Well, looks like the Rev and I now have something in common...
Yesterday afternoon, I was pulling out of Laramie, WY going East on I-80. Just fueled up with a very heavy load, setting me over 79,000 lbs. I started pulling the hill just east of Laramie when I smelled something burning. I thought it was someone else's truck, or at the worst, something electrical. A few seconds later, something let go, and there was a loud whistling noise coming from under the hood.
I pulled it over as soon as I could, and smoke was everywhere! Took me two attempts to get the hood open, as during the first one I got a good whiff of strong, toxic smoke, and had to step away for a minute to clear my lungs. I get the thing open, and the entire right side of the engine was ablaze. Ran over, got my fire extinguisher, and put the thing out. And again, and again, and again. The fire kept igniting itself after it was extinguished for another 5 minutes. Seems that the plastic air intake and other parts around my back turbo were what was burning.
After a 30 minute wait on hold, and a 30 minute wait for the wrecker, I was on my way to the KW dealer in Cheyenne...don't know the extent of the damages yet, but I hope I'm out of here soon!
And after all of this, here's my point: When I got this truck a few months ago, the fire extinguisher was completely dead. If I hadn't checked it and gotten it replaced, there's no telling how bad this could have been. Might have put itself out and done nothing more...also might have taken the truck, trailer, and load with it....:eek2: