That engine fire on I-95 taught me a hard lesson about zip ties

I was rolling southbound near Richmond last Thursday when I saw smoke pouring from under the hood of a 2015 Freightliner. Pulled over and popped the hood. A fuel line had rubbed through where I had zip tied it too tight against a bracket. The vibration wore a hole in it over maybe 6 months. Dumped a bottle of water on the small fire and called it lucky. Now I use those rubber-lined clamps for anything near moving parts. Anyone else had a fix come back to bite them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

ward.piper1mo ago

Six months is exactly the kind of timeline that gets you, you know? It's long enough to forget you even made that fix.

robinson.holly1mo ago

Oh man, yes! I do that all the time. I'll patch up something around the house, feel really proud of myself, and then six months later I'm scratching my head wondering why that corner of the fence is suddenly leaning again. It's like my brain just hits a delete button on anything I fixed more than a season ago. The worst is when you can't even find the tools you used because they got buried in the garage somewhere. You're totally right, that timeline is a real trap.