Today's nanny 911 sissy society?

JDEM

Well-known Member
I drove my 1995 Ford F150 yesterday after it was parked for a week. I got this from my father-in-law who is now in a nursing home. 35,000 original miles. 4WD and a 300 cubic inch straight six, fuel injected, E40D trans. It was a great running truck - until now. I live by the shore of Lake Huron in northern Michigan and there are a few factories along the lake that make plywood and OSB. So often the smell of toasting wood is in the air. When I was driving the truck, I thought that "toasty wood' smell was extra strong. Then smoke started pouring out from under the hood of the truck. So I pull into a parking lot and opened the hood. HUGE squirrel nest on top of the engine, on fire with big flames. At this point - JUST a grass fire. I was 100 feet from a Catholic charity store. I ran in and there sat a fire extinguisher. I asked to use it and assured them I'd pay them or it. NOPE. The young guy behind the counter screamed "stay away from your truck, I am calling 9-1-1." Geez. So against "orders" from Mr. Sissy, I found a tree branch and started trying to beat out a fire. Just as a fire-truck showed up, a guy in a old rusty pickup (a guy in my age bracket" - came over with his fire extinguisher and it was out in two seconds. I offered him $20 to buy a new one and he would not take my money. So that was that. Then I had five firemen, all suited up - advising me to stand away. I said "no" and told them all was fine and I did NOT call them. The jerk in the store did. They were nice about it and had me sign a piece of paper refusing their help. I better not get a bill in the mail. After that - I looked the engine over. Most things that were rubber or plastic were gone. All the wires to the fuel injectors were bare copper. Even so - I turned the key and it started right up. I saw no leaks with the engine running - so I drove it 8 miles back to my house. Stalled many times along the way and 1st to 2nd shift burned rubber every time with the "check engine light" on and trans in default mode. I am amazed it still ran. If that guy in the store had let me use the fire extinguisher - all would of been fine. Now the truck is in my shop and I am trying to find a way to fix it. I went to a local junkyard and got lucky. Found a 1995 F150 with a straight six and for $50 - stripped all the plastic and rubber off of it, along with the wire harnesses and solenoids. Now I have to figure out how to get the EFI air intake-manifold off the top of the engine and try to fix this poor truck. Again - I am amazed this thing survived and I drove it home. This 1995 gasser gets better MPGs then my 1994 turbo-diesel when not hauling a load. I wish it had a back seat so we could use it more.
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The young guy has seen too many exploding cars on TV shows. It's ironic a friend and I were just talking about survival skills. You have the experience and skills to recognize the problem and rectify it quickly. He did not. All he saw was a ticking time bomb. You could think clearly, he could not.
 
I had a 93 f150 auto, 4wd. Except I had the 302. It had around 200k on it when I traded it. Was a good truck. I'm sure you'll have it back up and running in no time! Pretty sad how society is now. I would have also gone for the extinguisher. What did they have one for if they never planned on using it ? Crazy ! I guess law suits and such have now made this the world in which we live !
 
We have become a society that no longer thinks on its own, but thinks someone else will know what to do. Sad.
 
Great. Another experience with one overly cautious kid spawns a long thread about the downfall of society due to "kids these days". Old fogeys have been bellyaching about the young wrecking everything for 10,000 years.

If you were so prepared, where was YOUR fire extinguisher? I have one in all my vehicles. And I'm just an dumb older Millennial (born in 80)...
 
Liberty Mutual Insc. is running a commercial where Mom is talking about how great it is to have this insurance. Her teenage son, obviously old enough to be out driving around at night, had a flat and called his Mom about what to do. Comeon. My daughter could change a tire when she was in high school.
 
(quoted from post at 08:50:20 10/15/17) Great. Another experience with one overly cautious kid spawns a long thread about the downfall of society due to "kids these days". Old fogeys have been bellyaching about the young wrecking everything for 10,000 years.

If you were so prepared, where was YOUR fire extinguisher? I have one in all my vehicles. And I'm just an dumb older Millennial (born in 80)...

I agree. Where was your fire extinguisher? Did you happen to pic one up?
Yes it would have been nice if he had loaned you one. Luckily someone had one and saved your truck.
 
Looks like a mouse or some critter built a nest there. If you have compahensive insurance they should pay for the repair minus your deductible. I had a mouse last year build a nest in the clutch of my plow truck. Tansmission and transfer case had to be pulled and replaced after installing a new clutch. Paid for by the insurance complegtely.
 
I don't think the kid had any right to deny you a fire extinguisher. A fire is a fire and that is what the extinguisher is for. You pre-offered to pay for it . I probably would have stolen his extinguisher .
 
