X5 burst into flames on highway; Is the owner here?

[iconoclast]

the first image is after the fire was put out but after some digging around seems there are a few e53, e70, e71 and e60 that have spontaneously burst into flames:











BMW X5 catches fire and explodes on 405 freeway in the rain - YouTube

[e30cabrio]

Scary.

[conedoctor]

I was not going to comment but now I will.

The part that gets me is "explodes" cars don't explode! Well not too often anyway, exploding and lots of flames is not the same.

This is what happens when people watch TV and think its real, I get that some cars do explode and have over the years.

[TiAgX5]

Originally Posted by conedoctor

I was not going to comment but now I will.

The part that gets me is "explodes" cars don't explode! Well not too often anyway, exploding and lots of flames is not the same.

This is what happens when people watch TV and think its real, I get that some cars do explode and have over the years.

Yeah the term explodes is misued a lot, burst into flames is about the worst you will ever see.

About the only way to get a car to explode is shooting a high powered rifle at an empty fuel tank that's full of fuel vapors.

FWIW, I've seen dozens of cars burning on the roadside/on the news, never once has it been a BMW. Why is it all the crapbox car-b-ques never get the attention a costly vehicle burning gets.

Want to look at a high fire risk vehicle? There are OVER 14,000,000 Toyotas on the US roads that have seat materals in the heated seats that don't pass DOT required materal specs. Seems a few suppliers have been using cheaper materals to increase profits. Production has been stopped and recall letters are going to owners.

[iconoclast]

could any of this have to do with the leaking injectors?

Originally Posted by TiAgX5

Want to look at a high fire risk vehicle? There are OVER 14,000,000 Toyotas on the US roads that have seat materals in the heated seats that don't pass DOT required materal specs. Seems a few suppliers have been using cheaper materals to increase profits. Production has been stopped and recall letters are going to owners.

this recall is for cars in s.korea where there isnt a DOT and DOT does not perform recalls... NHTSA typically handles that... in the US only 36k cars affected and toyota ceased production and it isnt considered a recall (yet?).

[conedoctor]

Originally Posted by iconoclast

could any of this have to do with the leaking injectors?

The fire or explosion?

I would think fuel leaking and hot exhaust could make fire but not a sweet Hollywood explosion.

[iconoclast]

i meant the fire in general... from what i understand the leaking is internal but if it gets bad enough and under high pressure maybe the fuel is seeping out and splashing onto exhaust manifold or high heat parts.

[conedoctor]

The only way the injector will leak outside of the engine is the seal on the rail, if you are talking about a leaky injector like allowing fuel to pass into the engine when it is not supposed to then no it can never leak bad enough for that to ever happen.

[iconoclast]

yes, i was referring to the TSB and only throwing guesses out at what would make a few X5/X6 catch on fire and possibly maybe just clumsy or careless re-installation after an injector swap?