Diesel Overrun and dealers

[ruff'n'smov]

This morning I had nothing to do, found myself watching The , a programme similar to bailiffs, where they in force high court writs.

Anyway one guy had been awarded a sum of money against a second hand car dealer, because by the sounds of it, the car he purchased with no warranty, suffered from diesel overrun about 1 month after he bought it.

Now this guy went to court after the dealer refused to fix it stating overrun could happen at anytime. The buyer took him to court and used the sales of goods act 'not fit for purpose' bit. and won.

Now my question is - Could the dealer have anticipated a potential problem like the one which happened and if not how was he liable.?

My thought were that he couldn't anticipated the fault so was unlucky in having to pay up.

[HustleRussell]

I agree with you. Runaway diesels are a rare occurance, you wouldn't be able to anticipate it even if the turbo was on it's way out or you were getting serious blow by.

[HustleRussell]

Well obviously you'd be aware of it as a possibility but surely the engine would be using a lot of oil, to the extent that it'd be apparent to the prospective buyer. A lot of stuff can happen in a month, he could've filled it to the brim with oil...

[rijmij99]

what the hell is over run on a diesel? i'm guessing by the comments its not the same as when you get over run on a twin carbed car from the 80's and you get the lovely pop-pop-pop

[wst]

rijmij99 said:

what the hell is over run on a diesel? i'm guessing by the comments its not the same as when you get over run on a twin carbed car from the 80's and you get the lovely pop-pop-pop

It's when the engine starts using its own lubricating oil as fuel, so even shutting off the fuel supply doesn't stop it running. It'll go faster and faster until it either seizes or disintegrates.

Caused usually by a vacuum leak. Can be stopped by putting a rag over the air intake or squirting a CO2 fire extinguisher into the intake.

[MondeoMan1981]

rijmij99 said:

what the hell is over run on a diesel? i'm guessing by the comments its not the same as when you get over run on a twin carbed car from the 80's and you get the lovely pop-pop-pop

Its when a diesel engine starts to run on its own oil and you cant turn it off without starving the air supply or waiting til it uses all its oil, over-revs, goes bang.

I think

[rijmij99]

Bloody hell does this happen a lot? I never thought I'd feel more concerned about driving a C Max over a ropey 80's Italian car

[Graebob]

More often called "runaway".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zx3qKX_Pno

To paraphrase; "Some poo's come out!"

[PugwasHDJ80]

wst said:

rijmij99 said:

what the hell is over run on a diesel? i'm guessing by the comments its not the same as when you get over run on a twin carbed car from the 80's and you get the lovely pop-pop-pop

It's when the engine starts using its own lubricating oil as fuel, so even shutting off the fuel supply doesn't stop it running. It'll go faster and faster until it either seizes or disintegrates.

Caused usually by a vacuum leak. Can be stopped by putting a rag over the air intake or squirting a CO2 fire extinguisher into the intake.

Just as likely to be overfilled with oil though......which could haev been a deciding factor in this case.

[ruff'n'smov]

rijmij99 said:

what the hell is over run on a diesel? i'm guessing by the comments its not the same as when you get over run on a twin carbed car from the 80's and you get the lovely pop-pop-pop

It where a diesel engine uses oil from the sump as fuel because of worn seals usually until it basically eats itself,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw2r_lIRgpY

[lexusboy]

rijmij99 said:

what the hell is over run on a diesel? i'm guessing by the comments its not the same as when you get over run on a twin carbed car from the 80's and you get the lovely pop-pop-pop

http://youtu.be/Fw2r_lIRgpY

[okie592]

Could you not stall the car if that happened?

[Graebob]

okie592 said:

Could you not stall the car if that happened?

Technically yes, hard on the brakes and put it in a high gear, dump the clutch. You might struggle if it's already running fast though, torquey diesel may well shred the clutch if it's running high RPM.

