Check out these: www.elementfire.com Watch the videos. The ELEMENT50 will fit in your glove box. Lightweight, no pressure, no expiration date, no residue. Many automotive vendors carry them now and, every once in awhile, at a discount.

 

I had never seen those before until this morning when I went looking for options --- it was appealing but I was somewhat skeptical of its effectiveness so settled on the traditional AFFF bottle type, but still haven't actually bought one.

However, seeing you mention it here made me research it further and it seems to get positive reviews as far as I can tell.

The pros are obvious: lightweight, compact, and long-lasting --- but being non-pressurized would it work well say in a situation like being on the side of an expressway where draft winds might just blow the stuff down the road instead of the intended target?

And speaking of, if given the case typical of R53 and the ignition source is an overheated ps pump, would attacking the flame from topside (with any kind of extinguisher) be effective?

If this scary scenario ever happens to me I'd like to have something to try and save my car from a total loss so I'd have some parts left over instead of helplessly standing there watching it burn to the ground.

As of now I'm leaning toward the Element firestick, thanks for the suggestion.

 



 

Many thanks for relating the personal experience --- I've never been involved with a vehicle fire so if it happened to the car I was driving I would likely panic, therefore I'm thankful for this thread because this is real world stuff and the possibility exists that it might happen to me one day, reading the stories here has made me mindful that it can occur and I want to be prepared.

I would not have thought about disconnecting the battery so thanks for that tip.

Will be getting myself an ELEMENT50, appreciate your pointer & feedback, thanks.

 

I've put out a couple of car fires over the years, luckily, none were mine. All were the old white powder extinguishers. While I got the fires out, the mess it left was...well, a mess. The Halon is much better, and hopefully the "Element" sticks are even better.
After watching a hand full of videos, I bought four of the Element 50 "sticks". One each for two cars (one Mini), one for the house, one for the garage. Been thinking of trying one, just...to see..!

Mike

 

Yep we have them also.

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-element-parts/v-mini/



https://www.ecstuning.com/b-element-...-mnt-srm-b~el/

 

Looking at the picture of the ELEMENT50 mounted to the seat reminded me of another feature: They're so light that, if involved in a collision, they're not going to do much damage if they get loose. I see so many flimsy fire bottle mounting jobs in vehicles that can turn into missles if they break free in a crash. A 2-1/2 lb. fire extinguisher weighs about 5 lb. and is made of steel. If that puppy were to hit you or a passenger, it could do some serious damage. Mount it securely!

 

I had an engine fire in my 2007 convertible. No damage done. It happened after I flushed the coolant and I was testing to ensure that the radiator fan would switch on at both low and high temperatures. I hadn’t replaced the expansion tank cap, and when the temp got high enough, the coolant overflowed from the reservoir and dripped below onto the… exhaust manifold! Yes, the flammable fluids in the PS reservoir and coolant tanks are directly above the exhaust manifold. So of course they caught fire.

Luckily, it was dark out, the flake was seen instantly and I killed the engine and simply blew out the flame. That was that.

But those coolant reservoirs are notorious for leaking and can easily leak enough so that fire will burn the whole reservoir… which can then lead to the more-flammable PS reservoir.