It's totaled. Tell your insurance company, take pictures, and file a claim. Fires in the engine bay typically destroy the electronics which cost thousands. Trying to fix what the fire destroyed is a nightmare, even for an experienced mechanic, and usually something gets missed and causes problems down the road.

I never buy 'it happened to a friend' stories.

If you want to fix it then the biggest problem is how much of the electrics did it burn out. I had an engine fire years ago and did get the car repaired but not before loads of cursing from the mechanic trying to sort out the wiring.

Rule of thumb now, Fire in the engine, time for a replacement car.

yes it's totalled - it will cost him $1000's (all wasted) to fix a car (if it can even be fixed) - the insurance company will probably not allow him to keep it) that cost him $500 to buy - that's just stupid - 2 fires back to back - that car has major problems - probably a fuel leak near engine of something

I think it is his decision and you and I should keep quiet about it.

Car is worth 500.00 in good shape so unless repair is under 100.00 buy another 500.00 car.

nope it can still be driven

He drove a '89 Ford Escort with like 300 thousand miles. It was loaded at the time and everything worked it just looked a little rough on the outside. And he bought it for 500 bucks last year. Anyway last year he had a small fire but quickly put it out and fixed whatever was wrong with it. It happened when it was snowy and like -4. Yesterday it snowed and it was about 12 and the same thing happened again but he didn't catch it in time so it burned for a while before it got put out luckily it didn't explode! Both fires were contained in the engine bay. Any way he wants to get it fixed as he's saving for a new car. I think he should total it and be done with the crap. So what do you think?