Catastrophic engine failure on a TD5

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Originally Posted by scott oz

Last oil test I did (07) came in with fuel contamination of 2%. This was after the injectors were changed? This was down form 6%,4,%,3% taken at 9,000K intervals. I change oil every 10,000K’s.

Report commented “flash point indicates fuel dilution satisfactory”

Might get another one done.

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G'day Scott oz, who did you get to test the engine oil?
Regards
Robbo.

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Originally Posted by rick130

Every one ??!! :eek:

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I'm probably speaking a bit rich there, but I used to work for a dealer a few years back and in a mining town so its surprising how many people had SOS samples done on there vehicles and there were a lot of customers with fuel dilution high coming back on there oil analysis.
After 1 troublesome disco I started checking oil levels before servicing and the number of TD5s that had high oil levels was well over 50% and the later model with green injectors were worse than the early model with black or blue.

woko,

emonitor did the testing

They offer a kit that you take the sample send it to them and they email you the results.

I had cause a couple of time to call them and they were most helpfull

Hey guys,

I've been following this thread cos I've got the same problem with my 2003 TD5. I noticed it about 3 months ago. I took it to Graeme Cooper here in Sydney. I've had the seals changed and the head checked out for cracks (no problem there), but the oil level is still rising. Now they will check out the injectors by replacing them one by one (apparently they can't find a place to test the TD5 injectors).

It's definitely a costly exercise at the wrong time of the year, I just hope this will fix it.

Cheers,
Randy

Hi Randy,

By how much is it rising ?

If it's only slightly then changing the oil every 5k km may be an economical option and is the 'solution' used by at least one recommended LR tech in Melbourne.

I'd like to know how much the oil level is rising on the dipstick too Randy.
Regards
Robbo.

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Originally Posted by goofyr

Hey guys,

I've been following this thread cos I've got the same problem with my 2003 TD5. I noticed it about 3 months ago. I took it to Graeme Cooper here in Sydney. I've had the seals changed and the head checked out for cracks (no problem there), but the oil level is still rising. Now they will check out the injectors by replacing them one by one (apparently they can't find a place to test the TD5 injectors).

It's definitely a costly exercise at the wrong time of the year, I just hope this will fix it.

Cheers,
Randy

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Randy,

Just did this with a '03, removed injectors to replace seals etc, checked the head and injector wells etc minutely. Nothing visible. Well, the problem got WORSE after this work, 2 weeks later removed injectors again to see an obvious crack right down number 3 injector well. Very obvious.

I was surprised as the injectors aren't exactly an interference fit:eek:, so how did the crack become worse after removal and refitting of the injectors?

Anyway, new head fixed it just thought I would mention this, it may be worth revisiting the injectors again to see if any cracks are now visible.

JC

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Originally Posted by trev

This is one of the most frightening things that can happen with a diesel.
Usually more likely in a very worn engine,but an over full sump with fuel dilution,or even just very overfilled can cause it.
Because it is self-sustaining a fuel cutout doesn`t work.The only way is air starvation.
If you are lucky enough to have a fairly large CO2 fire extinguisher on hand and can blast it down the air intake,it will stop it.
If it`s a full blown runaway you may have 30 secs before self-destruct.

An air cutoff is fitted to some trucks which works well as a last resort.

On a TD5 if you have a piece of timber,nice and flat and about 100mm square,and you can seperate the intake at the joint near the MAF,overcoming a massive suction and whack the wood in place all in 30 secs.You might just save your engine.

Trev.

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Luckily I had previously read this thread prior to todays event and it has probably saved me from a catastrophic engine failure due to fuel in the oil.

I will post a thread on the full event and lead up to it latter but basically to cut a very long story short, after having my engine rebuilt I have had fuel in the oil via a leaking injector seal, my guess is somewhere in the region of 15lts of diesel had entered the engine and caused a run away. (This has happened approx 15min after the engine has been completely rebuilt with new rings, bearing, turbo etc, etc). The engine had been idling nicely and I just blipped the throttle, the engine pre-ignited a few times and it was off, I had my hand near the key and tried to shut it down as soon as it started to accelerate, but turning they key off did not nothing, it was still accelerating and a massive plume of white smoke was bellowing out the exhaust. Luckily the bonnet was open and I just grabbed the inlet duct near the MAF and ripped it towards me, the duct came away where it is held by a hose clamp near the air box and I stuck the palm of my hand over the duct to choke the engine, the engine wound down to a stop over a period of about 1-2 seconds.

The whole event from when it started to run away to shut down was about 10 seconds.

We have since had the engine running again and so far so good, it seems like I manage to save it from any immediate or obvious damage, but time will tell what else may creep up latter on or if any long term accelerated wear has occurred. It certainly is not the way I had planned to run in a newly rebuilt engine.

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Originally Posted by simonmelb

Hi Randy,

By how much is it rising ?

If it's only slightly then changing the oil every 5k km may be an economical option and is the 'solution' used by at least one recommended LR tech in Melbourne.

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It rose about a 1cm in about 300kms, the last time I didn't do anything for about 1000ks it just kept rising well beyond that. I'd rather get it fixed as I'm intending to keep it for as long as possible.

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Originally Posted by justinc

Randy,

Just did this with a '03, removed injectors to replace seals etc, checked the head and injector wells etc minutely. Nothing visible. Well, the problem got WORSE after this work, 2 weeks later removed injectors again to see an obvious crack right down number 3 injector well. Very obvious.

I was surprised as the injectors aren't exactly an interference fit:eek:, so how did the crack become worse after removal and refitting of the injectors?

Anyway, new head fixed it just thought I would mention this, it may be worth revisiting the injectors again to see if any cracks are now visible.

JC

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Thanks for the heads up I'll keep that in mind if it gets worst right now we are trying to diagnose the problem. They are going to put replacement injectors (one at a time) and I'm suppose to monitor the oil levels every few hundred kms and see if the problem remains. Ward at Graeme Cooper told me they couldn't find a place in Sydney to test out the injectors so we're doing it this way. At least they've stopped charging me until they figure out what it is.

R