1st was many years ago, A 6V53 in an old GMC truck. The customer called and said the engine would not govern out and that the drivers were afraid of it. I get there and they have the hood off the truck waiting for me and they are trying to explain what was going on. So on the initial inspection, I could find anything wrong...…….but it was difficult to see everything well since the back of the engine was partially under the firewall. So I climb on top of the truck, sit on the radiator with my legs spread , feet resting on each fender well. Removed the valve covers and didn't notice a dam thing. I asked the operator to start the engine and it immediately took off. With the valve covers off the engine fan picked up the splashing oil and sprayed it in my face where I couldn't see but I get one eye wiped off enough that I could see everyone in the shop had cleared the building and left my ass there. The first thing running through my mind was "This is going to start slinging fan blades off and Im going to lose my legs." I reach for the blower flap only to find it tied back. The only thing that saved me was 2 bundles of red rags that I stuffed into the intake to choke it down enough that I could yell for a pair of pliers. 1 Guy came back in the building, handed me pliers, and I squeezed off the fuel line until it finally died. It ended up being a loose fuel rod clamp between the blower and head, twisted just enough to override the governor. The engine did NOT come apart. The 2nd time, same 6V53 engine in a Pettibone. I had just rebuilt the engine and had just finished installing it back in the machine. Having had the first experience above I had prepared myself, just in case. I top off the oil and coolant, look everything over 1 more time (valve covers off so I can grab the fuel rack) and hit the remote starter button. She rolls a few times, coughs a bit, and once the air was gone she took off. My mistake was I didn't check the fuel rack AFTER I had installed the engine and during the installation my lift cable had gotten into the same fuel rack tube as above and bent it into the rod jamming it up. The 2nd mistake I made was not having the vise grips on the fuel rack BEFORE I started it. I got it shut down much quicker this time, but took another head to toe oil bath. Its a scary thing when this happens and it something you NEVER forget when it does. Ever since, I have 3 different ways to shut down a runaway Detroit before I ever start them.
A very used up 77 W900 with a early 00-92 nothing more than punched 71 block, Was working construction at the time-Cold morning driver fired it up on-site. Gov & all linkage tired. They ethered it and it started rolling real hard each time gaining more rpm, I hated that engine and hated that truck, I stood by and watched her go to the moon and never return.
Not just the old 2 strokes (I've seen them suck jackets through the blower); The DDXX engines will load the cylinders with fuel (low fuel rail pressure) and buck back against the starter and run backwards for 30 or 40 seconds before they pop. OK junkyard, I know you have a good story?
20 some odd years ago when I was a pup. Haha. We re-powered the upper of a P&H crane. It had a 6v53 in it that had been giving us fits. I was pretty green in the ways of 2 strokes back then so I was more or less following the foreman’s lead. We had an old IH rollback that had a 6-71 in it. We drug it up by the shop, threw a couple batteries in it, stuck the fuel suction hose in a 5 gallon jug, checked the oil and he proceeded to bust it off. Typical cough and sputter until it got a solid supply of fuel and boy howdy it went to the moon!! Everybody around scattered including the foreman. Being green I stood there half wondering *** was going on and half in awe. Finally I reached down and pulled the fuel hose out of the jug. At WFO it didn’t take long to run out of fuel. It sounded like a tornado siren as it finally wound down. Made quite the impression on me.
Only had one run away, but both it and I lived through it! It was a 12V-71 in a 74TD/R-35 Euclid. As I recall I had the job of installing a new set of injectors and setting valves. Was all done and hit the starter and it fired right up but RPM's started climbing like crazy. But unlike Vetec's engine this one the blower flap was not wired open and worked as it should. It's been decades since that happened but seem to recall my mistake was the shut down cable was pulled out while setting the injectors causing the problem. Reset the rack and it ran much better after that!
Lol I was typing as you posted! Haha
In my mind these are not really run away situations. It's just a stuck rack causing wide open throttle. Though I'm sure it's pretty ***** scary! A runaway would be when the blower pushes crankcase oil through the engine and it runs away burning its own oil. The same thing can happen to a turbo charged engine when the turbo seals fail catastrophically.
As for a Detroit running backwards saw that happen in 1968 my fist summer at the quarry. They were clearing out the area where the mill for this at that time new quarry was being opened. They were using some old Euclids with 6-71 Detroits and five speed manual transmissions. It was a pretty steep grade out of that area and one driver was not the best driver. Just as he was reaching the top of the grade where he should have been in a lower gear truck stalled and then started to roll back while in gear. He did push in the clutch but not before engine was running in reverse. Seem to recall it pushing oil out a breather or some place and lucky someone with more brains that the driver ran over and told him to shut it off. Once shut down they hit the starter and truck took off and went right back to work like nothing had happened.
