I lifted this from Tapatio's thread of the same name over at the Sportsmobile Forum. According to carringb, all it takes is a failed oil seal in the turbo. Since there's no throttle control for oil pressure, it simply feeds oil into the motor until it runs out or the motor blows apart. Hot motor oil is thin enough to burn almost like diesel, just smokier.

The best way to stop it is to immediately block off the air intake before the engine melts. Using your hand is NOT recommended.

The first video is of an IH so you can see what is going on. The second is of a 7.3.

Did a quick search over here on our subforum and couldn't find a thread of the same name. Air+Fuel+Compression=Combustion. Key on/off=irrelevant. Something for us to be aware of?





Our big brothers on the 1994.5 - 1997 7.3L Power Stroke Diesel subforum have a four page thread on this topic:

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...the-7-3-a.html

And in this thread, MisterCMK says:

"A HEUI injection system will run out of oil before it damages the motor from lack of lubrication."

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...l-runaway.html

 

A large CO₂ fire extinguisher discharged into the intake is also very effective.

 

Yes. I've seen it many times. The prefered method is rag in the intake.

 

The first one looks more like an injector rack problem than it does an actual runaway.

 

We used a phonebook on one at my step-dad's business.

 

Where exactly is the "intake"?

 

The pipe that comes off your air filter, and in our case leads to the turbo inlet.

 

What causes this to happen ?

 

The one in the first video appears to be a stuck injector pump. Usually, they run away on engine oil. Either bad rings--really bad--or turbo seals will provide enough oil to power the engine. Add enough and it will run up until it blows or runs out of oil. Diesels will run on very little fuel in a no-load situation and will happily run away when there is lots of fuel as in the case of a tubo seal.

 

So- It wont matter if the key is in the ignition or not - You have to kill the air to it to shut it down - Right ?

 

Exactly. You have to remove either fuel or air and fuel is usually not an option. I had a cummins marine genes turn away on our two year old Fireboat last year. Scary as hell but ran in engine room shut off ball valve on fuel line then stuffed a fire coat over the intake. Stop her right up.

 

Would it harm my engine if I practice this maneuver while the engine is normal idling? This way I will understand how the process works.

 

Hmm that's a good question. The engine doesn't monitor airflow, so it seems it would keep dumping fuel into the cylinder until the computer realizes it's not running anymore. But maybe it's not enough to matter or I don't understand the process... It would be kinda helpful to have done it though in the event I lose a turbo seal. (Take a hike Murphy!)

 

More like a bath towel.

A regular "standard" rag is gonna get sucked into the turbo.

Stewart

 

I wouldn't. The chance of some kind of damage is good, so it doesn't make sense to practice for a condition that is highly unlikely to happen.