MY 06 Cooper S JCW caught on fire Sept 6th during a time trail run at our twice annual track event.....Every year one of the clubs runs what we all call Tanacross, which takes place out in Tanacross, Alaska about 350 miles from Anchorage on an old WWII runway that was built to help ferry P39 Aircobras and other stuff to Russia in the days before we entered the war....Now it's a tanker base used for forest fire fighting....


Anyway it was probably my last run of the weekend when disaster struck and the car caught on fire mid run, Fortunately being a track event there were corner workers with fire extinguishers everywhere so the fire was out almost as fast as it started so damage was actually minimal....


The fire as best I can tell was started due to an exhaust leak from a broken flex pipe (it was broken when I bought it and leaking) it melted a hole through the top of the heat shield covering the power steering lines, then melted a hole in the high pressure hose and once fluid started squirting it caught on fire with the hot exhaust hitting it. When I was driving I keep a radio on so I can hear my time when I get done, and I heard a lot of shouting on the radio right as it suddenly got hard to steer, I thought I had a flat tire (the runway is really rough so it could happen) so I stomped the brakes to stop, as I slowed down the fire that was under the car shot out the passenger wheel well for about 2 seconds or less, I think the fire went our when I shut the car off....but some damage was done, fortunately not to the paint...


It melted 2 vent hoses that run to the gas tank/charcoal filter I'm hoping I don't have to drop the gas tank to replace those....The oil pressure switch plug melted so I will need to replace that and splice in a new plug for the switch since it's melted to the sensor. The passenger side tie rod boot melted off. My aftermarket pressure gauge wire lost all it's insulation, and my boost gauge line melted....And that is all the damage I found was from the fire...The rack appears to be ok, and the pump is still working so hopefully that stuff is still ok, I didn't run it dry.


The clutch was chattering before so I decided I should replace that too since I'm dropping the subframe anyway to fix the power steering. And since I'm doing that I also decided to replace the upper motor mount, and the dog bone mount, inner and outer tie rods, control arm bushings, service the supercharger, replace the shocks and springs, rear main seal and the other known to leak o rings, both axels are leaking so I'm replacing those too...it's a project now... I keep finding worn out stuff I should replace as I take stuff apart...


I went with the JCW shocks/springs since they were way cheaper than Koni yellows and not to terrible a step down from the yellows...Those should be in today at the dealer. I've been working on the car in the evenings and am at the point where I can unbolt the bell housing....


anyway some photos...I now know why it costs so much to work on these things....It's crazy how much work this is.....


pile of parts




The melted heat shield




nasty subframe






what a mess....



broken manifold - source of the problem....




even bigger mess....I have to put all this away every night so my wife can park on the other side....



Broken axel boots



I think this bushing is shot....I had to take the arms to a shop to get those off and the new ones on, I don't have a press.



and hopefully I'll get the clutch replaced this weekend and can start putting it back together. Amazon decided to be slow on the shipping the supercharger oil and strut mounts so I'll have to wait to completely reassemble the car....

 

So very sorry to hear about this misfortune, but happy to see you're replacing and fixing everything back up. Glad the fire went out and didn't cause any further damage. If you need anything please do not hesitate to ask me. Good luck with the repairs.

 

Wow , what a story, sorry to hear this. I cannot see the photos ?

 

Leaking power steering lines have been known to start fires. MINI just issued a recall on this. Not sure if you can make a claim but it is worth looking into.

I would not be so quick to blame it on the exhaust.

 

I made the album public so hopefully the photos can be seen. Some employers block photo bucket so that could be a problem as well.


Looking at the heat shield and where the leaking exhaust would hit kinds of leads me to believe the exhaust was a factor. I guess it could have ruptured on the bottom caught fire and melted the shield from underneath too. Who knows. Perhaps the cooling fan failed too, It was pretty nasty looking, but it had been replaced less than a year ago if I remember from the receipts that came with the car....Maybe it was the combo of both together that led to this. I'm glad I didn't lose the car. A new manifold was $854.00 from the dealer, it was the single most expensive part.....The cost of fixing the power steering was less than $300.00 for a new hose and heat shield.