Catastrophic fire

[Mr Macaroni]

Can anyon answer my question please.
Will a clogged particulate filter cause a major engine fire?
Had an injector seal replaced at the time i was told the particulate filter was blocked asked if it would damage the car to drive it and was told no (they are now denying this) 55 miles later the car had flames coming out from the drivers wheel arch (injector 3 was done) and the car was atotal loss.
Any advice would be great many thanks Tony

 

[Blobcat]

Hello and welcome,

I’ve known an ML270 that went up in flames as one of the injectors had been held in with a helicoil - this failed and the injector then sprayed fuel over the hot exhaust - leading to a catastrophic fire

 

[DSK]

I would add that I have known of fuel related issues (a leak to some extent) resulting in engine bay fires.

I have never known a dpf to cause an engine fire.

From the way you describe, it’s seems like your garage has made an error and caused the fire.


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[KennyN]

The DPF only super-heats when it is doing a regeneration , yours seemingly wasn't doing that as it was full according the garage as it was blocked.

Based on your description of events it sounds like a possible issue with fuel leaking onto something hot enough to ignite it.

Unfortunately in these situations it will be almost impossible to prove the root cause in order to apportion blame.

K

 

[DSK]

Depending on the value of the car, you may want get an independent vehicle engineer who may be able to link the dots either way.


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[AlanGunn]

As above.
DPF won't cause that if blocked or not it might put the car in limp mode but that is about it.

 

[fabes]

Your insurer will appoint an inspection if you tell them of the work done so that they can look to make a recovery after they pay you.

It's what you pay them for....

 

[Jason63]

If you have legal insurance either on your car policy or home insurance or RAC cover, phone them.

Leaking injector is likely to cause fire, a blocked DPF is not.

 

[MinionBob]

Will a clogged particulate filter cause a major engine fire?

No. car is Unlikely to regen if blocked. Car would detect blockage (pressure differential over DPF) and not regen/throw a fault code.

when it is not regeneration (so 99.5% of the time) it would just act like any other part of the exhaust system (although blocked!)