2.3 Bronco Engine fire 😭

[Philly Big Bronco Boy]

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[Philly Big Bronco Boy]

There have been thousands of engine fires?? Ugh. I guess an extended warranty is in my future.

Yeah, after the vacuum brake boost failure and the engine fire, I'm 100% getting the extended warranty...

 

[Fordified1]

Great news update. My bronco is not a total loss after all! It's repairable! Yay! The fire inspection is likely canceled given the damage wasn't severe enough to warrant one. They're going to let Ford assess and repair at this stage. They're towing it back to my service department. I have pictures of the engine, and the initial insurance inspector believes it was either the radiator, intercooler, or something in that area that caught fire. I was lucky that it put itself out and didn't burn it to the ground. Good news is it's fixable, and am not on the market for a new Bronco. Might take some time to repair, but will have her back soon enough I'm hoping. Will post the pictures in a moment.

Also, I realize there's a lot of talk on this thread about the cost of service. The cost was 705, not 800, to be exact. Apologies for exaggerating. I should have mentioned, it was me who asked for the extra service. I baby this thing. It included all of the 20k mile service recommendations, plus all fluid changed at my request, and a state inspection. I don't think the dealer was trying to pull one over on me. More like I asked for some likely unnecessary things and figured it was in the shop already.

Glad it’s getting fixed, but radiator or intercooler fire? Fire inspector is a moron.

 

[Philly Big Bronco Boy]

Glad it’s getting fixed, but radiator or intercooler fire? Fire inspector is a moron.

What's the hose then I wonder? It's in the picture he sent? Not the radiator or intercooler itself but the hose end that connects with the engine is what caught fire. You can see where the fire melted the rubber off the hose itself.

 

[Fordified1]

What's the hose then I wonder? It's in the picture he sent? Not the radiator or intercooler itself but the hose end that connects with the engine is what caught fire. You can see where the fire melted the rubber off the hose itself.

But when it’s repaired the cause of the hose catching fire needs to be figured out.

 

[Philly Big Bronco Boy]

But when it’s repaired the cause of the hose catching fire needs to be figured out.

100%, they have to figure out the cause. That's part of the next phase, assessing causation. Regardless, happy to hear it's not a total loss. Hoping for answers with time.

 

[Sitruc_btb]

Sorry to hear about the fire, but that's good it is repairable. I'm curious as to what actually caused the fire. Radiator or intercooler sounds pretty unlikely. Maybe a random piece of paper sat on the exhaust for a bit and lit up.

I had a car come in to the shop a while back. "Car cranks but doesnt start". Pop the hood and extinguisher chemicals all over the engine bay. Intake melted, wire harnesses melted, throttle body smoked, firewall all scorched. Never got the whole story. Adjuster totaled it.

 

[Philly Big Bronco Boy]

Sorry to hear about the fire, but that's good it is repairable. I'm curious as to what actually caused the fire. Radiator or intercooler sounds pretty unlikely. Maybe a random piece of paper sat on the exhaust for a bit and lit up.

I had a car come in to the shop a while back. "Car cranks but doesnt start". Pop the hood and extinguisher chemicals all over the engine bay. Intake melted, wire harnesses melted, throttle body smoked, firewall all scorched. Never got the whole story. Adjuster totaled it.

I as well am super eager to learn what caused the fire. The hose is what was on fire, but no clue how it could have been on fire to begin with. So so strange.

 

[Fordified1]

I as well am super eager to learn what caused the fire. The hose is what was on fire, but no clue how it could have been on fire to begin with. So so strange.

A shorted glowing hot wire against it or rubbing on a pulley or fan belt maybe. Definitely speculation until someone takes it apart and examines the evidence.

 

[thesocalexplorer]

May have been a loose alternator connection if it's one of those hoses/wires in that region. Couldn't make out what exactly ignited in your pics above.

I discovered that my coolant hose for the oil cooler was extremely close to the alternator and actually rubbed on the alternator shield a bit, so possibly some coolant leaked out and caused a short?

 

[jjack50]

That isn't a 2.3, its a 2.7

That’s not his car. Pic post says that.

 

[Ducati1098]

That’s not his car. Pic post says that.

I never thought it was his.
He said it was a 2.3, I was just correcting the fact that it isn’t.

 

[5GENIDN]

That’s not his car. Pic post says that.

yes but did you READ the description of the picture? It said that the Bronco in the picture was another example of a 2.3 fire... BUT if you look at the block it is easily discernable that it is a 2.7....

 

[broncobase1]

From the OP description of sequence of events my guess is an electrical short caused the fire.

 

[Philly Big Bronco Boy]

From the OP description of sequence of events my guess is an electrical short caused the fire.

She’ll be back at my local ford repair shop tomorrow, so will find out soon for sure. Will try to take more pictures once available. For now here’s another more recent visit when I swapped the wheels/tires.

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