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Anyone else catch a quad on fire?

spock58

By spock58
in General ATV Discussion

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spock58 Collaborator

spock58

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I was reading another forum recently about fuel leaks and possibility of fire happening. Reminded me of an incident I had a few years ago while working at a Can Am dealership. The quad was a stolen & recovered Outlander 650 that had been tampered with. These quads have an electronic safety system, similar to their DESS system on the sleds. You cannot bypass the key switch and get spark without a computer with factory software. Anyway, I was trying to determine what was damaged since the thief had attempted to hot wire various electronic parts. I got all the extra wires removed and things looked back to stock. Pulled the spark plugs and was going to check for ignition and if the starter still worked. Well, they both worked alright and guess what - the cylinder was flooded with fuel! Instant flames with gas spraying all over...great!! I managed to use my hands to put out the fire, good thing I had on gloves (but choked they were ruined of course, haha). Seems it's possible to flood an engine with efi when you put power straight to the injectors, doh! As in much of life, you cannot take things for granted (I'd only seen carbs flood like that). And even though it had spark, the quad still needed a new ECM to run - that part alone was $1200. So lets hear your stories, crazy stuff happens every day I'm sure.

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MarkinAR Experienced

MarkinAR

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I've thrown electrical fire more times than I can remember but never fuel fire. Caught a screwdriver in a ring gear. Caught a finger in a ujoint. Nearly broke an arm with a steeper bit the other day sizing the hitch on a 300 for a D ring. Yes a 19V cordless will indeed snag with a stepper and try to break an arm!

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JacobSlabach Mentor

JacobSlabach

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i have yet to wreck an atv..  ive come up on two wheels a number of times and ended up in the ditch in AL when spinning some donuts on the old sportsman 500 but never turned one over or hit something.  i have almost flipped my lifted 570 hitting a ditch in a felid going about 40mph- had a trailer on it which kept the back end down.

i did flip riding mower going up a hill and just recently broke my collarbone jumping a road scooter with a flat front tire.  as for fire, ive done a lotta stupid stuff with fire but havnt caught anything i didnt want to on fire.  ive drove an atv through a fire but thats about it.

funny thing is my parents said id wreck an atv first, but the only times ive got hurt was on homemade things (was building the mower into a racing mower and had broke the seat off the scooter so i have to stand up on the pegs while riding it)

Edited by JacobSlabach
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spock58 Collaborator

spock58

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I just remembered another fire related story that happened to a buddy when he was a young kid. His dad had built him a go cart out of some random junk around their place. Somehow, it caught fire - not sure how, but that's not the crazy part. It seems that they had used a short length of water hose to siphon gas into the cart. When the fire started, he yelled for his sister to help out and get some water. Well, she grabbed the hose (still with some gas in it) and connected it to the tap. You can imagine what happened when they shot it at the fire, eh? Needless to say, that was the end of their go cart riding days. hahaha (good thing no one was hurt)

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JacobSlabach Mentor

JacobSlabach

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funny story happened last week- me and a buddy were ripping down a back road on my honda rubicon when the front wheel fell off lol.  didnt wreck just ran in the ditch with sparks flying.  wheel almost rolled down the mountain but a tree caught it.  happened do to me not putting in a cotter pin in the nut that holds the hub against the axle.

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Arizona Collaborator

Arizona

Posted
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On 4/29/2020 at 5:32 PM, MarkinAR said:

I've thrown electrical fire more times than I can remember but never fuel fire. Caught a screwdriver in a ring gear. Caught a finger in a ujoint. Nearly broke an arm with a steeper bit the other day sizing the hitch on a 300 for a D ring. Yes a 19V cordless will indeed snag with a stepper and try to break an arm!

I almost did the same thing, have a monster gear reduction drill and was drilling a 3/4 hole for the hitch, well the bit grabbed, 

slammed my fist into the sharp side of the exhaust pipe and almost dislocated my shoulder. ended up with a bloody hand

and a real sore shoulder. Gotta watch those heavy drills

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  • 1 year later...
Mwozjr87 Rookie

Mwozjr87

Posted
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On 4/29/2020 at 4:22 PM, spock58 said:

I was reading another forum recently about fuel leaks and possibility of fire happening. Reminded me of an incident I had a few years ago while working at a Can Am dealership. The quad was a stolen & recovered Outlander 650 that had been tampered with. These quads have an electronic safety system, similar to their DESS system on the sleds. You cannot bypass the key switch and get spark without a computer with factory software. Anyway, I was trying to determine what was damaged since the thief had attempted to hot wire various electronic parts. I got all the extra wires removed and things looked back to stock. Pulled the spark plugs and was going to check for ignition and if the starter still worked. Well, they both worked alright and guess what - the cylinder was flooded with fuel! Instant flames with gas spraying all over...great!! I managed to use my hands to put out the fire, good thing I had on gloves (but choked they were ruined of course, haha). Seems it's possible to flood an engine with efi when you put power straight to the injectors, doh! As in much of life, you cannot take things for granted (I'd only seen carbs flood like that). And even though it had spark, the quad still needed a new ECM to run - that part alone was $1200. So lets hear your stories, crazy stuff happens every day I'm sure.

Man, glad to hear you didn’t get injured or seriously damage the machine. 

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Coonman Newbie

Coonman

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I had a 2011 Can AM xmr catch on fire.  After a long slow and hard crawl through the mud for a mile through the forest we shut the bikes off for a rest.  The xmr always feels real hot on a hot summer day.  Today was no different.  After a couple of minutes of sitting around chit chatting a buddy noticed what he thought was smoke coming from my bike.  I told him I cant see that and its probably just steam coming from under the seat.   We walked over after 30 seconds of debate and it sure smelt like something burning.  We popped the seat off and sure enough the bottom of the seat had melted and then dripped onto the exhaust on the left side.   Then a little flame from the burning plastic caught the foam on fire.  It looked like a big cherry off a cigarette.  The only thing that saved the bike was the fact that the foam was damp from puddles.   If we had not been standing there the bike would have been gone.  Since then I have never parked inside the garage until the bike has cooled off.   Scary stuff.   

 It would be nice if can am would do something about the heat issues with the xt and xmr.  by far they are the hottest bikes I have ever rode.   And before someone asks the exhuast was in perfect shape with no leakage at the seal between the two pipes under the seat.  The bike has aslo since melted off the side fairing on the left side as well.  Very poor.  I checked three other xmrs since then and every one of them shows signs of melting on the bottom side of the seat.  BRP claims it isnt a problem  lol

 

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coyote56 Apprentice

coyote56

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I would be a little more than upset if I had spent that kind of money on a new Can Am and found out the thing was melting its own plastic off...

that being said I have never set a quad on fire (knock on wood) however I did set an old Honda Trail 70 on fire. I had the rear end slip out from under me in a mud hole and laid her on the side. A little fuel came out and hit the engine and she went up while I was still on my side under the bike. Luckily I was still in the mud pit and just started tossing mud on it to put it out.

Edited by coyote56
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