Fire in the hole (engine bay) need help...

[USC02bugeye]

After i put out the fire coming from back left bottom of the engine bay (back meaning by firewall) its been eating at me what caused it. After looking underneath the car and checking my fluid levels im pretty sure it was a power steering line leak. This is because the power steering line when it runs down and beneath motor has a mount it shares with another hard line these two lines werent on the mount and were seeing quite a good amount of vibrations and banging which i assume caused the leak which caused the fire. My questions are 1. Is this common or has this happened to anybody? 2. What is the other line next to it ive been busy with work and wont be able to get back under it till saturday as i work two jobs. Any help is appreciated thanks

[EvoEatr]

I have never heard of this happening to anyone. I have seen many a fire caused by a torn inner DOJ boot...Usually the passenger side when it tears it sprays grease all over the exhaust. a picture would be helpful here...you mention the left side of the car, is that with you sitting in the driver seat or looking at the car from the front? I am assuming you mean the passenger side?

[SD_GR]

I have heard of power steering fluid fires. I think the flash point is around 170C or so, it might say on a bottle. In any case if it hits a header for a while it'll smoke up a storm.

I think the OP is referring to what SOA call the "crossmember pipe" and "exhaust pipe" as these are paired on the passenger side (USA).

[MainFrame]

Yeah, power steering fluid has a relatively low flash point, so if it's spraying around in the engine bay near headers or a turbo it can easily cause a fire. If you have fiberglass header wrap that is soaked in it and it catches fire you have a serious problem on your hands..