What is runaway diesel syndrom?

[sle2115]

When I worked at the college's main campus on grounds maintenance while going to school, I once saw a grader hit a 3 inch gas line! It was heading down a hill, fairly steep, but not too bad. It was probably 100 feet from a road, followed by a pretty good drainage ditch and then a set of railroad tracks. At any rate, the thing revved to what seemed like 8 or 9000 RPM's took off down that hill, crossed the road (fortunately no cars coming), through the ditch and the blade hung up on the second railroad track. On the other side was the Hocking River! The engine blew after jumping up and down violently on the track two or three times. All this probably took 20 seconds. I would have hated to be in front of that thing. As is revved, it blew a cloud of white smoke. The operator said he pushed the clutch, tried to rip it out of gear and everything, but apparently being on the hill and under such RPMs, it just kept going.

 

[rancherman84]

Rancherman I saw claas has a 1000hp chopper do you know what the engine is? Thats all the hp on our farm-combined

you sure it was a CLAAS and not KRONE?claas does not have a 1000 hp model yet,but they could working on one to compete against krones 1000 hp model.
the engine in the claas would probably be a mercedes v-10 or v-12,the krone version uses two engines,one to drive the whole machine and another to drive the chopping system i think.
mercedes are very good engines,they are the cat/cummins of the USA

 

[Agnem]

I'm seeing more OTR trucks with Mercedes engine badges on them. Eroding Cat and Cummins sales no doubt.

 

[Full Monte]

Yeah...Mercedes diesels often have a manual fuel shutoff lever on the fuel pump. It would be nice if Ford/IH copied the idea. I've seen this feature in all the pre-87 car diesels. Not sure if they still put it into the newer ones.

 

[IHWillys]

One of the best stories of a runaway I've read/heard was told by Buck Williams. He conveyed in an entertaining manner his experience with a runaway while in a submarine. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide, he had to get the screaming engine shut-down...

It and other stories are in the archives of the DetroitDiesel group on Yahoo.

Detroits commonly have emergency shut-downs that are basically a spring loaded flapper valve that shuts-off the airflow into the blower. The overrevving engine will suck in the seals of the blower and other seals when this is applied but it keeps the hard parts inside and the sunlight outside the engine.

Ken

 

[geonc]

Diesel engines "OVERSPEED" mechanics "RUNAWAY"!

Common reference is "alternate fuel source" and in addition to the ones already mentioned, contributing factors can be:

leaking blower seals, leaking wrist pin retainers {on 2 cycle Detroits}
, cracked turbine shaft seal on turbo's---that little piston ring looking thingy that seperates the oil pressure from the compressor side mounted in the center section--

diesel diluted crank case oil---from a ruptured inj feed line{under valve cover} or blown nozzle tip......the re-routed crank case vapors loaded with diesel .....ever seen a crank case vapor explosion

NEVER clean an intercooler with any solvent type cleaners without following up with a soapy water rinse and air dry!!!!!!!

You WILL have to change yor shorts

 

[82fordtruck]

Mel - can't small gas in a pipeline anyway. They add the odor at the end user. You an see it, looks like a hot surface - but you sure as hell know when it lights!

 

[rancherman84]

Yeah...Mercedes diesels often have a manual fuel shutoff lever on the fuel pump. It would be nice if Ford/IH copied the idea. I've seen this feature in all the pre-87 car diesels. Not sure if they still put it into the newer ones.

no the new ones are all electronic controlled.

 

[SASKR]

Goodday folks, Not to revive an old post however, I've spent many years in the equipment rental industry & we installed air intake valves on all equipment going into a gas enviroment.Gas plants, pipeline work, some mining applications. The company we used is based in Edmonton Alberta,Canada. They called themselves RODA DEACO. The "DEACO" stands for "diesel engine air cut off". They are basically a spring loaded, big knife style valve that cuts off all incoming air into the engine. They can be cable or electrically tripped. Many different sizes & styles of mounting available. Also they have a huge premade application list . The oil & gas sector in northern Alberta keeps these people very busy. Applications from 1.25 " for Kubota powered light towers to over 6" for construction equipment & semi's. Hope this helps. Rick

 

[JeffMoss1]

My brother's father in law had a pretty scary situation with a runaway.

He was a few miles out of the coast of montauk when his engine began running away while in gear! The boat was pretty big and obviously not that fast, but still! And he was alone! The way he stopped it was by cutting the fuel line...which, now that i know some stuff about diesels, would only have worked if the problem was the pump...so that must've been what happened. If it was the CDR that wouldn't have worked.

I'm trying to think if i would have dove off the side or tried to stop it. I'm mean your a few miles off shore!!

I'm probably going to see him soon, so i'm going to try and get more details.

~Jeff

 

[Agnem]

Here's a link to DEACO. Good tip.