3am, on the morning of November 15, Pattaya police and rescue services were called to the scene of a dramatic car fire on Thepprasit Road, South Pattaya.

 

Firefighters spent around twenty-minutes tackling a fierce blaze to a blue Volkswagen.

 

The car’s owner, Ms Pantipa Theppra and her foreign husband, were driving along when they both detected the smell of burning.

 

They managed to jump out of the car and the dramatic blaze soon took hold and engulfed the vehicle.

 

Investigators and now looking to identify the cause of the fire. Fortunately nobody has been injured.

 

Report by Pattaya One News Team

 

Source: http://pattayaone.news/en/volkswagen-fire-closes-thepprasit-road-early-hours/

 

-- © Copyright Pattaya One 2016-11-17

[zaphod reborn]

Quote

Investigators and now looking to identify the cause of the fire.

 

 

 

 

It's called Volkswagen, you know, fahrvergnügen.  Those old hippie vans and bugs were well-known for their poor electrical wiring which started fires.

[bangon04]

well the OP photo seems to show that Volkswagen are still having problems with their emissions of soot particles....

[oldcarguy]

fuel lines are the big problem , they get old and crack , the fuel tank is above and behind the motor and drains onto the hot exhaust if a line breaks, 

 

that is one of the things you make sure is replaced often............well looks like this guy forgot......

 

but  it will be put back together ,  its too rare in thailand to scrap.....

[i claudius]

2 hours ago, oldcarguy said:

fuel lines are the big problem , they get old and crack , the fuel tank is above and behind the motor and drains onto the hot exhaust if a line breaks, 

 

that is one of the things you make sure is replaced often............well looks like this guy forgot......

 

but  it will be put back together ,  its too rare in thailand to scrap.....

 

Happened on my car a few months back , luckily a taxi driver spotted it while i was in a Q and flagged me down .

[oldcarguy]

on a VW it gets worse if you have fuel injection , as it runs at 35 psi so when the rubber hose cracks it sprays all over the engine area.....

 

and an aircooled VW runs hot anyways , so the fuel lines do not have a chance !

[oldcarguy]

Ohhh one more fun thing . the aircooled VW motor block on many models is made of magnesium.......

 

when it burns and you add water it gets HOTTER ,  so you need special fire extinguishers to put it out....

 

you can be sure they first tried to put it out with water and got a BIG suprise !

Edited November 18, 2016 by oldcarguy

[joepattaya1961]

I'm not sure, but if this is the same van I met in March 2016 at the checking station along Sukhumvit Road.......it was approved for another year of "Fahrvergnuegen".

What a waste....it was a cute orange Volkswagen, nicely "restored".

 

BTW.......Volkswagen is "Car for the people" (Volk = people and wagen = car) and was designed and manufactured to serve the people's Fahrvergnuegen at a low price.

 

[guzzi850m2]

The VW went out in dramatic fashion for sure.

 

Could be one of those mobile cocktail bars since they were driving home at 0300 (bar closed) and the liqueur can really fuel the fire. 

 

Thankfully nobody got hurt.

 

 

[JulesLee]

Firstly let me make it very clear that most of the report is incorrect .

The VW bus was and never has been a drinks truck . It is/was a 1976 standard combi built at the factory in Greece and imported many years ago. The fire was caused by a broken fuel line that was replaced new in March 2016 this year for the MOT. It was just an unfortunate accident . It did NOT happen at 3:00 am , it happened at 10:45 pm on Monday night . The vehicle belonged to us and is a great loss in as much as we enjoyed using it for our pleasure. The facts are very simple and thank goodness we were totally unhurt.

[oldcarguy]

yeah those fuel lines are a problem , on buses if it breaks at the tank connection it is right above the starter , 

 

But was there a factory in Greece ?  I never knew that , Turkey built some weird front wheel drive VW aircooled flat bed trucks in the 70s , 

but I never heard of anything out of Greece ,  

 

We camped out one Christmas Holiday in Athens in our early VW Camper.....

 

Are you going to put it back together ?

Edited November 19, 2016 by oldcarguy

[steve187]

Lucky both occupants were ok, what a loss of a classic, and getting rarer all the time

 

Was there a factory in Greece, factories in Germany, Australia, mexico, Brazil maybe Austria.

 

Engine fire is a fairly common cause of loss of the classic T2, the fuel tank breather pipes and filler hose are well known to fail, 40+ years the rubber just cracks, happens a fair bit in filling stations, I am in the process of removing my tank and fitting all new filling hoses and breather pipes, also plastic filters and some electric pumps are in the engine bay and should all be under the chassis,.

 

here is a link to a fire suppression system - http://blazecut.com/small-enclosures/description/  , not sure if available in Thailand , but they have a office in Bangkok

[Basil B]

On 18/11/2016 at 0:42 AM, bangon04 said:

well the OP photo seems to show that Volkswagen are still having problems with their emissions of soot particles....

 

Will VW have to buy it back???

[worgeordie]

It happened to me in the middle of Cairo,Egypt ,VW van,smoke

blowing out the back,out of nowhere 5-6 Egyptians with those

small fire extinguishers, they saved the day,only damaged done

burnt cables,distributor cap.

 

Out of the crowd ,this guy says he can help,he works for garage,

and can fix it,and can tow van to his workshop,been a bit wary,

but having no other  options,I said OK,but we were on our way 

home,I told him we have no money to fix until we get some

transferred, no problem he said,even more wary,he said he

can get a loan of this rich lady he knew,which he did,when

the transfer came through,we paid him(not overcharged) and

he would not take anything for himself,it's not often you meet

really genuine people like that.

 

The problem with those old VW's is the fuel line,its metal until

it gets near carburetor which joins to it with a small length of 

fibre pipe which just pushes on to carb, had it happen with a beetle too.

other wise a very reliable vehicles. 

 

regards worgeordie