Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

[CraftyCruiser]

Great forum here, glad to be a part of it now!

I have an unusual question that I was hoping I could possibly get some help with....

After having a few different ski boats we recently purchased our first cabin cruiser. It's a small 10 year old Chris-Craft with a 5.7 Volvo EFI with 350 hours on it. It is very clean and had been recently serviced before we purchased, and it ran fine for us. However I decided to put new batteries on it and in doing so the cables on the first battery hit the metal casing on the hot water heater and sparked causing the heater to catch fire (hydrogen gas build-up from lack of use I have learned). We were able to get the fire out but decided not to take the boat out that day so we left it in the slip and went home. Two weeks later we go up, start it go out for a short run and the boat loses power. The mechanic at the marina determines it has a blown head gasket so I was looking at 1000's of $$$ to repair. I was told to check my insurance policy and of course it does not cover normal wear but does cover fire damage. So the question I have is there any possibility that a fire like that could somehow lead to the engine over-heating and blowing the head gasket?

I'm not trying to get over on the insurance company but I do feel like that after paying thousands of dollars for insurance on our boats over the years that we are entitled to a legitimate settlement. So any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

thanks!!!

CraftyCruiser

 

[Bondo]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

Ayuh,... Welcome Aboard...

It's an interesting story,+ unfortunately, not a happy 1...
I can't really see any connection between the battery wiring fire,+ a blown headgasket,...
Has the motor been fixed, or are We still guessing at the gasket,..??
Further diagnostics during the tear down should lead the the root Cause of the gasket failure...

 

[JustJason]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

Welcome to Iboats...

we are entitled

Ahhh... Actually you are entitled to nothing, insurance is a contract and usually pretty specific about what it does and does not cover.

The only reason the 2 could possibly be connected is if the fire got big and hot enough to start melting coolant hoses. But if that happened I would think the boat is trash.
How big was this fire? Any pictures of the aftermath?

 

[trendsetter240]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

Actually I have to disagree with the above. You are entitled to a legitimate settlement. That's part of the deal. You pay premiums and honor your side of the contract the insurance company pays out legitimate claims.

I don't know if the fire caused this or not. I'd say the only option is to have the boat repaired and get the person doing the repairs to determine the cause of the failure. If the cause was the fire then great; insurance claim. If the cause was something else then you are on the hook for the cost.

 

[Don S]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

Let's not turn this into an insurance thread and playing with a word or two.

He is asking about the fire and the blown head gasket relationsip, not insurance questions.

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

I do not see how it could be related, and it would not be right to try and get them to pay for it. That makes all of our rates go up. replacing a head gasket should not be as much as he was quoting.

 

[Don S]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

replacing a head gasket should not be as much as he was quoting.

I would be very careful about saying it's too high when you can't see the engine. If there is poor access, along with probably being an MPI, it may very well take 10 hours to change a head gasket, and if his mechanic charges $100 per hour or close to it, along with parts, the cost could be well over $1000 very easily.
It could also include the diagnostic time.

 

[CraftyCruiser]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

Thanks for all of the feedback, I understand differing viewpoints on the insurance side and I realize this forum is not one on insurance (although I suppose they do exist). I actually have some guilt in even filing the claim but I would have felt foolish if months or even years from now I heard somewhere that there is a correlation and I could have been covered. When I filed the claim the adjuster assigned to it took a real attitude about it and acted as if it were all a waste of his time and that I was some kind of jerk for even assuming that there were any possibility the two were related. That's why I felt this forum to be a good source to clarify.

The reason for the high cost was A)$1000 to have the engine pulled out and subsequently put back in and B)The machining to hone cylinders, balance the motor etc... all total just over $3K.

I just wasn't sure if there was any precedence for something that may relate the fire to the over-heating of the engine. It appears there may not be.

 

[Don S]

Re: Fire in engine compartment, then blown motor... possibly related???

I just wasn't sure if there was any precedence for something that may relate the fire to the over-heating of the engine. It appears there may not be.

Without seeing what happened, there is no way anyone could say with any certainty that the fire had anything to do with the blown head gaset. Trust me, even pictures won't help on that one.
Dissassembly of the engine and examination of not only the engine but everything around it will tell the story.
But as others have also stated, a small fire in a water heater, is not going to blow a head gasket without causing a LOT of other damage along the way.