Brent_P
Extreme
I dont really feel like getting too far into the details right now but any help from you guys would be extremely appreciated. If you have additional info that you may like to share or feel that you may be able to help me understand what could have happened here I would look forward to discussing over private message/email or phone.
I was out on Saturday doing some riding, some small hill climbs and approximately 10" of fresh powder on hard pack. Filled the sled up (91 Octane) before I left for the day, checked the oil (didnt add any, but use yamalube), and my regular routine checks. Started the sled and let it warm up till idle was down to 1700 +/-.
The sled didnt seem to be running great that day and was idling a little lower than normal 1550rpms, but sometimes it takes a few kms to get it "warmed up".
After getting to my destination, something in my head told me that the sled didnt feel quite right, and didnt have the power that it normally did. I didnt concern myself too much, since my yamaha dealer was taking it in on Wednesday for routine maintenance anyway.
After climbing a few small hills and boondocking I had a feeling that the sled was running hot, however no temp lite and no errors etc on gauge. As soon as I felt the sled may have been running hot (after going through some deep snow and experiencing a lot of steam from under the front panels) I shut it down immediately and made the decision I was going to head for home. I waited about 10 minutes for it to cool down, and started it back up to go home.
After traveling about 150 feet flames began to shoot out by my left leg/foot hold, melting my pants. I jumped off and shut the sled off and began frantically pushing snow into every orfice I could find, the fuc#ing panels of course require an allen key and unscrewing of D-Rings and I could not get them off without risking major burns (side panels that unclip like a rev, or like and old school chassis I may have been able to stop the fire). Even though we had a chemical fire extinguisher in our group we could not put out the flames and within minutes the entire sled was engulfed.
My theory of what happened is this
1. Overflow for gas tank leaked out into belly pan (where is this supposed to drain out???)
2. Sled was running hot
3. thermostat was not functioning properly and did not indicate that the sled was running hot, no led's or onscreen message.
4. I assume this sled as sophisticated as it is has some sort of shut off it it runs too hot, which also leads me to believe the thermostat was not functioning properly.
5. melted insulation off a wire which is related to starter, or ignition.
6. the first time I attempted to start the sled after this insulation melted (after I let the sled sit for 10 minutes because I felt it was running too hot) it shorted and ignited the gasoline sitting in the belly of the sled from the overflow.
The rest is history... one of these days when I get over the fact that the sled was not insured for fire I will post the images for all to see, in the mean time I will continue to make my sled payments and envy all my friend enjoying the long winter we have left
I was out on Saturday doing some riding, some small hill climbs and approximately 10" of fresh powder on hard pack. Filled the sled up (91 Octane) before I left for the day, checked the oil (didnt add any, but use yamalube), and my regular routine checks. Started the sled and let it warm up till idle was down to 1700 +/-.
The sled didnt seem to be running great that day and was idling a little lower than normal 1550rpms, but sometimes it takes a few kms to get it "warmed up".
After getting to my destination, something in my head told me that the sled didnt feel quite right, and didnt have the power that it normally did. I didnt concern myself too much, since my yamaha dealer was taking it in on Wednesday for routine maintenance anyway.
After climbing a few small hills and boondocking I had a feeling that the sled was running hot, however no temp lite and no errors etc on gauge. As soon as I felt the sled may have been running hot (after going through some deep snow and experiencing a lot of steam from under the front panels) I shut it down immediately and made the decision I was going to head for home. I waited about 10 minutes for it to cool down, and started it back up to go home.
After traveling about 150 feet flames began to shoot out by my left leg/foot hold, melting my pants. I jumped off and shut the sled off and began frantically pushing snow into every orfice I could find, the fuc#ing panels of course require an allen key and unscrewing of D-Rings and I could not get them off without risking major burns (side panels that unclip like a rev, or like and old school chassis I may have been able to stop the fire). Even though we had a chemical fire extinguisher in our group we could not put out the flames and within minutes the entire sled was engulfed.
My theory of what happened is this
1. Overflow for gas tank leaked out into belly pan (where is this supposed to drain out???)
2. Sled was running hot
3. thermostat was not functioning properly and did not indicate that the sled was running hot, no led's or onscreen message.
4. I assume this sled as sophisticated as it is has some sort of shut off it it runs too hot, which also leads me to believe the thermostat was not functioning properly.
5. melted insulation off a wire which is related to starter, or ignition.
6. the first time I attempted to start the sled after this insulation melted (after I let the sled sit for 10 minutes because I felt it was running too hot) it shorted and ignited the gasoline sitting in the belly of the sled from the overflow.
The rest is history... one of these days when I get over the fact that the sled was not insured for fire I will post the images for all to see, in the mean time I will continue to make my sled payments and envy all my friend enjoying the long winter we have left
soul_hammer
Expert
damn sorry to hear this. what insurance did you have just incase i need to add fire to mine.
yam177
TY 4 Stroke Master
If you have home owner or renter insurance check that sometime they cover fires of property of premise
4strokepilot
Newbie
Did you have any of the 2 holes in the tunnel covered?