"In my mind these are not really run away situations. It's just a stuck rack causing wide open throttle. Though I'm sure it's pretty ***** scary!" Technically your are probably right but when I'm standing by it when it happens the first thing I think is RUN AWAY!
Very true! But in some cases when it happens it's the people who take off running! Sometimes one gets lucky and understands the problem and can save the day. I always try to caution anyone starting any diesel that has either been sitting for a long time or one that someone has tried to repairs anything to do with the injection pump or governor to remove piping off the intake and have something strong to be able to choke the air off at the first sign of an over-speed situation.
637D 3408 Mechanical with rusted rack, surprise! NO blower flap like a Detroit or emergency fuel shut off like Cummins double disc injection pump.
I considered buying a truck with a Silver 92 but I ran away instead.
Never had one go myself. The only engine I ever saw run away was a little 3 cylinder Duetz. Can't even remember what it was in the shop for. The Duetz were a new engine for us and this was the first one that has some kind of issue. Anyone who has ever used their manuals from the 70's knows that some of the translations left more than a bit to be desired. I think that there were 8 or 10 languages on each page. Very hard to figure out. We had an Austrian fellow working in the shop so the boss asked him to take a couple of the guys and help them, the thinking was he could read the german version of the book and maybe put some light on the translation. Once they got done whatever they were doing they started it up and away it went. Funniest thing I have ever seen. There were people running everywhere. One of the guys working on it got a rag and wrapped it around the precleaner intake, that slowed it down a bit. One of the other guys was randomly grabbing wires and ripping them off the engine The third guy, very calmly might I add, grabbed a pair of side cutters out of his box and cut the fuel lines and it died, As soon as I heard it take off, I made a run for the other side of the shop along with a couple of the other guys, we had a pretty decent seat to the show. Once it was safe we went back to our bays. I looked over to the other side of the shop and unknown to the crew, there was some kind of a tour of bigwigs watching the show. There they all stood, watching the whole show with not a clue what was going on. To this day, I wondered what their tour guide for the day told them. As for Detroit's running backwards. Worked for a place that had an old Champion grader. (you guys that have worked on these know where I am going) Had to go fish the grader out of forest one day. Operator claims that the brakes failed and the grader got away from him and ran backwards down the hill and off the road. Funny thing was, when we got to the machine, all of the oil was blown out of the air cleaner. Once again in the wrong gear, stalled it on the hill and started up backwards when it rolled. Champions were famous for it in my part of the world.
In the heavy haul world I’ve seen an old Cummins and even my 3406B cough and run backward. Just trying to ease out of a soft spot and didn’t give it quite enough fuel. Suddenly the tach was bouncing on zero and it was puffing smoke out the air cleaner
This isn't a run away story, but it kind of is. Back in the 80's when I worked for a Terex dealer we had 1 guy that did all the major Detroit overhauls. About the time he would be finished building the engine, you would see him start to sweat and having this nervous energy about him. He would check everything on the engine, then double check, the triple check right before fire up. He would be so dam nervous to start one up that he would start saying crap like " I don't remember if I tightened that." and so on. We would jack with him constantly until he was so nerved out he'd start getting pissed. It was obvious he was gun shy of these engines. One day I was assisting him in the fire up of a 8V71T and he was doing his normal bs. I told him "Lets just fire this ***** up" and I hit the starter remote. He about started choking on his tongue, but the engine fired up normally. As soon as it fired up, he turned around to grab his flashlight to start checking for leaks. While his back was turned I grabbed the throttle lever and gave her a quick wind up. LOL He lunged backwards and fell trying to get to the engine to shut it off. I thought he was going to have a heart attack! Of course, the guys in the shop thought it was hilarious and I didn't realize how bad his nerves were. Come to find out afterwards, others in the shop had been screwing with him on engine start ups for months. 1 field Tech told me he started banging on a metal work table with a hammer after another previous start up...………….pretty much had the same results.
Back when I did my 2nd year schooling (engines), we had one lippy, know it all troubkemaker in our class. When it came time to start the engines that we had tore down and reassembled, a bunch of other students screwed with him so bad. From loosening off hoses to tapping the engine stand with a hammer once it finally started. I guess he must have pissed the instructor off during the course too because the instructor got in on it too lol.