My father-in-law just quit driving and went into a nursing home. Truck was just given to me and still has his plates and
registration. I.e. it is not a vehicle I have been driving until now. I have 10 vehicles and every one that has plates on it
and is used has, if anything, an over-abundance of back-up stuff. E.g. jumper-cables, fan belts, toolbox, fire extinguisher,
etc. Any vehicle I own that gets driven far from home has even more extra stuff. My 1994 f250 has with it all the time, an
extra fuel injection pump, a few glow plugs, water pump, fuel pump, belt, belt-tensioner, fuel injector nozzle, etc.
 
Looks like a nice truck. Hope you have plans to put a rebuilt in it.

Back in the mid-80's (back when rockyridgefarm was still in diapers :wink: ), I had a 1976 F150, 2wd, reg cab, 390 cu in engine that belonged to my late grandfather. At the time I was stationed in San Antonio and....imagine that, I was in Fire Protection Services (a fancy title for saying all I did each day was sit around, sleep, or mop floors! *lol*). I was off-duty and was driving around the base and passing right by the fire house. All of a sudden my truck started smoking. I pulled into one of the driveways - the one leading to our Extinguisher Maintenance guy, where he maintained and repaired all the extinguishers for the base. He came running out with an extinguisher, but I had a real nice one right behind my seat. Got the fire put out and, come to find out, this piece of copper(?) tubing on the engine had somehow vibrated down and touched the + battery post and burnt a little bit of wire insulation. We pulled the tube off the post and things didn't look to bad. So in a few minutes I got in and drove away. Even got the perk of not having to pay for my extinguisher to be refilled. It was a larger portable, refillable unit. ...Ended up using that truck for a couple more years, until I decided to buy one of them little trucks branded Dodge, but built by Mitsubishi. Got much better gas mileage than that 390 engine and geared-low transmission. Sure wish I had that old Ford now!!
 
The fact that he refused the use of the fire extinguisher pretty much guarantees that he is a pajama boy dummy who could not comprehend someone handling a problem on their own. Probably raised by one of those "strong" single baby mamas the media is always talking about.
 
That is a really nice truck, I do hope you can get it fixed.

I am amazed the truck did not catch fire a second time as you drove it home, you were very lucky. What would you have done if it had started burning again halfway home?

You should ask to talk with the store's general manager. I suspect you'll find the counter clerk did exactly what the store trained him to do, and that is what they expect all their employees to do in the future as well. If you seriously wanted to buy the fire extinguisher, you could have tried putting $100 or more in cash on the counter with a promise to cover any additional costs, but that probably would have been unsuccessful too.

I don't think you can blame the clerk for your fire. Calling him names seems wrong to me because:

It wasn't fault you didn't check over the truck before driving it (if you had checked the oil would you have seen the nest?).

It wasn't his fault you continued driving after you smelled smoke until smoke was pouring out of the hood.

It wasn't his fault you didn't have your own fire extinguisher in the truck.

When you asked for his help he did everything he was allowed to do to help you. If the guy with the fire extinguisher had not been there, would you still have been angry that the fire department showed up and refused the fire departments help?

Sorry for the rant, millennials are not the only people who like to blame others for their problems.
 
I would have grabbed the extinguisher and left. Then he could have requested the police too while he was on the phone!
 
I've had quite a few of those 4.9's, They are easy to work on. That upper manifold is a 2 piece unit, there is a bolt that is in between each of the runners to pull off the top half. The bolts are vertical, easy to see, easy to get at. Pop the top of the intake off, leave the bottom of the manifold bolted to the head, you can get right at the injectors and all of the stuff under there real easy. If you needed pictures of one to look at, I could have helped 2 months ago, but I sold my last 4.9 equipped 94 at that time. I have my 96 F250 PSD is all now.

After that statement, I know why you carry all the extra stuff in your other trucks. There ain't a whole lot up there in your neck of the woods. I worked for a couple winters on the crushers at the Rogers City limestone mine.

Ross
 
That's kind of my train of thought on it. What if you had emptied the extinguisher and then they had a fire?
 
It always amazes me the name-calling and put-downs that some of us resort to when reading about things like this. Remember, not everyone is a big, tall, handsome, strong, muscle-bound, macho, coverall-wearing crew cut hero without a beard that is looking to leap tall buildings in a single bound with his cape trailing behind in the slip stream. Probably just a regular everyday guy working 8 to 5 trying to make a living and likely trying to follow the rules that his company has set out for him to abide by.
 
JDEM- I think you did the correct thing.

You asked for the extinguisher and he said no. You left to find other means. I would have done exactly how you did.
 
Methinks he's one of those 'uninsured' fellows. Not one word about NOT having insurance. Our '96 Taurus got its windshield cracked by a rock from other side of Interstate. Insurance paid (after my $50.00 deductible) it all and my rate never went up.
 
THE TINY CABIN ...




