Diesel Runaway: Rebuild or Replace?

[Fermion]

Hi everyone,

I had a diesel runaway in my 300TDi Discovery last week. I didn't realise what was happening but managed to stop the engine. I had the car towed to my regular mechanic (not a LR specialist) who has basically indicated it is not worth doing anything with (I get the rather strong impression that he would prefer to spend his time Japanese badged cars...).

A colleague suggested a retired mechanic friend of his, who kindly did some research and has quoted nearly $5000. I realise this is rather excessive.

I don't know enough about second hand motors, but I have seen ones on the Internet in $2500 range.

I would love some advice as to what you would do. I live on the South side of Brisbane, so some specific advice about potential mechanics etc. would be great. I really like my car and had nearly finished getting all the mechanical issues sorted, so am rather miffed that this has no happened. The engine had only 205000 km on it and has been serviced regularly, so it is very disappointing.

Thanks!

[incisor]

what caused the runaway?

how did you stop it?

why is the engine stuffed?

[Fermion]

Cause:
I don't know. It had been blowing white smoke and decreasing in power for a while. I was about to get it looked and have the timing belt renewed and the injectors checked.

Stop:
It more or less stopped it self the first time. I didn't realise what had happened so started it again and it ran fine until it started running away, so I stalled it in gear.

Stuffed:
I don't know. My local mechanic told me as much. He actually drove it back to my house for me. He is worried about a knocking sound.

[Xtreme]

Have you tried they UK for a used 300Tdi?
A friend just bought one from there and even with freight it was considerably less than the $2500 you mentioned - and it has all the accessories included. a lot of which you will still be able to salvage from your 'runaway'

[Disco Muppet]

If it was running on, it would be burning oil, less oil less lubrication more wear.
If it was blowing white smoke and down on power, head gasket maybe? Do 300tdi heads crack? Head overheats, cracks, oil gets burnt, etc etc.
Not familiar with the 300tdi so not sure.
As Xtreme says, best bet is the UK.

[justinc]

inspect the turbocharger and take the Head off first before you condemn the whole engine, my thoughts are it is either a failed turbocharger seal/ bearings, or a blown head gasket forcing oil into the intake system as it blew into a pushrod gallery which is not uncommon. As long as it hasn't bent a conrod by ingesting too much oil then it would quite likely be easy to repair.

But most importantly Take it to someone who wants to fix it, or at least LOOK at it first before chucking it away.

JC

[Fermion]

I had a closer look myself just now. I am unconvinced about the head being the problem as the fluid level in the expansion tank remains the same. I don't know enough to comment on the turbo.

It has developed a knocking or clanging sound from the engine. Is that a symptom of more serious damage, or could it simply be an injector not firing?

[Blknight.aus]

if you're not in a hurry your engine might be ideal for what I have in mind for an AULRO project..

drop v8ian a line I still have his tdi300 sitting on my garage floor.

He has my phone number, drop him a line and see if hes willing come to the ball game with selling you his engine and I'll lay on the labour for the swap out in return for your engine...

[slug_burner]

Pull the top hose of the intercooler, actually go for the 90* elbow out of the turbo into a metal pipe before it gets to the intercooler. Check for oil, if there is lots, then that is the cause of your runaway and it could be a blown bearing seal in the turbo, or lots of blow-by. If excessive blow-by with a good amount of oil then the intake side of the turbo should also have a hose with lots of oil. If no signs of oil either side of the turbo then it is more likely a head gasket.

I think the hardest thing about all this will be knowing what is too much oil in the hoses. Let the forum know what you find, photos could help. But as JC said get someone who wants to fix it or is able to fix it to have a look.

[Blknight.aus]

Ive never seen a failed head gasket cause a runaway...

odds are on excessive blow by or a failed turbo seal on the compressor side.

I have seen one case of a failed governor (cant remember what engine but the counter weight lever had snapped off inside the pump) which essentially allowed the engine to run at maximum fuel with no load.

[justinc]

Ive never seen a failed head gasket cause a runaway...

odds are on excessive blow by or a failed turbo seal on the compressor side.

I have seen one case of a failed governor (cant remember what engine but the counter weight lever had snapped off inside the pump) which essentially allowed the engine to run at maximum fuel with no load.

This just happened to the inlaws 300tdi d1 at 470,000km, misses jumped out after they pulled over going up a hill in a cloud of white smoke thinking the thing was on fire!, luckily didn't go the full monty and just died off. head gasket had blown into number 3 pushrod gallery, they were climbing a steep hill at the time and the cylinder pressures forced the oil into the inlet through the breather system.

new head gasket, checked piston heights, now all is well for another 400,000km:D

good little engines these:)


jc

[Blknight.aus]

yep, I can see how it could happen, just never seen it...

I have seen that failure on a petrol engine however and more than once on motorbike engines (much smaller distances from pot to the oil drain jackets) but fortunately petrols dont run so good on engine oil.

[Fermion]

I took a video this morning of the engine sound. It is not great but you can hear a knocking sound that did not exist prior to the runaway. Are there any guesses as the the cause of the knocking sound?

Video0000 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVyTZLuoHOg&feature=youtu.be)

Thanks!

[rangieman]

I took a video this morning of the engine sound. It is not great but you can hear a knocking sound that did not exist prior to the runaway. Are there any guesses as the the cause of the knocking sound?

Video0000 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVyTZLuoHOg&feature=youtu.be)

Thanks!

Does sound like a head gasket to me , Does the engine rock around or does it feel or sound like it is running on 2 or 3 cyclinders above idle

[Blknight.aus]

sounds "chuffy" and not "metal hammery" to me so Id be going with the head gasket gone between at least one cylinder and a jacket maybe even 2 cylinders.

if its gone to the oil jacket take the oil filler cap off and see how much its spitting out..

again if you're not in a hurry I'll be happy to help out in the new years with head change work.

[Fermion]

For the sake of closure and the benefit of future people trawling this forum here is a really quick summary of the outcome.

The mechanic I sent it to measured the piston depths and established that the con-rods had been bent. At this point I elected to buy a second-hand motor from a wrecker that has come with a small amount of warranty. I picked up the car yesterday and the new engine runs very well.

[Reads90]

Glad it all worked out ok for you

Cheers