My engine blew up

galwaydude18

Last wednesday I was finishing fitting a new shop in cavan town. I filled all the rubbish in my Opel Vivaro (02) to bring to the dump in cavan.. When I got to the dump I threw all the black bags into one skip. then i threw all the timber into the wood skip and just as I got to the cardboard skip the bloody f*****n engine reved the nuts off its self. I immediatly turned off the engine and the revs went all the way around..

There was a huge big cloud of smoke in dump from it. It left a trail of soot about 3 or 4 foot long after the exhaust and it also blew the lid for the coolant right up to the bonnet and dumped all the coolant all over the engine.. I'm so gutted as it turned out the van was a dud (leaking oil, burning oil and third gear went within a week!!):mad::mad: after i bought it and the p***k that I bought it off changed his number and I cant contact him since.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: I only bought the damn thing 6weeks ago for 2000 euro for which I got a loan from the credit union to buy!!!

junkyard

Well at least you were in the right place anyway, you can leave it there.

ShadowHearth

Sorry to hear it bud. But you got what you payed for. Allways be on alert when you buying cheap car bud...

It will be cheaper to get new van....

colm_mcm

At least you were already at the dump.

Get a Hiace.

ShadowHearth

junkyard wrote: »

Well at least you were in the right place anyway, you can leave it there.

LOL cruel, but i like your style

unkel

galwaydude18 wrote: »

the p***k that I bought it off changed his number and I cant contact him since.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Having his number wouldn't have changed anything. A private sale is "caveat emptor". This means you have no comeback whatsoever after you buy the car. Sorry for your troubles, but 2k seems very cheap for that van. Did you have it checked out? I suppose it's an expensive lesson you learned

galwaydude18

Ya least I was in the dump and not on the way home to galway! I would have been stranded then all together! The worst of it is I'm now 2grand in the red and have nothing to show for it!!!!!

galwaydude18

No I didn't have it checked out unfortunatly!!! Wish I had now.. Well the mechanic I use told me that regardless of it being a private sale that it still has to come with a warrenty if there is something seriously wrong with a vehicle after a short period of buying it..

ShadowHearth

ah bud, 2k is not that bad...

Mine misses had a head on crash in clk200 which costed me 8k eu. It was her fault and we had only TFT cover...

Just happy she is okay, and not even scratch on her, 8k well spend. Atleast you didnt payed 10k for VAN bud...

junkyard

Opels are sh!te anyway, I don't know why people buy them, the number of Astras and Vectras I've come across with blown engines.........I've lost count tbh there were so many.

galwaydude18

It's bad for someone who is not working the whole time! I'm trying to get on the back to work scheme with the social welfare system as self employed so 2k is a right kick in the arse when i don't have it to spare! Glad your misses is ok..

Anyone know what would cause an engine to rev the nuts off it's self like mine did?

alias no.9

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Anyone know what would cause an engine to rev the nuts off it's self like mine did?

Is it a Renault engine? I think the Vivaro is a badge engineered Renault Traffic, Renault diesels are known for burning up on their own engine oil.

galwaydude18

Ya it's the same engine in the renault traffic, the nissan primastar and the ope vivaro. They are all renualt engines.. They are all the same van apart from the badge..

HungryJoey

I seen one of these do the same before.. walking through the village I see smoke about 1km down the road, when I got to it the van was revving the nuts off its self even though it was switched off. From what I heard what happened, it leaked oil into the combustion chamber (something to do with the turbo leaking oil) and it compresses and ignites.

I even have a picture of its soot trail.. *Goes digging*

bonzodog2

I'm not an expert on this, but if it was my vehicle doing this, and it wouldn't respond to turning the key off, I'd put it in gear, brakes on, and stall it

Brabus

My deepest sympathies OP, it is cruel.

I'm in the process of buying a van and nearly threw up when I read your post about what happened.
And as well it would be something around that age that I could only afford to buy.

Now I having a serious rethink about what to do...:(

2 stroke

I,ve seen 2 engines do this, but both were undamaged. I still drive one 3 years later. I stopped both engines with foot on brake in top gear.
If an engine has been laid up/not driven much, water builds up in the sump from condensation. Then when engine oil reaches 100°c (you left engine ticking over) water in sump boils and forces oil past the rings/valves. Your engine may noy be any worse than it was before this happened. If your van still srarts change the oil & filter and see how it runs.
The engines that i've seen survive this were non turbo, I recon the turbo would sort of add fuel to the fire, you say clock went arround, doesn't sound good.