Summer 1984, Ag irrigation pump on a Flood Proof elevated stand 6V53. Owner had me look it over, change oil and tune, had covers set as usual and had him hit the start as sat UNDER the controls deck. And away she ran, he was on that upper deck stuck a CO2 extinguisher in the intake and squeezed the trigger. Took me five days going thru that engine NEVER FOUND a issue, put a set of mains in it with upper and lower gasket sets, had heads off, cleaned all the residue out of it and the blower, all back together fired up as if Never had a problem, NO injectors, governor was fine, all linkages smooth as glass, DAMNED 53. Scared the ever living peewaddins out of me as I was astraddle of it as it lit up.
40 years of Detroits and the only runaway I ever had was on a 6-110 in a TS-24... stuck an injector on the go at full power. I pulled the E-stop and got 5 feet of wire... rats, threw the beast into hi gear and buried the bit, that lugged it down enough to keep the engine from blowing and let me run around to the blower side and trip the stop flap. Onsite mechanic brought out a replacement injector in a dirty wool sock and had me hauling dirt in 25 minutes. The closest I've had in the shop was a 12V71N that was out of framed by somebody else. When I started it, it took off at 1200 Rpm and just stayed there, shutdown lever didn't work... Hmmm. Oil pressure was fine so I let it run a minute or 2 then the light bulb went on... back out the buffer screw. Life was good. Had a Cat D318 on a compressor that had been sitting for a few years, I noticed the governor lever was full on when it got to me, had to rebuild the carb on the starting engine and repair the starter drive too. While I was waiting for parts it hit me to check for free rack travel... Stuck at wide open. PB and a couple taps with a brass punch freed it right up. Glad I didn't try to fire it.
Got asked to come look at a logging truck one night after work (in camp for a contractor) Truck had no power. They changed the fuel filters X2, still really bad throttle response. So they brought it back to camp. I went to have a look. Driver flashed it up and hit the throttle a couple of times, really slow to rev up and just as slow to come down. Yelling at him to shut it down NOW!!! Yup, one of the injectors was sticking. He didn't have any spares but he had a motor out of another truck under a tarp. Swapped the injector out and away he went. Told the driver how close he was to having a really really bad day. The truck was an 850 Kenworth off hiway logging truck. 12v71 with an Allison 6 speed 6061 behind it
I also had one in an 8V71 that had been sitting a while. The rack on one (or maybe more) injectors was stuck. We caught it before we ever tried to start it. Removed the offending injector(s), brought to a lathe (not turned on), put the injector end in the chuck and ran the plunger in and out with the tailstock while flooding the fuel ports with WD-40 and running the rack in and out by hand. It makes me wonder, why they did not have the breakaway injector finger thingys on all models of this engine. This one was solid non breakaway, might have been a bad day.
Reminds me why I work alone.
Well this Double 00 92 was real tired, it used a gallon and a half of coolant every day it was dribbling out of the breather boxes and a gallon of oil every two days. Yeah she was sucking up the crankcase oil before a rod took out the left side of the block. Fifteen minutes later after the huge cloud of smoke cleared you could see the stacks and dump box stoop covered with----- {Black Gold-Texas Tea}.
I was on the way home a week or so ago, came over a hill and saw a huge cloud of brown/black smoke that cleared up as I got closer. Got to the point of the smoke and found a Gen 3 Dodge with a huge blood puddle underneath. Not sure how it happened, but she ran away and blew.
Did it look like it may have had any power adding devices installed?
The Detroit blowers have a tendency to cause a " runaway " situation . Nothing but trouble .
In my navy days all the boats on the ship except the motor whale boat were either Grey Marine on Detroit. First time they dropped the big utility boats in the water was in refresh training out of the yard and we were in Porto Rico. Fired off the first boat and the engine took off. They had dropped the boat in the water and fired off the engine and it took off. The boat engineer got the kid at the helm to snap into forward and when they had room they put in circles while the snipe pulled the valve cover and backed off the stuck injector. The rigs sat on on the decks all the time and the tanks always got water in them. We had to pump the bottoms out every time we dropped them in the water for my next three and half years. I've never had one run that was on land.
A friend of mine used to use the term battle racked for a 671 that was running flatout , i think that came from beaching the landing craft back in war time . I had a 471 light up on me a couple of months ago in one of my cranes. I caught it quick with the flap . The blower is on the back side of the engine, it wasnt a pleasant feeling crawling over top of the engine to reach it .
