Gas Recirculation Valve (egr Valve) problems of the 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse

I had no problem out of car leading up to the point at hand. I started the car and turned on the heat. The car ran for about 30 to 35 minutes. Ar was warm inside, I had to turn the heat off. I left my friends house headed up north i81. My car had no signs of problems. The car shot flames out either side of the car and my engine had exploded. I coasted down the road to put the flames out pulled into the emegency lane. Jumped out told my girlfriend to get out and away from the car. The engine was on fire still at this point. Luckaily a friend of mine had been following me and had something to extinguish the rest of the fire. The car was sold to me with the remainer of the power train warrenty. A Mitsubishi rep read the computer codes. He said since the water temp read 64 degrees the car had been abused. Mitsubishi never contacted me to see if I had maintenance records. Which indeed I do have those documents. Plus I had 7 witnesses that night that knew the heat was working fine, meaning the water temp was above 64 degrees. Now how can a low water temp cause an engine to throw a rod. And catch on fire? o action was taken it actually took Mitsubishi 3 months to decide the care would not be covered under warranty.