Runaway! (Diesel)
Discussion
So I saw my first runaway diesel today on the M2 (Renault Laguna if anyone cares).
Looked kinda like this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zx3qKX_Pno
It certainly made an impressive smoke cloud, but can anything be done in this situation to kill the engine or do you just have to wait for it to lunch itself/ wait till it runs out of oil?
Looked kinda like this; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zx3qKX_Pno
It certainly made an impressive smoke cloud, but can anything be done in this situation to kill the engine or do you just have to wait for it to lunch itself/ wait till it runs out of oil?
Larry Dickman said:
Yep stall it & save the engine, It's happened to me before in lane 3 of the M25 & I was lucky enough to make it to the hard shoulder & stall it before doing any damage to the engine. I had a ride home with the AA & put a second hand turbo on which I had in stock & was away again.
Huh, I just assumed that if an engine got to that state it would be buggered beyond economic repair anyway. What did it feel like when the problem started? Did the car just begin accelarating as the extra fuel got combusted?In my case the impeller shaft in the turbo snapped, probably due to a seized bearing, but sometimes the oil seals in the turbo go so the engine runs on engine oil pumped straight from the sump. It's only the turbo that's broke & not the engine & if stalled quick enough no damage will be done & all you'll need is another turbo.
Let the engine run flat out until it seizes & you'll need a new engine as well as turbo.
ETA. Sometimes it's the diesel pump that goes & the engine will run flat out until it dies but the same thing applies, stall it as quick as possible to save the engine.
Let the engine run flat out until it seizes & you'll need a new engine as well as turbo.
ETA. Sometimes it's the diesel pump that goes & the engine will run flat out until it dies but the same thing applies, stall it as quick as possible to save the engine.
Edited by Larry Dickman on Saturday 11th September 23:01
carreauchompeur said:
How does this happen??
Usually when the turbo bearings/seals are fooked on a turbo diesel engine, its draws the oil into the engine and burns it. Because diesel engines are compression ignition and not spark ignition, turning off the ignition won't help. Only thing you can do is either try to stall the engine or let it die.Edited by Egg Chaser on Saturday 11th September 23:01
Egg Chaser said:
carreauchompeur said:
How does this happen??
Usually when the turbo bearings/seals are fooked on a turbo diesel engine, its draws the oil into the engine and burns it. Because diesel engines are compression ignition and not spark ignition, turning off the ignition won't help. Only thing you can do is either try to stall the engine or let it die.Edited by Egg Chaser on Saturday 11th September 23:01
happened to me once in a daihatsu fourtrack. stopped in dense traffic approaching a roundabout, pulled the keys out and looked like a plum holding them in one hand with plumes of white smoke everywhere. brought the whole roundabout to a stop before then engine drank itself dry. in hindsight, should've stalled it but probably would've put it in forst and ended up mounting the car infront. this was 5 miles after picking it up from a full service at a backstreet garage. hm.
Baffled Spoon said:
Egg Chaser said:
carreauchompeur said:
How does this happen??
Usually when the turbo bearings/seals are fooked on a turbo diesel engine, its draws the oil into the engine and burns it. Because diesel engines are compression ignition and not spark ignition, turning off the ignition won't help. Only thing you can do is either try to stall the engine or let it die.Edited by Egg Chaser on Saturday 11th September 23:01
Edit- if it was only a small amount of oil going into the engine, then it would ignite, but it wouldn't be able to rev uncontrollably as turning off the ignition would stall it.
Edited by Egg Chaser on Saturday 11th September 23:19
Egg Chaser said:
carreauchompeur said:
How does this happen??
Usually when the turbo bearings/seals are fooked on a turbo diesel engine, its draws the oil into the engine and burns it. Because diesel engines are compression ignition and not spark ignition, turning off the ignition won't help. Only thing you can do is either try to stall the engine or let it die.Fort Jefferson said:
Egg Chaser said:
carreauchompeur said:
How does this happen??
Usually when the turbo bearings/seals are fooked on a turbo diesel engine, its draws the oil into the engine and burns it. Because diesel engines are compression ignition and not spark ignition, turning off the ignition won't help. Only thing you can do is either try to stall the engine or let it die.
Of course it would happen from any oil into the cylinders, but the most common reason is turbo failure.pugwash4x4 said:
you can always stuff a rag in the intake- DON'T put your hand over it though!
A rag could get sucked in. They ought to have a mechanical shut-off flap in the air intake, but not many people would be brave enough to get near the engine when it was revving its nuts off.Negative Creep said:
Do modern diesels still have an emergency cut off switch on the fuel pump?
That wouldn't help as they're running on engine oil.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff