I read in a magazine, that the Fiero's in 1984 were notorious for engine fires. I have a 1984 black SE and I was wondering what caused these fires. The magazine article didn't elaborate on the issue. Does anyone know?

From what I have seen, engine fires resulted from rod failure due to running the engine with low oil levels, resulting in oil leaking on the exhaust manifold (from the recall notice to Pontiac dealers). After the recall work was done on my '84, I got a plaque to stick in my car reminding me of the importance of proper maintenance to prevent engine compartment fires. Like I couldn't of figured that out with all the press coverage on the matter!

Also, welcome to the forum! It was fun watching everybody try to figure you out

John

The '84s did get bad press about a few Fieros that caught fire (I actually had one do this!).

The problem stemmed from a bad batch of connecting rods. These defective rods would break while driving causing the rod to shoot through the side of the block....the lost oil would hit the hot catalytic converor and, in many cases, take the car with it.

Several years ago I bought an '84 SE with a rod knock to use as parts (my first parts car!) I thought I could limp it home, but not more than 2 miles down the road I threw the rod and it caught fire. Luckily I was able to put the fire out before it engulfed the car.

It is highly likely that your car was either fixed or never had the bad rods to begin with. GM recalled the '84 Fiero and tested them....those with signs of pending doom got new engines.