Mr Benevolent

The engine probably started running on sump oil and self destructed. Caveat emptor. Stalling it would have stopped the destruction but you wouldn't be able to start it again without a rebuild anyway. Count yourself lucky it didn't happen on the open road.

mondeo

2k is not a hugh amount of money.... scrap the van and see how much you make back on it.... Opel is one of the last makes I would buy...can't stand them and don't know why people buy them..

fullstop

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Anyone know what would cause an engine to rev the nuts off it's self like mine did?

Happened to my Astra when the turbo blew, engine then wouldn't switch off so I had to stall it.

PCPhoto

surprised no-one has mentioned this yet ......

OP dont you have insurance on the car - if so, car will be replaced ? ...so you'll will be able to get another.

daveharnett

PCPhoto wrote: »

surprised no-one has mentioned this yet ......

OP dont you have insurance on the car - if so, car will be replaced ? ...so you'll will be able to get another.

Don't know of any normal insurance policy that will replace a car that breaks down, PCPhoto. 'Breakdown Cover' means that they will tow it to a garage, lend you a car while it's being fixed, and maybe put you up for the night if you're away from home, NOT that they will replace/fix it.

galwaydude18

I don't think normal fully comp insurance on a commercial vehicle will cover me for the loss of the engine.. I wish it was that easy. If it was that what I would be doing...

fullstop

PCPhoto wrote: »

surprised no-one has mentioned this yet ......

OP dont you have insurance on the car - if so, car will be replaced ? ...so you'll will be able to get another.

LOL

kasper

running those renault engines with the engine oil just barely over the maxium on the dipstick can cause this to happen ,when changing oil i would always fill them slightly under the max just to be on the safe side

Blue850

Blown engine in Galway???? Tell your insurance you hit a flood of water......:D

galwaydude18

Blue850 I wish I could but the damn thing is stuck up in cavan.. Anyhow that would be illegal. ha ha ha

kasper isn't running any engine with two much oil no matter how little over the max line it is bad for an engine? It's as bad a running an engine without enough oil!

kasper

once it is between the min and the max its right ,not below the minium or above the maxium

galwaydude18

Ya that is what I always aim for..

stepbar

If you're looking for a van my ould man has one for sale

http://adverts.ie/161172

I'm sure we could come to some sort of deal.

galwaydude18

Thanks stepbar wish I had the money to buy that van but unfortunatly the only way I could pay for a van at the moment is through weekly payments... Don't have any money spare to fork out for a new van... Such misery!!!!

Fishtits

OP I'm sorry for your troubles as they say, but. On a tangent.

Am I they only one that finds these f**king vans, whatever manufacturer, blinding to drive in front of?

They have high mounted lamps and they are a pain in the butt to have following you.

Rant over.

stepbar

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Thanks stepbar wish I had the money to buy that van but unfortunatly the only way I could pay for a van at the moment is through weekly payments... Don't have any money spare to fork out for a new van... Such misery!!!!

pity its a good van... The only reason the ould man is sellin cause he bought a new one... Fool if u ask me!

stepbar

As i've said we could do a deal. Pm me if u think you could.

Savman

Ah I remember my Vivaro well! Well enough to know I'll never touch another Opel nor anything remotely connected with f*cking Renault. :mad:

Duff luck OP, but 2k isn't too bad a write off and defo coulda been much much worse. Shoulda bought a Hiace.

Greenman

junkyard wrote: »

Opels are sh!te anyway, I don't know why people buy them, the number of Astras and Vectras I've come across with blown engines.........I've lost count tbh there were so many.

So far so good, but still driving my Opel Vectra 1990 1.7D. Not sure if they are all bad.:):):)

OP hope you get sorted.

The turbo seals were probably worn, engine oil was sucked into the turbo, a diesel doesn't require ignition to run so when you turned it off even though the fuel (diesel) supply was cut off she ran on the engine oil, until it used it all up, at which point the engine seized presumably.

If its any consolation stalling it probably would not have stopped it due to the torque of the diesel engine, may have but not definitely. Best way to stop a "runaway" diesel is to choke it by stopping air getting in, not easy to do in the real world when you only have a few minutes.

Your mechanic is incorrect too, private sale with worn turbo seals means no comeback unfortunately.

Sorry to hear about this, not good when you see someone having a bad luck incident when they are trying to get on their feet.

johndaman66

Greenman wrote: »

So far so good, but still driving my Opel Vectra 1990 1.7D. Not sure if they are all bad.

