ENGINE FIRE WHILE ON THE HIGHWAY. WE RECENTLY HAD A DISASTER IN OUR MOTOR HOME. A FIRE BROKE OUT IN THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT WHILE ON THE HIGHWAY (OCT 2015 NEAR ASHEVILLE NC). WHAT I DISCOVERED WAS A SEAL HAD FAILED ON THE HYDRAULIC MOTOR THAT DRIVES THE FAN. (THIS UNIT HAS A SIDE RADIATOR) WHEN THE SEAL FAILED IT SPRAYED OIL ON THE FAN BLADES THUS SPREADING OIL OVER THE TURBO AND EXHAUST MANIFOLD OF THE ENGINE. HAVE SEEN 3 OTHER COACHES IN FLAMES WITH THE SAME PROBLEM. LOOKED ON THE WEB AT MANY COACHES IN SALVAGE YARDS AND ALMOST ALWAYS THE FIRE STARTS IN THIS SAME LOCATION. THIS IS A POTENTIAL LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. BY THE TIME I HAD THE COACH STOPPED IT HAD COMPLETELY FILLED WITH THICK BLACK SMOKE AND I HAD PROBLEMS GETTING MY WIFE OUT THE DOOR, ALSO A VERY EXPENSIVE PROBLEM. I THINK A SHIELD AROUND THE MOTOR TO KEEP OIL FROM GETTING ON THE FAN BLADES OR A DOUBLE SEAL ON THE MOTOR SHAFT WITH A DRAIN TUBE BETWEEN SEALS WOULD BE AN EASY FIX AND NOT TOO EXPENSIVE. THE COACH WE LOST WAS ON A SPARTAN CHASSIS THE LAST ONE I SAW BURN WAS ON A FREIGHT LINER CHASSIS. I THINK ALL THE COACHES WITH SIDE RADIATOR HAVE THIS SAME ISSUE. I SINCERELY HOPE YOU WILL LOOK AT THIS ISSUE. *TR
2000 Spartan Motorhome
Routine
Owners filed 1 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the engine and engine cooling. No safety recall has been issued.
What fails
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Engine and Engine Cooling | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsEngine and Engine CoolingFire
Filed Jul 15, 201645,000 milesNC
1 of 1 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Across model years
Worst on record: 2006Reading this record
No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.
Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.