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Speaking of things to check on your ride - nightmare video!

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 12:17 am
by tonydca
Are the L400 turbos oil-cooled?

If so, not to be paranoid but are there any 15-year-old gaskets which might need checking to avoid what happens in my new vote for "scariest video"?:

WARNING: **LOUD!!**



There are a number of similar videos out there, and ones which indicate that the oil crankcase was overfilled are I suspect wrong; most likely it is a turbo gasket leak allowing oil direct flow into the housing.

Re: Speaking of things to check on your ride - nightmare vid

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 12:45 am
by jessef
that's the oil seal in the turbo

similar thing happened to me at the top of Roger's pass. blew the oil seal and I kid you not, 2km's viewing distance you could not see the road.

basically oil just shoots out combined with the exhaust gases, burns and creates the biggest smokeshow.

end result is a toasted turbo.

Re: Speaking of things to check on your ride - nightmare vid

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 6:11 am
by mararmeisto
Oh, that's that just gotta be bad.

Jesse - that must've sucked for it to have happened when you were driving. :shock:

What about the water cooled turbos: same potential problem, but less dramatic when it let's go? Or is it worse, because all your cooling water disappears into the turbo and out of the block, and then seized engine?

Re: Speaking of things to check on your ride - nightmare vid

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:23 am
by jessef
the coolant passage is not affected
Just the oil lubrication area when the seal pops

Re: Speaking of things to check on your ride - nightmare vid

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:32 am
by tonydca
jfarsang wrote:that's the oil seal in the turbo

similar thing happened to me at the top of Roger's pass. blew the oil seal and I kid you not, 2km's viewing distance you could not see the road.

basically oil just shoots out combined with the exhaust gases, burns and creates the biggest smokeshow.

end result is a toasted turbo.
That's if the leak is one the exhaust side.

If the leak is on the intake side, the oil goes into the intake manifold where the engine will happily burn it as an unregulatable fuel supply until all the oil is gone and the engine seizes. That's what's happening to this guy.

That's why I was wondering where the oil meets the turbo, so to speak, and whether any of these gaskets can be checked and/or replaced easily as a periodic maintenance thing.

Re: Speaking of things to check on your ride - nightmare vid

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:24 am
by thedjjack
diesel will runaway any time they suck crankcase oil...You cannot stop them by removing the fuel as the diesel fuel is not what the engine is running on. The engine also can over rev as there is no governor to stop it.

Possible sources:

-emission systems (early VW did this PCV) feedback oil to intake when a ring is turned or piston fails
-cracked head oil passage
-turbo

Options:

-Standard put into gear high gear stand on brakes
-Plug the intake with a wood block (advantage of the "ghetto snorkel" is you can us standard pipe plug)
-CO2 fire extinguisher emptied into intake
-let it blow itself up or run out of oil typically both

Re: Speaking of things to check on your ride - nightmare vid

Posted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 4:20 pm
by roadie
I had a 6.2 litre suburban do this while idling. Nothing I could do to stop it. Ran for about 5 mins WOT then died. One of the worst days of my life!