this may be an ignorant question, but you never learn unless you ask. why did they catch fire? does anyone know? was it just certain years? certain options?

This may be an ignorant response, but I think it was because some were shipped with defective conecting rods, that would break, and it is like shrapnel to an engine, and also from oil leaking from the valve covers onto the exaust manifold ..............but to tell you the truth I am not really sure. Aparently you cant buy a fiero today that does not have the recall work done on it, to prevent this.

As far as I know it was a problem with the 84's, and CanadianGT stated the reasons as far as I've read. But any car still around today SHOULD have had the recalls done.

Now, the operative word in that sentence is SHOULD....

There were a few problems. I think Haze posted a magazine article about it a few months ago.
BTW according to that article 99.8% of all Fieros made DIDN'T catch fire.

From the photos of '84's I remember seeing, the main fuel line was routed over the top of the engine, including the inline fuel filter. Any fuel that leaked onto the hot engine (like from either of the fittings on the fuel filter, or from the filter itself), and **whoosh**... get out the marshmallows.

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Patrick W. Heinske -- LZeitgeist@aol.com
1988 Red Fiero Formula
- 1st Place - Stock Coupe - FOCOSEVA 2000
- 3rd Place - Stock Formula - FOCOA Nat'l 2001

Arson by jealous Corvette owners.

I don't know for sure what causes it... but it's UGLY! These are pics of a car that I bought awhile back for $20 (delivered)- I used only the lower trim pieces from it... which are now on my GreenGT!

I would also like to point out that this is the ONLY Fiero I've ever seen that has been in a fire!

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Medium Metallic Green 87 GT
3.1L High Output
4 Spd OD Tranny
Open (read: Loud) Exhaust
and More!
-Rob Bartlett

quote Originally posted by LZeitgeist: From the photos of '84's I remember seeing, the main fuel line was routed over the top of the engine, including the inline fuel filter.

Actually the lines in my 84 were routed around the front, just far enough to drip right past the transmission. but yes, the fuel filter is right there.

i had an 84 SE that i bought in 96, which caught on fire. It did not have the recall done but i dont think that had anything to do with the fire. One of the fittings on the fuel line was leaking and it dripped close to the distributor I guess? but i looked in my rear view and saw flames coming out of the vent. I had an extingisher in the trunk and put it out before it caused any damage, besides a bunch of white crap on my engine!

A red GT that looked exactly like mine caught fire a few years back on the interstate. Burned to the ground; there was a small red piece left of the bumper, and the frame, and a lot of ash. Sat there for over a week. I was working on my Fiero and had been driving my Grand Am to work, so most of my coworkers were just positive it was mine.

I had to listen to burning Fiero jokes for the next 3 months.

As for why they caught on fire, Canadian GT got it mostly right. From what I understand the '84 engines would throw a rod, and the hot oil would collect in a heat shield that was placed under the engine - something to do with the cat, I believe. The oil would immediately catch fire. Obviously, this is not a Fiero problem, it was a problem with the engines. They were recalled and there hasn't been a problem since. Any other Fiero fires are simply coincidence, and are just as likely to happen to other vehicles.

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-Ryan Wright (http://www.ryanwright.com)

I had a fire in my Fireo a little while back, but it was due to that stupid insulation in my engine bay, came loose from the side and touched the exhaust. I smelled it early and was able to put it out...

99.99% of the fire stories I have heard were because of NON stock parts. Or because someone did something like remove the exhaust heat shields (happened to a guy here this week).

Basically if your fiero is stock, no problems.

The minute you start modding your car you are doing things that the manufacturer DID not think of, so anything could happen.

Well, I've been looking into to the recalls a lot lately, because i just made a fiero purchase, an '84 SE to be exact. There were 4 recalls in total, and i can name 3 of them. 1.) on the initial release of the fiero, they mad a mistake by puting the oil dip stick under the exhaust manifold. The problem with this was the dip stick didn't go in the oil pan far enough, which in turn caused people to not put enough oil into the engine, in turn causing the rods to heat up and catch fire. and the first recall corrected this. 2.) a heat shield between the firewall and the exhaust manifold creating unbarible temperatures for the insulation causing a fire. 3.) heat shields on the wiring and radiator hose also causing a possible engine fire.

Well the info I'm posting here is from "Fiero Secrets" written by Matt Gruber. "Fiero Secrets" was a news letter published by Mr. Gruber for the Worldwide Fiero Club. Anyway this info is from the Fall 1988 issue. Mr. Gruber claims the fires were cause by cold start damage. The reason the engines suffered this cold start damage was because of the wrong oil filter. "Use of the wrong oil filter... Lets the oil drain back into the pan... engine receives no oil for 5 - 10 seconds on cold start." Anyway the solution is to use an oil filter with a check valve built in. The original filters that came with our cars didn't have this check valve. Hope this helps.

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Signatures are a waste of bandwidth!

What I heard was that the freeze plug in the rear of the engine would pop out shooting anti-freeze directly onto a hot manifold located right in front of it, this was said to only happen when they over heated. But thats just what I heard. so it may be wrong

wouod it be completely out of line if we carried fire extinguishers?

This is not the reason for the recall, but my 86 GT V6 developed a fuel leak on the return line to the tank. It is routed about 4 inches above the a/c compressor belt. The mounting strap holding it up came loose and the rubber hose dropped on to the compressor pully rubbing a huge hole in it allowing gas that should have returned to the tank to leak into the compartment!!!! My first clue was a strong gas odor and lower gas mileage. Good thing that it did not happen at the same time my cat convertor plugged!

wires can chafe at the point they pass thru the rear firewall between the motor and the passenger compartment a short there has burned up my 87 se and other cars. elt tape is a cheap fix if you catch it in time.
FIX SHORTS BEFORE THEY CAUSE PROBLEMS.
IF YOU SMELL GAS FIX THE LEAK
KEEP IT CLEAN REMOVE LEAVES AND TRASH.
and it willnot burn.

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Question wonder and be wierd

I vaguely recall the dealer saying something after the recall fix on my duke about the original had 3 qt cap. and the recall somehow increased it. Something about changes to the filter and dip stick. Never changed the oil myself and hate to say I never ask my mechanic how much oil he puts in. Did hear it was low oil that led to the fires.

most of the issues are covered in the original recall on the 84's. these were the biggest problem but there were issues with all years covered in 1 of two later recalls.

Yes, 84's had reduced oil capacity. never let an 84 run low on oil. This didn't cause fires as much as it trashed the block due to spun/shattered rod.

The original 84 recal also lists where to check for a cracked block....

Read the 3 recalls for more details. Links to all the ones I know about are in my cave.