A Driver Mistook Transmission Stick For Dipstick Over Filled Oil. What Happened Here? 2009 Hino 268

greasytshirt

Moderator
Staff member
Mechanic
It ran away and threw a rod. This happens when oil gets into the intake, which can happen if oil is very overfilled. Diesel engines will happily burn engine oil like fuel. They'll spin up so fast it's uncontrollable, turning the key off does nothing. The only way to stop it is to stop air from entering the engine, like a piece of wood covering the intake.

The engine is destroyed. You'll have to have it replaced.

Sent from my XT1585 using EO Forums mobile app
 
  • Like
Reactions: Hino123

RETIDEPXE

Veteran Expediter
I find the fact that a modern day diesel can actually become a runaway is kind of bizarre. I suppose better turbo oil seals have maybe reduced the occurrence, but the thought of loosing an engine over a $15 seal gone bad is disturbing. You would think they could come up with a Pack brake like butterfly in the intake to stop this or a quick detach intake tube or something. Today's technology could have the ECM programmed to trigger a "no air to intake" event thru some mechanical means when it senses power gains without throttle or cruise inputs calling for more power.

When I took my '07 truck in for an unrelated problem, less then 100,000 mi.s on the odom, dealer said they found oil in the intake so replaced the turbo. I realize it could be a shop looking for work but after researching runaways, I tried killing my motor once at idle by placing a clipboard on top of the air filter face and all it did was collapsed and popped off the the plastic tube after the filter to breath. Engine never missed a beat or even sounded like it struggled for air, much less if it was a runaway at high RPM. Not legal to carry an ax but one whack on the tube before the intake would probably stop it.
 

greasytshirt

Moderator
Staff member
Mechanic
I find the fact that a modern day diesel can actually become a runaway is kind of bizarre.
Gone are the days when crankcase pressure is vented to the outside. Now it's routed into the intake. If an engine is very overfilled with oil, liquid oil can be sucked into the turbo, pushed through the intercooler, and then ingested. I've seen engines that have overheated, scuffed a piston, then ran away when the copious amounts of blowby gases are burned as fuel. YouTube has many examples of modern diesel vehicles blowing the hell up.

If I'm not mistaken, Detroit 2-strokes sometimes had optional emergency shutoff plates in the intake that blocked airflow if things went haywire. I've heard of no other engine that had them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: in-Transit

RETIDEPXE

Veteran Expediter
Greasytshirt
Gone are the days when crankcase pressure is vented to the outside. Now it's routed into the intake.

I wasn't aware of this new blow by routing but makes sense with todays emissions. My C9's vent will choke you out so I have extended electrical grade pvc to dump it way behind the sleeper. So you are saying it is routed back between the air filter and the turbo. I can see where this would be a problem, especially with newbies checking oil level on a not so level parking spot thinking it's way low when it's not.

Your bit about the Detroit 2 stroke emergency shut off got me to googling
Let Me Google That

and found this, interesting it's Caterpillar yellow, yet not made by Cat. Looks like they have several different models;
RDS2 Swing Gate Valve.jpg
 
Last edited:

greasytshirt

Moderator
Staff member
Mechanic
Looks like they have several different models
16376

They mentioned drilling rigs. If you''re pulling up oil, and natural gas is present, then you'd definitely want something like this. Honestly, this problem is relatively rare for over-the-road trucks kept in half-decent condition, and the cost and fabrication needed to install one is probably not worth it. Still interesting, however.
 

BigStickJr

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
I remember having a yard truck.
Old GMC with 238.
At the base of the blower was a spring loaded flat plate, similar to a fireplace flue damper.
Guys would pull the emergency stop cable instead of the regular stop cable.
I was the only guy onsite that knew how to reset it. Flip the lever.
 
  • Like
Reactions: greasytshirt
Top