[Upstate NY Guy]

The antifreeze we use in cars is mostly a mixture of water and ethylene glycol. It has an MSDS flammability rate of 0. I suppose if you boiled all the water out of it you might get it to burn. Sounds mighty strange to me.

MSDS sheet for prediluted Antifreeze

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

If a halogen lamp meeting radiator fluid can render a driver ‘stricken and unconscious’ followed by an intense fire, how many of those would we witness on an ordinary traffic day?

They can do better than that, I would hope.

[mad_as_he$$]

I believe you would have to have it in a container and under some sort of pressure to get it to catch fire. It will evaporate long before 240F and waft away.

[Gondring]

The antifreeze we use in cars is mostly a mixture of water and ethylene glycol.

Are you sure she was using that kind? Some greenies use other types.

[Gondring]

Just some docs that might be relevant...

One type of BMW antifreeze:
http://images.imcparts.net/shared/documents/82141467704%20Antifreeze.pdf

Note, flashpoint is 250F.

National Fire Protection Association alert on antifreeze flammability (propylene glycol and glycerine):
http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=2064&itemID=48038

[monkeyshine]

Remember, it’s not just anti-freeze. It is also called ENGINE COOLANT! It is meant to keep the engine from getting TOO HOT just as much as too cold. We just call it antifreeze but it does both. Engine temperatures get so hot, if this stuff caught fire at 240 degrees then there would be engine fires all the time.

This story does not hold any water. Unless someone put something else in the radiator, it doesn’t wash. It’s so bizarre I wonder why anyone even postulated it.

My dad said he heard that it was something else in the garage that caught fire - that may be true... but anti-freeze? No.

[muawiyah]

The sequence of events is ~ (1) She returns home night before and pulls car into garage (2) Car hits workbench and radiator is punctured (3) She goes inside house (4) The antifreeze leaks out of the radiator STILL UNDER PRESSURE because the engine is warm (5) The antifreeze sprays on undercarriage, all over the floor, and so forth. (6) The ethylene glycol component maintains its liquid character as the water component evaporates into the air in the garage. Then the water condenses on the outer doors slowly overnight. (7) This leaves a solution of ethylene glycol on everything.

Returning to the main line (8) The car sits there overnight and the ethylene glycol slowly evaporates into the interior of the car (8) She comes down to the car early in the morning to go to the airport. (8) Hops in driver's seat, activates the ignition, broken light comes on ~ Bang, or (8) Hops in driver's seat, activates the ignition, catalytic converter heater tokes up ~ while she's fiddling with seatbelt and purse, checking mirror to make sure it and her lips are still there - Bang.

Doesn't matter if it was a broken light housing or the catalytic converter heater coil that got her!

The question I'm addressing is a simple one ~ how did it happen she had an explosive mixture of ethylene glycol and air in her car and garage ~ and that's how it happened.

It is always a good idea to provide some sort of ventilation to any garage where you park a motor vehicle. Store cans of gasoline OUTSIDE

[moehoward]

"The antifreeze......"

I believe that was some sort of BMW SUV. Nearly all have oil coolers either built in or in front of the engine cooling radiator. Trans fluid and oil are both obviously flammable.

Still, why/how she diddn't have time to get out of the car, is suspicious.