Battle rating was a governor setting that allowed the engine to higher power than normal, I don't know if it was rack travel or RPM or both. Manually selected. Lots of military equipment has special features to be used in battle. Generators for instance bypass all the safety shutdowns so it will either keep running or burn down trying. https://usautoindustryworldwartwo.com/General Motors/detroit-diesel.htm http://www.dieselduck.info/historical/01 diesel engine/detroit diesel/index.html
Dad called the Aircraft throttle Position Military Bypass for the old Radials, was a lock out where had to physically manipulate the throttle past a check stop.
Battle was used for landing crafts. Their mission was to make one run; to the beach. Engine life was not an issue. It allowed the engine to turn up the RPM to 2600 or more.
The battle rack was a slotted bracket put on the top of Gray Marine engines that limited full throttle in normal use. We had it on our utility boats. Normal high idle was between 1,800 and 1,850. If you grabbed and turned the bracket just a touch and turned the throttle just a little more you could get 2,100 RPM. The bracket was even stamped normal and battle. The Detroit engines did not have that type of governor. The boats that used the Detroit engines on our ship were the officer's motor boat and the Captains Gig. Those were called rail car engines and were slanted like an old Dodge slant six engine. Governors were set at 2,100.
The best runaway I witnessed was at the Detroit shop where I served my apprenticeship. I was out in the shop and heard the action and saw the results. A mechanic rebuilt a 8V53 and was doing a run-in on the shop's 500 HP Clayton dyno. During a power run a piston seized and pulled the liner down through the block. Then the rod, piston, and liner started free swinging on the crank, which did 2 things. It cut the block in half and it allowed the engine to run on lube oil for a short while as an extra boost. When the block broke open oil was shooting against the dyno room wall and getting sucked back into the engine since it did not have the emergency shutdown housing attached. When it was over the salvage amounted to a few bolts and things.
What was it with the 53 series, little Bustards would wing up in an instant???
Don't you wish you had a cell phone handy to capture that for a YouTube video?
I think it was basically a "feature" of lighter rotating components. Then again a 16V-71T sitting on a stand on the shop floor would go from low idle to high idle pretty fast! Lucky for me never had one of the ones I worked on run away!
Just thought of another runaway, 2 guys i worked with were inside a sidewinder [ small steel boom boat] when the 453 took off on them. we had the boat inside the shop so it was like an echo chamber . they were prepared and had a piece of plywood to stick over the intake . Not this one but similar. Certainly got their attention .
Have to add this, when worked at Mack STL, we got laid off, before they let us go they gave a few of us an opportunity, five Mack Dealers were sending the Junkers to the MX border to be sold off across the line, one time run, paid expenses and a flight(Cheap) home from El Paso. Ciudad Juarez crossing point was set up for this event, we managed to keep the deck set junk together long enough to get down there and had a front row seat to watch the show. Back then a INTACT truck could Not be taken across the line so as the wreckers and dragging equipment would pull them to the border AFTER PURCHASE, they would have two guys, Gas axe in hand cut the frames just ahead of the front hanger rear suspension. Drop the mess to the ground and let the Mexican owner drag them Home. For two days as awaited our flight we watched the yards across the line, BUTT welding frames, best we could tell NOT timing drivelines, who knows what they used to patch brake lines as often failed MISERABLY as well spectacularly. Good time for drinking!! I hate to think it but expect were many hauled to the Mexican doctors during this. There was More than once the old Detroit's would be bad, old Mack's as well, sat too long, had internal issues, whatever and when the new owner finally got a set of batteries hot enough with enough fuel ZING and they were off to the Moon, all you could see was little guys running like bugs from a exterminator, smoke would roll and eventually the engine would seize, pop or wind down to die and they would scurry back to snatch parts for some other derelict. One time one time only and not long after all that ended as the equipment could be hauled in all in one piece
Had a kid walk up to us as we perused the town of Ciudad Juarez(nasty place then) He was a street hawker, selling something, came up and looked at the oldest guy among us, "Hey Meester, you want a Woman?" "Me Madre, Mudder is inside and Me Seester, she a Virgin Jus Like Me Madre, Mudder". I do not think any of us stopped laughing all the way back to the crossing.
