Thread: Runaway Engine Fire??? HELP.

Hi guys,

I'm trying to help my faither-in-law work out what has gone wrong with his Range Rover.

It was a 2003 TD 6 (Diesel - same BMW engine) that was maintained fully and my father-in-law loved the thing. He's an ex-fisherman and has owned Range Rover's for over twenty years as he used them to tow his boats.

The vehicle only had 110,000 kilometre's on the clock and had only just been serviced four days prior to this occurring.

Initially RR said that it was bad fuel, but the tests all came back negative, and that has been ruled out. They are now saying that it is worth $4,000 as scrap.

They were six hours into their caravan trip around Australia and had to pull over off the highway as the whole car filled with thick black smoke. It would not turn off with the key and just kept revving and revving to the max. Someone said it 'went supersonic' which is exactly what my father-in-law said to me: he said the sound was deafening.

They got out so fast that they left their mobiles and wallets. The smoke was leaping 20 foot in the air and passers-by ran to help them with fire extinguishers and the fire brigade came.

The vehicle is now a write-off and Range Rover are refusing to advise what the problem is, and the insurer is refusing to accept an engine fire - even though the cermaics melted and the steel distorted. I'm led to believe diesel has a very high burn temperarure and is harder to get burning than petrol, so something must have triggered the extreme heat to melt the ceramics.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated as he is really worrying about it and not knowing is the worst thing. Not to mention having a worthless car and losing $50,000 in a few hours.

Best wishes, and thanks for your help,

Lee

Originally Posted by black betty

Time to contact a lawyer.

4 days after a service, lucky no one was hurt.

Cant help with the cause, but I would strongly suggest that your father in law start documenting and writing down everything that happended before and after the service and when the event happened, get it sighted by a JP and contact a lawyer quickly.

In situations like this it is the failure to document the facts that will cause problems later cause it will come down to he said she said. You need to get everything down while it is fresh in your mind. I would also be arranging for a meeting with the mechanics management with your lawyer to discuss the issue.

Sounds sus to me that this could happen...

Angus