A good scare

[SimonM]

Today as I was driving in town, I was about to change from 2nd to 3rd when the engine started reving it's tits off, as it went into third it was like I dropped the clutch and it just took off (as much as a defender can ;)). It felt like the accelerator pedal was stuck down.

I quickly pulled over and shut the engine off, got out and visually checked everything over. I couldn't see any drama's, gently turned the engine over again and it seemed to be running fine, so I drove over to my mum's which was close by and had another look at everything once it had sat for a while and again couldn't see anything unsual, and it sounded fine. No smoke, well no more than usual.

Scared the absolute crap out of me :eek:, and of course I was thinking the worst.

Could it have just been a stuck accelarator pedal? Or am I looking at something bigger here?

[Dave1]

A couple of years ago i was in a mates Defender same thing happened. Its not a good feeling:eek:, i hope it's not to serious and was just the accelorator stuck. My mates problem ended up being the head. This turned out to be a rather expensive fix.

One thing he did notice was that the engine was "making oil" diesel was entering the oil somewhere. Check your oil level.

cheers dave

[Jock The Rock]

Td5s have a problem with cracked fuel galleries in the head which can fill the engine sump with diesel causing over run. Usually you can't stop the engine though and it often ends up going bang ;)

Seeing as yours is a 300 Tdi (?) then I imagine it's the same as what happened to me a few years ago, the pedal got caught on the floor mat and couldn't return. You may need to trim the floor mat a little bit

[SimonM]

I am hoping it was just the pedal getting stuck it certainly felt like it. I will keep an eye on the oil though. Are there other things i could look out for if it is the head?

[Jock The Rock]

Pretty sure being a 300 Tdi there is nothing in the head that could cause that problem

All the rev contols are controlled by the fuel pump, throttle cable and pedal

[Dave1]

Simon I forgot to add his Deefer was a td5 so maybe its will be all good. Mate i hope all goes well for you.

[abaddonxi]

Pretty common for the mat stuff on the floor to foul on the pedal.

Might be a good idea to keep something flat and solid handy to jam over the air intake if it does run away.

[wrinklearthur]

Hi Simon

As Jock has said, I have also had the floor mat catch the pedal occasionally, does make for an interesting time until you kick it out of the way!

To check to see if oil is being sucked into the air intake. You must take the hose that come from the turbo, off the bottom of the intercooler and if it is very wet in there, look a bit further back, as it maybe the rings ( unlikely ) or the turbo seal.

Cheers Arthur

[Loubrey]

Same happened on a 300Tdi few years back. Luckily just the rubber mat sticking...!:)

It remains a good option though to make yourself 100% familiar where the fuel pump electrical terminal is. Pulling the spade plug off on the pump's back will immediately stop a 300Tdi engine with no further issues. Plug it back and all's good again.

If you stand next to the RHS front wheel looking into the bonnet, the pump is directly in front of you and the spade plug is easily accessible. Makes a good immobiliser as well if the need ever arrises...

[rover-56]

A friend with a 200tdi Defender had that happen, took off like a rabbit on steroids. Took both feet on the brake to stop it.
Turned out that engine oil from a faulty turbo seal gradually filled the intercooler and manifold to the point where oil was blown into the engine and it took off. we drained half a litre of oil from the intercooler.
Check for excessive oil inside the turbo hoses. A light coating is aparently ok.

Terry

[SimonM]

I cleaned out the intercooler about 7k ago and replaced the intercooler hoses with silicone hoses. At the time I was surprised by the lack of muck in the intercooler compared to when I did my disco but I will check the hoses in the morning as a precaution.

[oldyella 76]

Used to work on locomotive diesels and Rail motors with GM 2 strokes .If we suspected fuel in the oil, we would drop a bit of oil from the dip stick onto a piece of brown paper. There would be a dark blob on the paper and if there was fuel in the oil a lighter brown mark would spread around the outside of the oil mark as the thinner fuel would spread out more. This was just a preliminary agricultural test.

[shining]

I have had this on the D1. Not the floor mat... but the kick panel under dash sagging and resting against the pedal control arm.

[dullbird]

I have had this on the D1. Not the floor mat... but the kick panel under dash sagging and resting against the pedal control arm.

Yep this happened on our 200tdi defender....

[SimonM]

There is a light coating of oil in the lower intercooler hose bit hard to.say if.it is too much or.not. How can you check whether the turbo seals are ok? The defender has been runnning fine since then, apart from a brake issue today when I was offroading but that's another story.



A friend with a 200tdi Defender had that happen, took off like a rabbit on steroids. Took both feet on the brake to stop it.
Turned out that engine oil from a faulty turbo seal gradually filled the intercooler and manifold to the point where oil was blown into the engine and it took off. we drained half a litre of oil from the intercooler.
Check for excessive oil inside the turbo hoses. A light coating is aparently ok.

Terry

[rover-56]

Don't know how to check the turbo seal, but you could poke around in the bottom of the intercooler with someting soft and see if it comes out wet.

Although we thought it was the turbo, it could also have been the engine breather cyclone (on the rocker cover).

Cheers,
Terry

[SimonM]

Used to work on locomotive diesels and Rail motors with GM 2 strokes .If we suspected fuel in the oil, we would drop a bit of oil from the dip stick onto a piece of brown paper. There would be a dark blob on the paper and if there was fuel in the oil a lighter brown mark would spread around the outside of the oil mark as the thinner fuel would spread out more. This was just a preliminary agricultural test.

That's a handy tip, will try it tomorrow.

[SimonM]

Don't know how to check the turbo seal, but you could poke around in the bottom of the intercooler with someting soft and see if it comes out wet.

Although we thought it was the turbo, it could also have been the engine breather cyclone (on the rocker cover).

Cheers,
Terry

Thanks Terry. I will poke around in the intercooler and see what shows up. Given I have cleaned it out not long ago it should be pretty clean.