Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Engine caught fire -- what happened?

Spoke to the insurance adjustor this morning: My insurer, Allstate, will pay for damage caused by the engine fire but won't pay for the cause of the fire itself. And that makes sense. So, let's say it was the water pump that went out which caused the engine to overheat which caused whatever to catch on fire -- I'll be responsible for that replacement. Fine. But where it gets tricky, in my mind, is if there's internal damage beyond what the fire obviously caused outside the engine. Will the insurance inspector, who will view the damage tomorrow, say, for instance, "the internal damage is due to the failed water pump, and we're not paying." Or will the inspector claim that the heat from the fire caused the internal damage (if any)?

And Bill D. -- you've got me thinking it was the water pump. There was noticeable pinging before the fire. But as I said before, I pulled over as soon as I first noticed the temp. gauge spiking (which was at least 45 minutes before the engine eventually caught fire I should add) but the engine was COOL to the touch. I just don't get it. Something's not quite adding up here.