Sorry to have this happen but glad you are ok.
Sorry to have this happen but glad you are ok.
phaze5
TY 4 Stroke Guru
too bad you didnt have insurance to cover it, but id talk to yamaha, it wont help but atleast you can say you did it,
Brent_P
Extreme
soul_hammer said:
I had liability only...
Brent_P
Extreme
yam177 said:
Thanks for the tip, I will check tomorrow
Rear hole closed only, and no header wrap on pipes.
I was kind of hoping that I may find more cases of similar phazer fire instances on here... i did search, but to no avail. I do plan to write a letter and explain what happened, but I really dont expect anything from them...
Ruckus
TY 4 Stroke Master
I was out in the Lewis Hills on Saturday. I heard about your fire and I'm very sorry to hear that. I'm shitbaked now because I'm riding a phazer too, and its been troublesome. I'm totally adding fire to my insurance. again, sorry for your loss.
Brent_P
Extreme
Ruckus said:
im trying to keep the news to a minimum on the LHB site right now, thanks for your well wishes!!! I would get fire insurance put on it if I were you since im not convinced it was turbo related yet.
Ruckus
TY 4 Stroke Master
Brent_P said:
I won't mention anything over there, but I heard it from of the billies, so it won't be quiet for long I guess. Best of luck with it, mang.
SRXTripman
Extreme
fire
Well we sure are glad your safe and sound , sounds like you should see one of those people in the suits , with all the stupid sh-t that has happend to our Phasers they probably should give you a new sled and take yours for an investigation .Do I smell a major recall comin boys and girls .I think I will go talk to my insurance girls today .
Well we sure are glad your safe and sound , sounds like you should see one of those people in the suits , with all the stupid sh-t that has happend to our Phasers they probably should give you a new sled and take yours for an investigation .Do I smell a major recall comin boys and girls .I think I will go talk to my insurance girls today .
It could be any of a number of things.Obviously Gasoline was the source but that doesnt help much since it could come from many areas.There wont be some major recall since I cant think of any others that have burned.More than likely it was something very rare.Sorry to hear your troubles Brent.Good luck.If fire was started by a electrical short that can be identified sometimes even if everything is fried.Take it to your local fire department and see if they will look at it.
SRXTripman
Extreme
Brent_P
Extreme
UPDATE:
I went to my insurance to see if i could pull any strings here and get it covered under my home insurance, and no luck... Because when the sled started to burn even though there was only the 6 of us present, people started coming out of the hills in the dozens to see what was burning, so any chance at back dating the insurance and reporting it 2-3 weeks from now was out of the question...
I visited my local dealer today and they pretty much gave me the response that I expected, no dice. Of course they knew about my incident yesterday, due to the crowd of people who witnessed it, so they knew I was coming and had lots of time to think about how they would handle it when I arrived. I got the response that I expected "your sled had an aftermarket turbo kit installed, even though it was dealer installed we have no way of knowing if the placement of an oil line feeding the turbo was too close to a heat source, a fuel line was re-routed to accompany it, or a wire was added or relocated which could have been the cause". In other words "you're s#it out of luck".
I explained the lack of a temperature light when i felt it was overheating, to which I was told "how do we know it wasn't unplugged". If I put myself in their shoes I can see where they are coming from, but it still does not make this situation any easier and does nothing to get me on another Yamaha and out enjoying the snow this winter.
If there are any dealers out there reading this, help a guy out and you will receive a lifetime of free advertising from me!
I went to my insurance to see if i could pull any strings here and get it covered under my home insurance, and no luck... Because when the sled started to burn even though there was only the 6 of us present, people started coming out of the hills in the dozens to see what was burning, so any chance at back dating the insurance and reporting it 2-3 weeks from now was out of the question...
I visited my local dealer today and they pretty much gave me the response that I expected, no dice. Of course they knew about my incident yesterday, due to the crowd of people who witnessed it, so they knew I was coming and had lots of time to think about how they would handle it when I arrived. I got the response that I expected "your sled had an aftermarket turbo kit installed, even though it was dealer installed we have no way of knowing if the placement of an oil line feeding the turbo was too close to a heat source, a fuel line was re-routed to accompany it, or a wire was added or relocated which could have been the cause". In other words "you're s#it out of luck".
I explained the lack of a temperature light when i felt it was overheating, to which I was told "how do we know it wasn't unplugged". If I put myself in their shoes I can see where they are coming from, but it still does not make this situation any easier and does nothing to get me on another Yamaha and out enjoying the snow this winter.
If there are any dealers out there reading this, help a guy out and you will receive a lifetime of free advertising from me!
Brent_P
Extreme
Getting ready to tow it out, we actually bent the tunnel right over by hand... this facilitated towing.
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