My ‘22 Wildtrak caught fire and burned to the ground

[dmp]

I was driving on the interstate in a construction zone where I-271 went down to a single lane in my 2022 4dr Bronco Wildtrak they had somewhere over 70k miles. I am the original owner. I was going approx 40mph and felt/heard a strange thud coming from the passenger side front of the car, but the Bronco didn’t go up or to side like running something over or a pothole. I continued to drive for maybe 20-40 seconds and the car behind me started flashing his lights. He couldn’t pass, so I was puzzled, but thought I saw some smoke. Pulling off to the closed lane, smoke and flames started to rise from the passenger side of the engine conpartment. I grabbed some things and got away from the vehicle. The construction workers unloaded three or four small fire extinguishers to no avail. I have no idea what happened, I would suspect there was a fuel injector problem. Who knows, I suspect one day there will be a recall. Keep a fire extinguisher in your Bronco. For me, that was my first and last Ford.

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[Bdisco]

That might not buff out.

 

[Sitruc_btb]

Man that's a real drag. Glad you got out safe with no harm.
Not the first time it's happened. Any aftermarket electrical run anywhere? Wild that a rig just spontaneously combusts.

 

[carlonyc77]

was your Bronco completely stock, no mods?

 

[adam1991]

Construction zone. Big thunk.

Not rocket science.

 

[Gbauer]

The problem is you.got the Elon Edition. It was only a matter of time.

Seriously, though, keep us updated. I'm on my second Mustang GT and, to be perfectly honest, both of those have been fantastic cars. The first one I sold at 240k miles. At 180k had to replace a cooling fan relay and at 240 the AC compressor died. Sold it to a buddy who fixed the AC and still drives it at 280k miles. He had to replace the factory clutch at 275k.

My current daily is a 2020 GT/CS. Its at 125k now. Zero issues. In fact last weekend I used a Dr colorchip kit and fixed every paint chip followed by a round of clay bar and a ceramic coat. If you saw it you'd swear it was brand new inside and out.

Don't blame the brand. There's a reason the F250 is the #1 selling truck and the Mustang is the last of the Big 3 muscle cars still standing.

I just wish they'd have ditched the ecoboost and slapped a coyote in it. If they had we would have bought it. I dare say I prefer it over the LS and if it weren't for its footprint everyone would be doing coyote swaps instead of LS swaps in all the things.

 

[Sitruc_btb]

Construction zone. Big thunk.

Not rocket science.

Aha. There must have been some leftover thermite in a pot hole in the construction zone. The Goodyear's picked up the thermite, along with some gravel, caused a spark, ingited the thermite while slinging it up into the fenders.
Glad we sorted that out.

 

[adam1991]

Aha. There must have been some leftover thermite in a pot hole in the construction zone. The Goodyear's picked up the thermite, along with some gravel, caused a spark, ingited the thermite while slinging it up into the fenders.
Glad we sorted that out.

So you're in denial that he no doubt ran over something.

Got it.

 

[Bschurr]

I was driving on the interstate in a construction zone where I-271 went down to a single lane in my 2022 4dr Bronco Wildtrak they had somewhere over 70k miles. I am the original owner. I was going approx 40mph and felt/heard a strange thud coming from the passenger side front of the car, but the Bronco didn’t go up or to side like running something over or a pothole. I continued to drive for maybe 20-40 seconds and the car behind me started flashing his lights. He couldn’t pass, so I was puzzled, but thought I saw some smoke. Pulling off to the closed lane, smoke and flames started to rise from the passenger side of the engine conpartment. I grabbed some things and got away from the vehicle. The construction workers unloaded three or four small fire extinguishers to no avail. I have no idea what happened, I would suspect there was a fuel injector problem. Who knows, I suspect one day there will be a recall. Keep a fire extinguisher in your Bronco. For me, that was my first and last Ford.

Wow - that’s quite a 1st (and last) post. Glad you are OK!

 

[Sitruc_btb]

So you're in denial that he no doubt ran over something.

Got it.

Not at all. Just making light of the statement, But, who's to say what actually happened. Something in that pothole decided to combust? Poor wiring? Unlikely at 70k miles, unless a wire loom was rubbed bare, shorted. At this point it's a freak accident.

 

[Surfnbike]

Thank God you are ok!

 

[adam1991]

Not at all. Just making light of the statement, But, who's to say what actually happened. Something in that pothole decided to combust? Poor wiring? Unlikely at 70k miles, unless a wire loom was rubbed bare, shorted. At this point it's a freak accident.

What I've discovered over many years of my work is, people never tell you what happened.

I'm not saying they do so maliciously, although on forums like this people don't generally tell you what they know they did wrong for fear of looking bad. But I'm really talking about how they don't think something is important to the conversation, so they just never mention it.

I did a radio show many years ago, taking calls from people in the early days of computers. People would call with problems; we would start asking questions. "My printer stopped working, it worked fine the other day". Ten minutes later, after many rounds of asking "what changed?" and being told "nothing", it turns out that the guy moved his entire office around. In his mind, that was not relevant.

A forum like this is full of such interactions.

 

[Kevin Scarbel]

Not that I'll ever use them, but from habit (with commercial trucks) I keep a fire extinguisher in all my light trucks, both for me and a vehicle fire I might happen upon.

 

[flip]

High pressure fuel pump is on the back of the right head but it's unlikely it was exposed enough to take a direct hit from road debris. Other possibility is something hit the right turbo oil drain tube, cracked and oil blew back onto exhaust kicked off the fire which eventually got to the fuel lines feeding the HP pump. Not going to stop without a ton of water/foam especially when it got to the fuel tank. Don't know how much is left in the engine but I would look to see what is left of the right turbo drain tube. If it looks like there was a break or damage not related to heat, that might be your cause.

 

[Techun]

That sucks. Glad you're ok.

Unfortunately vehicles catch fire all the time. People only talk about it with EVs because they present unique challenges, but not surprisingly mixing hot metal and gasoline can lead to this...

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