Greenman I may be wrong and advance apologies if I am but I think the engine in your car might be an Isuzu sourced engine. I do know that the 1.7 diesel engine in the late 95 model onwards Vectra is Isuzu sourced and they are virtually indestructable engines. Aside from that I think that Opel diesel engines are generally not too bad but no doubt you could get better too. I think the problem here lies in the fact that we are talking about a Renault sourced engine. IMHO and from experience Renault are uselsess unreliable junky heaps. OP I sincerely sympatise with you but unfortunately you would not have any legal comeback against a private seller despite what the mechanic told you.

Fishtits I do agree with you. Its a ba$tard to have one of them yokes stuck behind you with its lights on!:mad:

zilog_jones

johndaman66 wrote: »

Greenman I may be wrong and advance apologies if I am but I think the engine in your car might be an Isuzu sourced engine.

You are correct.

Ferris

Surely it wouldnt cost too much to throw in a replacement engine. I reakon 600-1000 op. Some scrappies give a 6mth warranty on engines too.

Barr

Sounds like you bought a lemon , I would be furious to say the least. The vendor had to know of the issues . I would get his address from the tax office and show up at his door.

The fact he changed his number just goes to show what a tosser.

johndaman66

Barr wrote: »

Sounds like you bought a lemon , I would be furious to say the least. The vendor had to know of the issues . I would get his address from the tax office and show up at his door.

The fact he changed his number just goes to show what a tosser.

I very very much doubt if the motor tax office would freely give out addresses like that Barr. Even if they did I don't see how OP would get any joy (financial) out of the situation if he bought van privately. Apart from confronting vendor and giving him a piece of his mind and maybe a potential boxing match I can't see OP getting any joy. If the vendor casually trades in motor vehicles the situation might be a somewhat more in the OP's favour though.

galwaydude18

Unfortunatly the f****n seller didnt have his name on the log book... He still had the owner before him on it! If his address was on it I would have gone to him and give him a piece of my mind. Unfortunatly it was a lemon and I'm stuck with it now when I am trying to get back onto my feet...

Greenman

johndaman66 wrote: »

Greenman I may be wrong and advance apologies if I am but I think the engine in your car might be an Isuzu sourced engine. I do know that the 1.7 diesel engine in the late 95 model onwards Vectra is Isuzu sourced and they are virtually indestructable engines. Aside from that I think that Opel diesel engines are generally not too bad but no doubt you could get better too.

Not to hijack but great news re my engine just need to keep the rust at bay.:)

Re Renault, don't like French cars one bit, I think Nissan went down hill when Renault took them over.

johndaman66

Greenman wrote: »

Re Renault, don't like French cars one bit, I think Nissan went down hill when Renault took them over.

A friends mother has a 03 model Nissan Micra with a Renault engine and its a heap of junk which is plauged with persistant engine problems. My first car was a diesel Renault Megavan, don't get me started on that!

galwaydude18

galwaydude18 wrote: »

Unfortunatly the f****n seller didnt have his name on the log book... He still had the owner before him on it! If his address was on it I would have gone to him and give him a piece of my mind. Unfortunatly it was a lemon and I'm stuck with it now when I am trying to get back onto my feet...

Possible sells a few on the side so, do you know his name and where he lives ?

Guy:Incognito

johndaman66 wrote: »

A friends mother has a 03 model Nissan Micra with a Renault engine and its a heap of junk which is plauged with persistant engine problems. My first car was a diesel Renault Megavan, don't get me started on that!

If I'm not mistaken, the petrol engines in the Micra are Nissans own.

teednab-el

johndaman66 wrote: »

I do know that the 1.7 diesel engine in the late 95 model onwards Vectra is Isuzu sourced and they are virtually indestructable engines.

You should try and stall that engine. Virtually impossible. Couldnt be done I dont think. I couldnt do it anyway. Tractor Engine.

teednab-el

Greenman wrote: »

Not to hijack but great news re my engine just need to keep the rust at bay.:)

Re Renault, don't like French cars one bit, I think Nissan went down hill when Renault took them over.

No wonder Renault are doing a scrappage scheme!

teednab-el

teednab-el wrote: »

You should try and stall that engine. Virtually impossible. Couldnt be done I dont think. I couldnt do it anyway. Tractor Engine.

Very good engine but dog slow and not torquey either.

Guy:Incognito

We have a relatively low mileage (70k ish iirc) Opel combo van with that 1.7 Izuzu engine sitting outside the office that ate itself a few months back. Engine imploded and siezed. Think it's an 03 or 04.