On my way home today I saw my first run away diesel at the roadside, at first from a distance I thought it was the steam coming up from a traction engine but as the traffic squeezed passed there was a newish people carrier was revving it's heart out parked on the verge.
Is there anything can be done to stop them?
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>> Is there anything can be done to stop them?
Stalling the engine?
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How would they have done that? I'm sure I read somewhere about blocking up the exhaust pipe but I'm not sure how practical that would have been.
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>>>> Stalling the engine?
>> How would they have done that?
Put it in the highest gear and drop the clutch.
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 11 Jun 12 at 01:22
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The car had already stopped on a grass verge facing uphill along the A303 so you can imagine the amount of traffic trying to get by.
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>> >>>> Stalling the engine?
>> >> How would they have done that?
>> Put it in the highest gear and drop the clutch.
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Not easy with auto's....
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>> Is there anything can be done to stop them?
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1/ check the oil level regularly.
2/ Use it hard, so the DPF actually finishes its cycle.
3/ don't buy a bleeding diesel in the first place!
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Pour petrol on it and set fire to it.
At least that way you can claim insurance....
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Too difficult to get these days. Unleaded is cheaper, more readily available and will burn just as well.
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Only way to stop them is to block the air intake and hope the rest of the air intake system doesn't leak.
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CO2 fire extinguisher into the air intake.
Last edited by: sooty tailpipes on Mon 11 Jun 12 at 10:32
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Fit Fujimoto drain valve to sump, as standard practice. Well, I would if I had a diesel again. In event of a runaway, open valve, drain (into a container of course), removing fuel supply from combustion process. Engine will stop:)
Last edited by: NIL on Mon 11 Jun 12 at 10:45
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Well you can lie under the sump of a runaway diesel, the rest of us will comfort your widdow!
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It would save the cost of cremation, I suppose. Rather like part-baked bread....
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>> CO2 fire extinguisher into the air intake.
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I guess the old trick of jamming a spud ( King Edwards were best) up the exhaust would not work with modern cars. :-)
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Thought it was a banana. That's what we did to an ice cream van once, with hilarious results (we were kids)
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>> Is there anything can be done to stop them?
I do know of one thing. When I was driving 3 ton multidrops, one of my colleagues took out a Beford TK with a flat battery. At the first stop he did the "pull the key quickly" trick to keep the engine running and charging the battery while he dropped off.
After completing his delivery, he jumped back in and roared off down the road. Unfortunately, he had neglected to put the key back into the ignition and was sharply reminded of his error when the steering lock activated come the first corner.
Driving a diesel at full chat through a wall, across a garden and into someone's front room stops it nicely.
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My VAG PD has a flap on the inlet manifold, which shuts off the air supply to the engine when you switch off. The idea is that it stops the "shudder" most diesels experience when shut down, by making sure that the piston on its compression stroke at the time doesn't suddenly stop dead against a cylinder full of air. It does work well. For what is a generally rough and ready engine, it does stop remarkably smoothly, and without the sudden jolt of most diesels.
Anyhoo, I sometimes wonder if this system would be strong enough to stop a runaway PD? Or would it be simply torn from its mountings and ingested by the engine, adding to general catastrophic nature of events? The valve also only closes for a couple of seconds, and then cycles back to open. It would be touch and go whether, even if it did provide a good enough seal, it did so for long enough.
A runaway occurred on a friend's Freelander diesel a couple of years ago. When it did eventually use enough of its oil that the bearings ran dry at 5000+ RPM, the sound it made apparently brought tears to his eyes. "Pure mechanical agony", was how he described it.
Needless to say, it never ran again.
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As I said this was my first sight of a diesel going into self-destruct mode, although there were many onlookers it didn't seem there was anything they could do but just watch and wait.
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Run away diesel - rtj70
