[M308]

Very scary situation seemingly handled extremely well......great job to your bro

As scud said, hope insurance cover everything with no hassles

[allanuber]

Pic of early morning before as well... that was one of the best sorted 355's I'd seen - we'd put a lot of love into it! Still a car though and replaceable.

[allanuber]

and

[scud]

when did this happen?

think i met your brother last year.

[deangpsx8]

Funny it happened a day after service.

I could have been telling a similar tale

I picked up the testa on saturday from a major engine out service.

Driving along the Eastern Freeway near the Doncaster Road exit, i hear some noise from the rear end.

Gets worse.

Decide to pull over....just in time...Single Wheel Nut missing and tyre just hanging on the spline ready to fall off.

 

[allanuber]

Ah right, you may have met him on a brissie run. Would have been in a 996 C4 Convertible - I think you'd just gotten the monster Lambo.

Fire was about 2 months back, investigations, insurance and other review all done now. Bro now lives down here in Sydney, slaving away at Uber.

[allanuber]

Funny it happened a day after service.

I could have been telling a similar tale

I picked up the testa on saturday from a major engine out service.

Driving along the Eastern Freeway near the Doncaster Road exit, i hear some noise from the rear end.

Gets worse.

Decide to pull over....just in time...Single Wheel Nut missing and tyre just hanging on the spline ready to fall off.

 

Oh... have I got a story for you then. I'll find THOSE pictures tomorrow. All I can say is I know where you're coming from man 

[Ferrari Fissatore]

aw fuck.

From the first pic, with the fire starting around the front of the engine, I'd say almost 100% sure it started with the fuel leak into the alternator area.

It's what happens when the "recall" problem shows up.

There is a fuel fitting right at the front of the engine bay, and ferrari have recalled all the cars to get it changed to one that gives more clearance to the front water pipe/hose clamp.

but this is only a problem when the engine mounts are sagged.

What happens is this.... the engine drops down, maybe 5-15mm lower than it should be. This then causes the steel braided fuel pipes to rub...

now, if the mechanic that serviced the car did his job right, firstly, he would have noticed it was all too close, but this can be excused as it is hard to tell, but if he DID do his job right, he would have put the hose clamp at an angle that means the fuel pipe may simply rub the coolant pipe, meaning eventually coolant will leak out...

but, if he put the hose clamp at the WRONG angle, the steel pipe rubs the hose clamp, NOT the rubber hose, and in this case, the fuel pipe rubs through first, which then leaks down the engine and gets sucked into the spinning alternator.

The other possible is that the car had perfect engine mounts, and a perfectly fitted hose/pipe/clamp and even a "recalled" fuel fitting... but if the mechanic used no rubber grease or was just clumsy, he could have nicked the O rings that seal it all.....

Of course, there is no evidence left to work all this out, that's why it took Ferrari 15 years to work out what was happening and THEN do the recall last year.

Bugger Al, that's a very scary very close shave.

[beankeen456]

Sorry to hear, at least your brother was not injured.

[allanuber]

@FF - car had fuel recall done.

Post that it went to a race mechanic up here you know well.

Post that it went for general service and pretty stamp in the book from the independent, prior to run.

We overservice the cars - I've never been worried about safety, though we'd joked that I'd NEVER had all 3 of my Ferrari's on the road at the same time. This was a real wake up call - though I'm not sure there's much else we could have done differently.

@everyone who's posted, thanks for the positive comments fellas.