Runaway

[6.6 Duramax]

A run away diesel is when a failure of some kind has caused the crank case oil to be substituted has the motors fuel. What this does is make the motor have no governor since the pump or ecm is no longer controlling the fueling process. Also the the motor will eventually lock up do to lack of oil because it burned itself dry. The cause of a run away diesel can be many things. Pump failure, turbo seals failing. I read some were on the web about a duramax that ran away. The crank case was extremely over filled with oil and some how was pulled through the PVC into the intake. The only sure way to stop a run away diesel is to cut the air supply. Shutting of the pump with a manual shut off will not stop a run away since the injection pump is not suppling the fuel. This is why pretty much all diesel pulling trucks and tractors have a manual shut off for the turbos.

[6dot6]

Originally Posted by TakeEm

There are several occasions of gas leaks= me breathing it in to fix it. Smoking is a MAJOR no in any type of oil field atmosphere. Natural gas is very flammable. Well, it is 130 octane!


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lol speakin of gas leaks...damn mexican food. wow 130 octane. damn

[FC5452]

Originally Posted by 2500-HD

the old green leakers were notorious for running away...racks sticking, turbo seals blowing...

detroit 4-71 in gmc 650 running away start after the 30 years - YouTube

RUN AWAY Detroit Diesel! 453-T - YouTube

and the ford...very good explanation too.
FUBAR 6 0 RUNAWAY - TURBO SEAL FAILURE LEADS TO TOTAL ENGINE DESTRUCTION - YouTube

Furd guy hit the nail on the head, a lack of lubrication Ruins it

[Goose2448]

When the turbo in my F550 7.3 was failing(peddestool seals failed which ended up causing a bearing fauiler, over heating it) and I was told to drive it till it blew....I carried my 20 pound fire extinguisher next to my shifter. Plan was if it started going pop the hood, and pop open the air box, and shoot the extinguisher into the mouth piece, hopefully stopping it. If that didn't do it, I was gonna run like hell. I put my foot down when I got off the highway one day, after having surging boost the whole trip, and the turbo was sealing like a pig. Closest I have gotten, thankfully.

I don't think turbo's should be yellow....

[Jonesin33]

Would the fire extinguisher really work? Damn that's smart man lol. Would it harm anything internally?

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[2500-HD]

one of the ways to stop a runaway is to spray a CO2 fire extinguisher into the intake, this starves the motor of air and stops combustion.

[FLThreeFiveZero]

Lots of good stuff up there, but we still hav'nt explained to the OP what it is and why it happens. Just that different things can cause it.

What a "Runaway" is is when you no longer have any control of the motor. Typically it ramps up the rpm higher and higher until the motor grenades or the governor holds it at max rpm...there the motor stays screamin away until it blows up or runs out of fuel or air.

How it happens: How we control diesel motor is by feeding it, you give it more fuel it goes faster, less fuel it slows, cut off the fuel it dies. Unlike a gas motor that uses a spark for ignition, a diesel only needs the compression of the air fuel mixture to ignite...every time it compresses the air /fuel it ignites. We dont have any control over it. The only thing we have control over is how much we feed it.

So if any form of fuel (diesel, natural gas, oil etc.) is introduced to the motor in any way that we aren’t controlling it (blown seals, gas leak etc) the motor will just keep taking fuel from that source..as much as it can, until we either cut off the fuel source or we cut off the air to the motor. Or it blows up.

[Goose2448]

I think just a regular ABC would work, as your pretty much blocking all the O2 from getting in there. CO2 would work better though. I don't think at that point you really are worried if anything else is gonna be damaged. Its pretty much toast any way. I just would not want a flying piston to kill someone.

[2500-HD]

if you spray anything other than co2 its not gonna work...with co2 if you catch it soon enough you will only be replacing what caused the runaway.

[lutzjk913]

There was a guy on here who's buddies pulling truck ran away in him. He went to go fill it up and it did it on the way home. He couldn't reach the air knife once the turbo lit. He was aling for the ride.