Smoke filled M50

Gone Drinking

Was driving to work around five or ten past 11 this morning. I was heading southbound on the M50, near enough exit 14.

I saw a load of smoke covering the whole of the Northbound side. Looked like that scene from days of thunder, couldn't see cars till they were coming out of it.

As I drove past, I saw the cause. A white Ford Focus van was sitting there on the hard shoulder running at red line revs, pouring smoke out of the exhaust.

There was a guy, who I assume was the owner standing a couple of meter's behind it. Just sitting waiting.

Looked like the engine was revving out because the smoke was being shot out the back of the van at high speed. The guy had just left the car running. Maybe he couldn't turn the engine off for some reason.

Did anyone else see it? Any clue what was going on?

jimgoose

Runaway diesel?

Cheensbo

Runaway diesel :eek::eek:

Did it look like this??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zx3qKX_Pno

Either that or DGT was knocking around :pac:

jimgoose

Cheensbo wrote: »

Runaway diesel :eek::eek:

Did it look like this??

...

Either that or DGT was knocking around :pac:

...or since the smoke was pale it might've been spending its last minutes burning coolant, due to a popped head-gasket or something.

Gone Drinking

Never heard of a runaway diesel before. Just read about them now, crazy!

Similar to the video but this smoke was very white and was only coming out of the back of the car.

New enough focus as well, id say 2007 or thereabouts.

Bigcheeze

Turbo seal failure. apparently it can happen to any turbo diesel.

Gone Drinking

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Turbo seal failure. apparently it can happen to any turbo diesel.

Yep, that's exactly how it looked.

I'd say the cars driving through it were bricking themselves.

jimgoose

Bigcheeze wrote: »

Turbo seal failure. apparently it can happen to any turbo diesel.
...

Aye, or crankcase over-pressurisation from blow-by.

Bigcheeze

He should have been able to stall the focus if he put it into gear and let the clutch out with the brakes on. I guess you can't stall an automatic.

Buffman

Bigcheeze wrote: »

I guess you can't stall an automatic.

Yep, you'd have to go for the air intake on a automatic.

(Skip to 1.30)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRaqgab0_w

Supergurrier

Cheensbo wrote: »

Runaway diesel :eek::eek:

Did it look like this??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zx3qKX_Pno

Either that or DGT was knocking around :pac:

Ahh yes minister we know diesel is clearly the cleanest fuel....

jimgoose

Buffman wrote: »

Yep, you'd have to go for the air intake on a automatic.

(Skip to 1.30)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NRaqgab0_w

Lotta them DD engines are two-stroke. They're ferociously powerful, but one of the downsides is a slight tendency to do this sort of thing!

Eric Cartman

jimgoose wrote: »

Lotta them DD engines are two-stroke. They're ferociously powerful, but one of the downsides is a slight tendency to do this sort of thing!

to be fair it can happen with any diesel if the oil seals or piston rings fail, the only way to really stop it is smother the air intake.

Bruthal

Eric Cartman wrote: »

to be fair it can happen with any diesel if the oil seals or piston rings fail, the only way to really stop it is smother the air intake.

True alright.

Maybe into a high gear, clutch quickly out, and hold brakes might stop it.

Zcott

Second runaway diesel thread in the last few days. Might be careful on the way home...

milltown

Eric Cartman wrote: »

to be fair it can happen with any diesel if the oil seals or piston rings fail, the only way to really stop it is smother the air intake.

Make sure you do it right though. We had a 10 cylinder Deutz engine in a compressor that took off on us. One of the fitters stopped it with a rag to the inlet. Unfortunately he didn't suffocate it. The rag was sucked in, shredded, and bits of it were found in and around every valve stem and seat in the engine.

gctest50

A few yokes have a valve in the air intake - i suppose it's down to cost cutting that all diesels don't have them


http://www.amot.com/products/air-intake-shutoff-valves/butterfly-valves/product/321/svx-electric-actuated-butterfly-valve

Eric Cartman

milltown wrote: »

Make sure you do it right though. We had a 10 cylinder Deutz engine in a compressor that took off on us. One of the fitters stopped it with a rag to the inlet. Unfortunately he didn't suffocate it. The rag was sucked in, shredded, and bits of it were found in and around every valve stem and seat in the engine.

pull air intake hose off the filter box and block it with wood/ metal/ plastic sheet is probably the best bet to not ruin the engine, although youd want to be very very quick for it not to damage the engine.

Buffman

Another suggestion I've seen mentioned is to direct a CO2 fire extinguisher into the intake to suffocate it.

Here's the 'official' article on runaways for those who've never heard of it.

Matt Simis

Buffman wrote: »

Yep, you'd have to go for the air intake on a automatic.

(Skip to 1.30)

Wow, very impressive reactions! I had to admit I would be slightly more concerned for my fingers that close to the turbo blades at full tilt than he was!

This is crazy, I never heard or saw this before!

How often does it happen? I guess it will become more common as the turbo diesel cars everyone is buying now age?

jimgoose

gctest50 wrote: »

A few yokes have a valve in the air intake - i suppose it's down to cost cutting that all diesels don't have them


http://www.amot.com/products/air-intake-shutoff-valves/butterfly-valves/product/321/svx-electric-actuated-butterfly-valve

Hazchem trucks have them anyway, in case they runaway on flammable gas around chemical plants.

Marlow

salonfire wrote: »

This is crazy, I never heard or saw this before!

How often does it happen? I guess it will become more common as the turbo diesel cars everyone is buying now age?

Turbo diesel cars have been around forever. This is nothing new.

What's new however, is broken common rails or leaking injector seals, causing the diesel to mix with the engine oil and eventually resulting into a runaway engine.

It's not that new either. But we might see it more often with people buying diesel, diesel, diesel and nothing but diesel and then not maintaining or driving them properly.

/M

jimgoose

Marlow wrote: »

Turbo diesel cars have been around forever. This is nothing new.

What's new however, is broken common rails or leaking injector seals, causing the diesel to mix with the engine oil and eventually resulting into a runaway engine.

It's not that new either. But we might see it more often with people buying diesel, diesel, diesel and nothing but diesel and then not maintaining or driving them properly.

/M

Aye. Overfilling the oil has been known to set them off as well.

smoking_kills

Saw a transit do the same thing last week, exit after the Rathnew/Wicklow exit, southbound on the N11. Huge amounts of smoke, but thankfully the wind was blowing it off into the fields, not across the motorway.

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime

smoking_kills wrote: »

Saw a transit do the same thing last week, exit after the Rathnew/Wicklow exit, southbound on the N11. Huge amounts of smoke, but thankfully the wind was blowing it off into the fields, not across the motorway.

Appropriate username there....

Just gonna add this to my other reason of not liking diesel.