Spontaneous Combustion - Ruined My Summer

[katsd]

So after missing last year due a battle with our local Council over my lads Special Educational Schooling, I'd decided this year was going to be a bit more "me & my bike"

Had a couple of smallish runs & she was running like a dream. So yesterday evening I thought I'd go for a bit of a run. Opened the garage doors & started her up. Left her running for about 10/15 minutes while I was getting my stuff together. Came out to open the front gate when I heard an alarm going off behind me. Turned round to see the inside of the garage filling with smoke. Ran back to turn her off just as flames started licking from under the tank & round the filler cap.

Switched it off & grabbed the hose pipe, started to spray water on & under the tank. When the flames had gone I realised I was turning the garage into a swimming pool so moved her outside. Carried on playing water around the tank as I could hear hissing sounds coming from the tank.

Eventually plucked up the courage to take the tank off & found a charred mess of wires, coils & leads. The fairing & lower panel are melted as are various other bits.

On the upside, another thirty seconds & I reckon it would have been beyond the hose pipe stage & I'd have lost the garage & bike

I guessing coils or leads have faulted & shorted across to the tank, igniting the vapour. I'd swapped the originals for Taylor Leads & Dyna Coils a few years back. Any thoughts would be most welcome

[bobster]

Sorry to hear such bad news...............But like you say it could have been so much worse!

[Cat]

Oh no

[callyboy]

Not good Hope it doesnt cost too much to fix.

Pete

[sparki]

Sorry to hear the news.... 10-15 minutes sitting in a garage warming up is a loooong time imo and would have built up quite some heat... If I leave any of mine warming up for a couple of minutes it's a lot

If you need some replacement std coils I could likely dig some out from a dusty corner for you if it helps?

[Kryten]

Ouch!

Sorry to hear of the problems.

As Sparki said; a bit to long to leave running. I would think that the fuel in the carb float bowls would have started to flash off and if you have a spark under the tank it could be enough to ignite.

I'm afraid you are probably looking at loom, coils, leads, cam box gaskets plus the fairings etc. to repair.

Also you will probably need to strip the carbs as well. If you do, wear Nitrile gloves to protect you from any nasty products of combustion that will be lurking in the mess.

maybe post up some pics in the tech section and you will get some better advice as to how far you need to go. Fire damage on a vehicle can go a lot further than you think

[sparki]

yup... get it apart and see what's what. come to think of it i may well have an old loom here for an 1100ESD. not identical to a Kat loom granted and it needs some work but there again it hasn't seen any fire.... main difference will be the front bit to the clocks, rev counter etc.... but yours _should_ be ok that far forward. get it to bits, see what's what and what's damaged and let us know.... you never know what may turn up on your doorstep

[BigLT]

Whereabouts are you? I've got an old parts 750 that's a bit of a wreck. Don't know what nick the electrics are in, but you can take a look and have what you like. Might be useful as a pattern to copy at least.

[fossie]

He's Nottingham way BigLt.

[BigLT]

Not that close then! Probably best to get a new loom made up anyway I suppose, or one that you knew would work.