HELP !! Disaster - Over Rev and White Smoke.

1998 L Series 2.0 Diesel.

Just had the fright of my Life.... Still shaking.

I think I over filled the oil - was topping it up and I think I missed the new clean oil on the dipstick (Shoot me now).

I run a Hospital Radio show as was just on my way there, left my drive as normal - car started to bog down then hit the rev limiter and stayed there whilst this was going on HUGE amounts of WHite Smoke was billowing out the exhaust...

I stopped, jumped out and disconnected the battery - I knew this would not stop the engine but I have no other way of killing a Diesel engine that I know of ?

Eventually the engine slowed and stopped, the expansion bottle was also boiling over.

Unsure if this is a coincidence but I found this bolt under my engine on the road where everything happened:



I towed it back home with my other halfs Mercedes A170 (I was surprised it would pull it).

BTW, I could not turn the engine off with the key...

I let oil out of the sump so the level is just under full and tried to start it again, it turns over ok but will not start.

What do I check first folks? I need some help from the experts.

mentioning what it is would be a good start

sit down and have a cuppa

Yes, I did go back and edit that almost immediately.

L series 2.0 Diesel.

NikGrey said:

Yes, I did go back and edit that almost immediately.

L series 2.0 Diesel.

Click to expand...

couple of things. how much oil did you overfill roughly (or how much did you drain out?)

did the temp gauage go into the red as well as the hot exp bottle?

you checked the coolant levels now? is the coolant still clean?

you can kill a runaway diesel (running on own oil) but either blocking the intake (can be hard to do in time) being careful to not let it suck the thing in. or carrying a lil CO2 fire extinguisher and firing it into the air intake. (not foam, but co2!)

I think I over filled by about 2L

Coolant is still the same colour as it always was which is pinkish, certainly not dirty.

I am taking the Turbo apart - the air intake pipes had plenty of oil in them.

Thinking about it, it makes sense that it was running on its own oil - what could that have done internally...

air intake pipes had pools of oil? not just a good coating? having a bit of oil is normal with older engines.

i'd chillout with removing loads of bits n bobs atm.

when you overfill by that much then the crank spins in the oil making it froth. this doesn't lube the engine well and also will start to come out the crankcase breather. so your engine started running on oil which made the jamesbond smoke screen.

if the temp gauge didn't hit red (did it?) then you probably got away will it, but your chambers will have a smattering of oil in them making it hard to start.

now you've removed the excess oil, can you activate the glow plugs a bit to help burn the oil off?

also you never mentioned if the coolant level is normal.

(when you get it running, probably best to change it as you might have harmed it's viscosity)

i'd go and hand crank the engine with a socket to make sure it isn't binding. then, if all is normal, i'd pull the hose from the turbo to the intercooler, cycle the glows a few times and give it a crank.

get someone or have a mirror on the ehaust and see if it's shooting loads of white smoke when cranking

SOrry - I dont think the temp gauge was anything other than normal and the Coolant level is still the same as it always was.

The engine turns over ok, I tried it when I removed the excess oil so it hasn't seized.

Thanks for all of that above - I will get on with it immediately.

All of the pipes seem to have the same amount of oil in them - will post a pic in a sec.

just leave the hose from the turbo to intercooler off when cranking.

the turbo seals go and let an oil mist by, but by removing the hose it won't get into the engine and you'll see how much it is spraying out.

Young Man - you are a Star.
Followed your advice and it is running, I will let it idle for a while ?

hmm quite a bit. your seals might have went... but it might be an older issue if you never check them.

lets leave that atm and get the engine going. with the hose off, go and get the glows going and crrank.. but have a bit of wood, solid rubber mat or whatever to place over the intake to stop the engine if it runs away.

also, another way is to stick it in the highest gear and dump the clutch to stall it.. but it can damage the clutch if unlucky.

NikGrey said:

Young Man - you are a Star.
Followed your advice and it is running, I will let it idle for a while ?

Click to expand...

ah sweet. shouldn't make any difference with it idling or not. can't harm.

get a rag to protect yourself from splatter, rev the engine and see how much oil the turbo is chucking out

and that's for the young man bit! i AM still young..but i'm starting to feel old at 36

oh and clean your pcv out while you are at it, it's probably full of oil/gunk now. same with the intake pipes where it vents into. (i'm not sure on that engine)

if you don't get a lot of oil mist from the turbo, then i reckon you are ok. stick it all back together, go for a drive to get all the oil in the exhaust burnt off (it'll smoke for a bit) then check the pipes again and the oil lvel/coolant.

maybe buy a lil co2 fire ext just incase

If it slowed down and stopped by itself (rather than slowing down back to tick-over) then it will have suffered a partial seizure. You may have scored the bores and damaged the mains and big end bearings (and even potentially stretched the con-rods). If you are convinced it was overfilled then that will be your cause, if not then it may be a turbo seal failure, either way you need to make sure the complete intake system is clear of oil. I would stick to short journeys to start with until you are confident the engine will stay together and is not making any undue rattling noises + breakdown card in your wallet!

Kwakerman said:

If it slowed down and stopped by itself (rather than slowing down back to tick-over) then it will have suffered a partial seizure. You may have scored the bores and damaged the mains and big end bearings (and even potentially stretched the con-rods). If you are convinced it was overfilled then that will be your cause, if not then it may be a turbo seal failure, either way you need to make sure the complete intake system is clear of oil. I would stick to short journeys to start with until you are confident the engine will stay together and is not making any undue rattling noises + breakdown card in your wallet!

Click to expand...

i'm thinking the oil got into the air intake via the crank breather and caused the large amount in that container.

Agreed

Where is my PCV Valve? I didn't realise I had One.

Just thinking. The op says he pulled the battery connections off. Wouldn't that kill the fuel pump etc leaving the car running on just the excess oil mist which would eventually not be enough to keep it going?

flat said:

Just thinking. The op says he pulled the battery connections off. Wouldn't that kill the fuel pump etc leaving the car running on just the excess oil mist which would eventually not be enough to keep it going?

Click to expand...

yes, but he also said he drained a load of oil out afterwards. so it depends on how much was venting into the air intake..

maybe partial seizure.. maybe not enough fuel, maybe so much fuel it restricted the air.. hard to tell without a stripdown.

i'd just clean it up and drive it about. just keep an eye on it for a bit.