A social worker from a big city in Massachusetts was transferred to the mountains of West Virginia.
On the first tour of her new territory she came upon the tiniest cabin she had ever seen in her life.
Intrigued, she went up and knocked on the door.

"Anybody home?" she asked.

"Yep," came a kid's voice through the door.

"Is your father there?" asked the social worker.

"Pa? Nope, he left afore Ma came in," said the kid.

"Well, is your mother there?" persisted the social worker.

"Ma? Nope, she left just afore I got here," said the kid.

"But," protested the social worker, (thinking that surely she would need to intervene in this situation)
"are you never together as a family?"

"Sure, but not here," said the kid through the door. "This is the outhouse!"

Government workers do persist despite the obstacles ...
Aren't you overjoyed that they'll soon be required to handle all our financial, educational and medical dilemmas ...
 
On the other hand, the kid refused to help in a situation he could not possibly have assessed that fast....

A lot of grey area on this, I understand both sides.

But saying we can't use emergency equipment to help someone that has an emergency because we might need it ourselves later; or the company policy is that we can't help anyone with an emergency only makes this a sadder commentary on our society, and on that I am pretty clear in my mind.

There is a point to the original message, we have been taught for 2 generations now to not get involved, to not do anything for ourselves, just lock our doors and call the authorities and turn your back on your fellow man. Leave it up to others, don't get involved.

I think that has been and is a sad commentary on our society. It is an erosion of respect and civility.

Paul
 
dr sportster, I agree.

I would not have asked, just grabbed it and said "I'll be right back!"

Then returned it with an offer to pay for a recharge.

If he called the police, I would hope they had enough sense to understand.
 
That quarry in Rogers City is one of our favorite places to park when we get dinner from Subway or McDonalds. My wife likes looking at the freighters that often come in from Lake Huron to pick up a load at the Calcite quarry. Took this photo recently from the Calcite parking lot by the lake and their port.
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Ya,if I'd been the clerk,I most likely would have dropped what I was doing,grabbed the extinguisher and ran out with it myself,but I wonder what an insurance adjuster would have said in the event of a fire in the store and you told them you emptied the extinguisher putting out a car fire a few days ago?
 
??? I don't think a person needs to be a death-defying hero to lend someone a fire extinguisher in a time of need. Come on! Technically my truck was not even on their property yet this guy had the nerve to come up to me and try to order me around? Sorry, but he was just a wimpy, sissified idiot. Makes no difference to me if he was young, old, clean shaven or looked like a bum. Just stating the facts. To be more precise -although probably not relevant, he looked like he was in his late 20s, had shoulder-length hair, and looked like he had overdosed on his "medical"marijuana. I will also note this was a Catholic charity store and that is kind of ironic. Isn't "charity" about helping others?
 
I am 67 and pride myself in being able to think for myself. That kid was probably told he would be fired for helping anyone.In all my years in field service. I sat through that lecture many times. Was told if I saw a wreck I was to keep on driving. I know one field tech. That saved a guys life and was fired for doing so. Got his job back when customers found out. Told the company George gets his job back. Or we pull our contracts. A five million dollar loss can change allot of minds. So it is not always the person not wanting to help.

Seems in the last 30 years company people stopped helping anyone. Insurance rules
.
In 1951 my father was a cab driver. Got a call to pick up a kid that had taken some poison.He got the kid had him start drinking water,rushed him to the hospital. Saved the kids life. He got a bonus,three days off with pay,article in the paper about him.
Do that today and he would be fired.
 
Well of course, shoulder length hair would automatically make him a dope smoker ..... my point exactly !!! Oh well, that's your story and you're sticking to it !!
 
We had a combine fire years ago near a local gas station.They refused to call the fire department or let me use the phone.
 
The clerk over analyzed the situation and took ownership of an emergency that was not his to own. Sometimes an emergency requires throwing the rules out the window. A lot of engine damage could have been avoided, if any available fire extinguisher had been used quickly. He had the resources at hand to help a person in dire need and refused to do so. It is a reflection on today's society.
 
Yes, it is a great view. I would go up to the top floor of the crusher building, I think it was 13 or 14 floors, and you could really see all of the quarry. Could get back down to the bottom and watch the conveyors load the freighters out. It's really something to watch them back them into the port, or push them in with a tug. When the freighter is in the load port, there can't be 6' on each side of that 1000' freighter. I could just about touch them from where I stood, just couldn't get on the ship, no TWIC card. It's really something to get a look at things inside that plant.
 
That's a pretty bold statement you make. If that happened to me, I'd just do the same thing as him and fix it. It's not really that big of a deal to fix that stuff. Better off to not include insurance so they have a reason to jack your rates due to a high squirrel population or something stupid. Many people just fix things themselves instead of relying on someone else to fix it. Insurance usually figures a way to get their money back.
 
