Prado on fire - CLEAR any SPINIFEX!!!!

Should be no dispute from the insurance about writing that off!

That should polish right out.

The Importance of carrying a Fire extinguisher and a pressure Water sprayer when in county like that.

Ohh! What a feelin!
. Sheesh.

Chris,

A lovely crisp clear bit of hardened molten Prado alloy adorns my desk. I picked it up from the wreck about 3km south of Georgia Bore on the CSR in July. Even the bullbar melted down to the ground. Apparently the Prado was only 5 days old.

Yes we passed by the Prado last month & wondered what had happened. I have a photo holding one of those molten bits of bull bar that Willem has now pinched!! (shame on you Willem ... the Prado will become history like the old landrover :-)

I was told by someone that they were a couple of journalists who decided at the last minute to do the bottom half of the CSR. Can anyone confirm the story or point me to a website

Methinks Prados are cursed - there was one a while back burnt out after a collision with a motorbike on the blacktop somewhere.

Fire extinguisher might have saved the ones in these photos!

Do you know if it was petrol or an oil burner Chris ?

maybe it has to do with the amount of plastic being used in our "modern"cars

steve

There's a burnt out vehicle on its side on the GJT a few km before Gary Junction. Does anyone know the story of that one ?

One of the Bosses, (I've got heaps!) sent this to us in June. Was a bloke he knows that owned the Prado.

Fire started in rear brake pad/lining, then burned diesel fuel line, and rest is history. No doubt bit of grass etc helped. Plenty of diesel to burn in a Prado.

hooroo...

Telstra lost a hiace van recently.
It was actually bogged in mud and the catalytic converter started the grass burning.

Marty.

How much for the fiberglass ariel?

Interesting to see both fires 'as they happened' and that both - I mean this one and the one on the CSR - seem to have started at the left rear. Whether it was something in the brakes, or a build up of grass - is it just a coincidence?

Perhaps we can do an Exploroz investigation and report a design fault to Toyota!

Tim

I have not looked at a prado or underneath one, just wondering as both seem to have stated left rear area does the exhaust have a heat shield over the muffler in that area and is it close to the brakes. How much room is there between the manifold and the body of the vehicle. Are you able to have long range tanks in these and if so are they in the rear where I guess the spare tyre go under the vehicle if so a build here near the exhaust pay also be a factor.

I am only guessing as I have not seen one but may be something to look at. Makes my 15L pressure sprayer I take a worth while investment I guess.

Feel sorry for the people involved.

Brian

The big problem here was probably , as Omaroo hinted , a small fire next to a magnesium wheel . They make the flint and scrape fire starters out of magnesium because magnesium is easy to lite and burns super hot . The next problem is that to approach the wheel to put out the small fire is extremely dangerous . The airforce procedure with hot brakes next to a magnesium wheel is to approach from forward or aft , set up a mist spray and clear the area for 20 minutes . The airforce got rid of mag wheels on the early Hercules because of the fire hazard and because the were prone to cracking anyway . As mentioned elsewhere on this forum , alloy wheels aren't as good as steel wheels in the bush .

Pleased to say i'm very glad it's not mine :) I will say a few things are interesting in phot'o 1 it looks like 3 doors are open however in photos 4 and 5 all doors are closed. In photo 1 & 2 headlights not on but they are on in photo 4 (ghosts). The rear door was closed at the start and open in photo 6 & 7 although I feel this may have been opened after the fire.

If you look at the left and bottom of photo number 7 that silver shaped stuff is most likely whats left of that wheel (mag) and it looks like there is some on the right hand side as well, why there is no wire from the tyres is interesting. The intenity of the fire in number 4 bottom left and number 6 both left and right front seems to indicate the wheels and tyres were on.

Photo's 3 & 4 indicate a fair breeze so this most likely saved the bullbar from being a pool of alloy.

Anyway just my 2 cents worth.

Brian

Bugger!