[daemon]

ruff'n'smov said:

This morning I had nothing to do, found myself watching The , a programme similar to bailiffs, where they in force high court writs.

Anyway one guy had been awarded a sum of money against a second hand car dealer, because by the sounds of it, the car he purchased with no warranty, suffered from diesel overrun about 1 month after he bought it.

Now this guy went to court after the dealer refused to fix it stating overrun could happen at anytime. The buyer took him to court and used the sales of goods act 'not fit for purpose' bit. and won.

Now my question is - Could the dealer have anticipated a potential problem like the one which happened and if not how was he liable.?

My thought were that he couldn't anticipated the fault so was unlucky in having to pay up.

How much money was the guy awarded?

[ruff'n'smov]

daemon said:

ruff'n'smov said:

This morning I had nothing to do, found myself watching The , a programme similar to bailiffs, where they in force high court writs.

Anyway one guy had been awarded a sum of money against a second hand car dealer, because by the sounds of it, the car he purchased with no warranty, suffered from diesel overrun about 1 month after he bought it.

Now this guy went to court after the dealer refused to fix it stating overrun could happen at anytime. The buyer took him to court and used the sales of goods act 'not fit for purpose' bit. and won.

Now my question is - Could the dealer have anticipated a potential problem like the one which happened and if not how was he liable.?

My thought were that he couldn't anticipated the fault so was unlucky in having to pay up.

How much money was the guy awarded?

Just slightly less than what he paid for the car. Say he paid about 3200 for the car he got about 2850 back

[300bhp/ton]

ruff'n'smov said:

This morning I had nothing to do, found myself watching The , a programme similar to bailiffs, where they in force high court writs.

Anyway one guy had been awarded a sum of money against a second hand car dealer, because by the sounds of it, the car he purchased with no warranty, suffered from diesel overrun about 1 month after he bought it.

Now this guy went to court after the dealer refused to fix it stating overrun could happen at anytime. The buyer took him to court and used the sales of goods act 'not fit for purpose' bit. and won.

Now my question is - Could the dealer have anticipated a potential problem like the one which happened and if not how was he liable.?

My thought were that he couldn't anticipated the fault so was unlucky in having to pay up.

Justice and the legal system aren't quite the same thing.

[MikeyMike]

Graebob said:

Technically yes, hard on the brakes and put it in a high gear, dump the clutch. You might struggle if it's already running fast though, torquey diesel may well shred the clutch if it's running high RPM.

Thankfully I managed to do just that when my 306 1.9 dturbo went into overrun (I suspect there's a better way to put it than that!)

It's really quite an unpleasant experience, I'd just joined the M4 when it just started to accelerate of its own accord with an impressive plume of acrid smoke trailing in my wake. I was trying to control the speed with the brakes whilst trying to think of a way to stop the bloody thing. I got over onto the hard shoulder, the engine screaming away, and then managed to stall it in 5th. Relief doesn't even cover it.

[daemon]

ruff'n'smov said:

daemon said:

ruff'n'smov said:

This morning I had nothing to do, found myself watching The , a programme similar to bailiffs, where they in force high court writs.

Anyway one guy had been awarded a sum of money against a second hand car dealer, because by the sounds of it, the car he purchased with no warranty, suffered from diesel overrun about 1 month after he bought it.

Now this guy went to court after the dealer refused to fix it stating overrun could happen at anytime. The buyer took him to court and used the sales of goods act 'not fit for purpose' bit. and won.

Now my question is - Could the dealer have anticipated a potential problem like the one which happened and if not how was he liable.?

My thought were that he couldn't anticipated the fault so was unlucky in having to pay up.

How much money was the guy awarded?

Just slightly less than what he paid for the car. Say he paid about 3200 for the car he got about 2850 back

Feck

[Mr2Mike]

Graebob said:

More oftenAlways called "runaway".

I've never heard the term "Over run" applied to diesel runaway.

[rijmij99]

How does One stop this from happening?