Lesson learned............carry a fire extinguisher in all of your vehicles from now on.

Much good luck in the future.

Mark
 
Over analyzed ? Hardly. A vehicle fire of unknown origin and intensity
being fought without sufficient PPE is a great way to die ! Picture shows
truck's AC system so grabbing an extinguisher,popping the hood and putting
yourself in fumes and the chances of phosgene gas poisoning is possible.
More than enough refrigerant in system to create many times a fatal dosing. It's a
wonderful old truck but it's still just an old truck. Not worth dying over.
 
I won't get into the whole "kids these days" debate but will comment on the root cause of the fire. I leave my my 2nd p/u at a house I own near my vacant property. It's an '02 Chevy. Few weeks back the dogs were sniffing around the front end of it. Opened the hood and found this:

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These were from a tree right next to the truck. Enterprising squirrel was getting ready for winter. Some of the cones had been eaten partially or fully like corn on the cob. It had pulled some of the hood insulation down and was making a nest in the fender well. I tossed the cones, came back a week later and there were a few more in there. Last week there were none, same for yesterday. I'm hoping he got the message. But I figure I'm lucky that he didn't start chewing on wires or hoses.
 
(quoted from post at 00:03:12 10/16/17) Insurance usually figures a way to get their money back.

Yes, that is the point of it, everyone pays into the fund to help out a member of the group when they need it. Have to restore the fund when you start paying out more than you take in.... like after Harvey, Irma, Maria, CA wildfires.
 

Go after the valve cover gasket while you are there. A oil pan gasket and lifter cover gasket is in your future :( If available from Ford get all the coolant hoses you will not have to worry about them for another 20 years. You are at about the time the fuel tanks rust and cause issues be prepared to put a tank are tanks on it if you have fuel pump are injector problems. It would not hurt to remove the injectors install new o-rings and inlet filters in every injector you will be all over them at this time its not hard to do the parts are cheap. At least get the OEM number off one so if you have a injector issue down the road you can order up a set off the net cheap..

Keep this in mind if you have issues Ford has two test a KOEO (key on engine off) and KOER test (key on engine run) what ever the KOEO code is FIX THAT ONE FIRST !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvKExBOQv0M

http://www.mrinjectorparts.com/
 
But saying we can't use emergency equipment to help someone that has an emergency because we might need it ourselves later; or the company policy is that we can't help anyone with an emergency only makes this a sadder commentary on our society, and on that I am pretty clear in my mind.

Now take a step back for a second and think: If the clerk had given him the extinguisher, and the extinguisher were DEFECTIVE, now the store is liable for the damage to the truck! If he had injured himself in the use of that extinguisher, the store is liable for those injuries, "mental anguish," etc..

You never know who is running in the door in a panic. Maybe it's Mr Resourceful, or maybe it's some kook looking for a quick payday.

Also:
1. Where was your fire extinguisher?
2. Why didn't you pop the hood and check the oil if it had been sitting so long?
 
I had my Dodge catch on fire from a gas leak, fortunately was able to get the hood open. I was stopped in front of an Auto Zone, ran over there in spite of how much I despise that particular chain of parts suppliers, which is another 30 minute tirade, stuck my head in the door, hollered for an extinguisher, they hollered, right there, grabbed it without asking, put out my fire, two of the AZ people came out with wrenches to unhook the battery to prevent electrical flare up which I was too upset to think about. Asked em what I owed on the extinguisher, they said that's what it's there for. Thanked em again and they left. I guess it's where you're at when misfortune strikes will determine how much and what kind of help you're gonna get. I'm glad insurance covered mine. Lots more to the story, but l'm too long already. DP
 
Could be just a simple case of the kid trying to save your life. Ever think of that? How many of these kids today through no fault of their own (dad most likely never learned so he had nothing to pass on) know nothing about a vehicle. All he may know is that when cars catch on fire on TV and the movies the gas tank blows up. The OP said the kid yelled "stay away from your truck, I am calling 9-1-1." So it could be as simple as that. Just trying to save someone from serious injury or death.

Rick
 
(quoted from post at 10:38:09 10/16/17) Could be just a simple case of the kid trying to save your life. Ever think of that? How many of these kids today through no fault of their own (dad most likely never learned so he had nothing to pass on) know nothing about a vehicle. All he may know is that when cars catch on fire on TV and the movies the gas tank blows up. The OP said the kid yelled "stay away from your truck, I am calling 9-1-1." So it could be as simple as that. Just trying to save someone from serious injury or death.

Rick


That's what I was thinking Rick. When I think vehicle fire I think: gas line plus fire equals possible explosion. That could have been the kid's first thought too.
 
So, it's the guy who gave you the truck's fault? Perfect. Now who's avoiding responsibility for his own actions?
 

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