Runaway Diesel - Engine Blown?

[IronRobi]

TLDR: Turbo leaking oil, motor runaway for around 5s, stalled when slamming brakes, no engine won't crank at all. Blown?

Last week the wife had a runaway situation on the highway. She was cruising around 120km/hr when all of a sudden it started accelerating on it's own. At around 150km/hr she slammed the brakes, the engine stalled, and she pulled off to the side of the road safely.

Towed it to the local euro indy shop, and the next morning they called to tell me they popped off the intake pipe and it was covered with oil, and they could see oil leaking from the turbo. They suspected the turbo let go but couldn't look at it until today.

They pushed it in today, and before starting the process of tearing down the turbos and putting in new ones they wanted to make sure it didn't take the motor out at the same time. They can't get the motor to crank at all. Even jumping the starter does nothing. They didn't have the specialized crank tool on hand to try turning it over at the crank and it'll take a few days to get it in.

I've seen runaways where the engine sits and revs for minutes. This whole scenario was done in a matter of seconds. My hope was when she slammed on the brakes the ASV did it's job and shut down the engine and I'd have my excuse to put in a set of hybrid turbos. But now, if the engine is shot with it, the cost to repair will outweigh the value of the vehicle.

I know nobody can say for certain without the vehicle in front of them, but wondering if anybody has any insight on other possible scenarios where the engine won't even attempt to turn over that could give me some hope?

[andrewwynn]

Seems all the replies were smoked in the database crash.

Did you ever see the comments about hydrolock?

If an injector stuck open it will not only runaway the engine initially it will fill a cylinder with diesel and you will not need able to crank.

A similar thing happened on a petrol model on XO recently, the engine was written off and then after sold, the buyer removed the plugs, cranked the engine to blow out the oil, put the plugs back in and drove away.

[IronRobi]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Seems all the replies were smoked in the database crash.

Did you ever see the comments about hydrolock?

If an injector stuck open it will not only runaway the engine initially it will fill a cylinder with diesel and you will not need able to crank.

A similar thing happened on a petrol model on XO recently, the engine was written off and then after sold, the buyer removed the plugs, cranked the engine to blow out the oil, put the plugs back in and drove away.

It's a good thought. I'll mention it to the shop in the morning.

Another thought I had is the main engine ground. The original one corroded on me a few years back and gave me similar issues. Engine wouldn't even try to crank. Instead of replacing with another one at ground level, I put one up top, right in the area they'd be working in. If they disconnected that for access, the engine wouldn't crank either.

Fingers crossed it's something simple like these ideas.

[andrewwynn]

Ground wouldn’t explain runaway and the won’t crank I thought it sounded more like it tries to crank but won’t. I’m very interested to find out more. Finders definitely crossed it’s

[Clavurion]

If you don't have the special tool on vibration damper the engine can be turned on one of the torx bolts on vibration damper. The torque required to turn engine is much less the tightening torque on those bolts. If the engine doesn't rotate by hand it must be hydrolocked. Then remove intake manifold and glow plug and and try turning again. Engine can be run without intake manifold (of course glow plugs reinstalled) so you can see how the engine runs. While running you can check injector correctional values which also tell if there is loss of compression on some cylinder.

[IronRobi]

So just an update almost 9 months after the incident.

It was indeed a runaway situation. The turbo blew and sent oil into the engine, which then caused the engine to blow. When the shop pulled the engine out there was a hole the size of a softball in the side of the block.

Interestingly, my insurance company covered the repair costs. Since the turbo flooded the engine with oil, it hydrolocked. And I had coverage for a hydrolocked engine. Typically it's a situation of running into water, but it didn't seem to matter since fluid is fluid.

I've picked the thing up 3 times now and each time had to bring it back right away before making it home.
First time it kept stalling on me trying to get on the highway. Ended up being 2 injectors in bank #1.
Second time there was an extremely strong diesel smell when I came to a stop and I noticed smoke coming from under the hood. Ended up being the fuel return line was cracked.
And finally picked it up today, and got a CEL for injector #2, which is one of the ones replaced.

Also noticed my passenger headlight is no longer sweeping on start and is pointed straight down and neither headlight is moving left/right. I figure they had them out when pulling out the engine and probably forgot to plug it back in.

At this point it's been so damn long I don't even remember what it's like to drive it

[andrewwynn]

Headlights will park down of the right front sensor is out of whack which can happen just from being lifted up and back down (the sensor arm can flip at the joint).

[IronRobi]

Originally Posted by andrewwynn

Headlights will park down of the right front sensor is out of whack which can happen just from being lifted up and back down (the sensor arm can flip at the joint).

This would cause both of them to point down though, since it's one sensor to detect height for both right?
I just took it out on my street and they're both turning left/right. Drivers side sweeps up/down on startup and passenger doesn't. So my working theory is the vertical adjustment lever popped out of its socket on the passenger light. I'm assuming they had it out when they pulled the motor for more room.

[andrewwynn]

If only one not working look at just that side. The actuator arm inside the light housing can come off I've seen that happen.