Never had a total run away but was setting the rack on an 8V71 in an MCI bus, laying on top of the engine adjusting the back cylinder when my shoulder hit the start switch and it started. Fortunately I had a vise grip on the rack but when you're laying on top of one and it starts and begins to rev up it's quite interesting. Another time we were starting an 8V71 sitting on the floor. A local truck shop had been working on a hydraulic system in a truck and spent hours trying to figure it out why it wasn't working when someone decided to check for oil. The tank was empty. We were laughing about those guys being not to bright, well, this Detroit would only belch white smoke, nothing more. We were about to condemn it when I decided to check the flapper, it was closed. I learned you don't laugh at others if you can't laugh at yourself.
I don't know if it was a true runaway but the old 2 valve 4-71 on our slasher about made me sh*t my pants one day. I was up on it at about 15-F and gave it a shot of either and hit the starter button as usual. It cranked about 5 seconds and fired off as was normal and then took off screaming somewhere beyond wide open throttle for about 20 seconds. It was a tight spot where I stood, bent over the motor to reach the intake while stretching for the starter button. Nowhere for me to go. I thought I was a goner as the shutoff did nothing. With me scrambling, trying to crawl out of there, expecting a back full of motor shrapnel, it settled down as quick as it took off. Turns out it had been given near a full can of the cheap either that was for fuel injected cars during the hour before I go there. That cheap crap had laid in the air intake and fired after the motor started on the good stuff. It might have actually helped the old girl. Must have loosened the rings up and blew some carbon out as it seemed to have more power for years after that little burst of dead cold screaming. Its life ended years later when a sleeve broke at the inlet holes and the bottom section tore things up pretty good inside.
Sounds like that ol' One Eyed freight shaker we had ether bomb!!!
4-53 last summer almost came apart. It had been sitting a couple of years without being run. I took it out of an old parts excavator to power the 75' boom trailer we just finished putting together. Throttle seemed to work, but neglected to check the movement of the rack. I think it was #4 that stuck open. Since it sat for a while it took it a bit to start, but then just took off. My brother, who was on the side of the kill flap ran off, so I had to run around and trip it, thinking this might not be worth saving versus the risk, but did it anyway. That slowed it down, but we had to get the air filter off and stuffed with an old pair of jeans we had as a rag to kill it. Sounded like about 3-4k before we got it slowed down. Used some PB blaster and worked the rack loose and tried it. What-a-ya-know.... it ran. Still smokes a bit, but it runs.
I wasn’t there, but many years ago a crew laying pipe hit an unmarked gas line with a 1066C Koehring hoe!, the 12V71N started running on the natural gas, the operator and the Forman covered the air cleaner bonnets with their carhart coats and snubbed the engine. Ron the foreman told me the engine was running like a singer sewing machine, it ran for many years after that happened, all involved were extremely lucky .... Lee
Very lucky… Back in the late 70's in southern Wa. a TS 24 hit a gas line and the rear engine ignited the gas leak when it scattered parts. It was said that old 6-71 inline was screaming pretty loudly before it blew. The operator ran like h3ll when he realized why his machine was stuck.
Burned in my brain never to be forgotten, long years ago dad and uncle had trucking operation on Saturdays sometimes would end up at an auction, few of us cusins would get to ride along and terrize the sale. Probably was around 10-12 years old but did know a thing or 2 about taking engines apart, was getting pretty dull when auction truck moved up to what I remember was old GMC Brigidare dump truck or something been idling all day guess nobody wanted it, blower must have leaked big pool of oil in intake, ring hand bails up in truck ready to sell it and cobbs down on gas peddle, engine went to infinity and the crowd split like ants out of fresh mowed ant bed still remember ring boy leaning out the cab staring at the volcano cloud coming out the smoke chimney like he just couldn't believe that much smoke could come out of a 5 inch pipe. Guy from crowd ran up and flipped intake damper shut and Like someone mentioned before the sound was impressive, just like a tornado siren winding down you thought it never would get done. Rounded the crowd back up, auctioneer noted she runs good boys but don't park the auction truck in front of equipment from now on.
Clearprop, your writing is fantastic. I'm still wiping away tears of mirth, literally. They weren't just chuckles; they were gut-busting, gasping-for-air guffaws. Thank you.
Standing on a ride on trencher teaching a nervous operator how to trench down a steep grade....nice day, blue sky....looking around a bit and happened to notice the exhaust smoke was just an ever so tiniest whisp hint of brown and a second later it was screaming like a turbo prop commuter jet and producing insane quantity smoke way more so than any of the tractor pulls' "rolling coal"....visibility was truly zero, could barely see my hands. I knew it was a runaway on its own oil because once I reduced the throttle and placed the key off it made absolutely no difference. Pushed the trencher arm into the ground to load it up and get it shut down. The on lookers asked me why did I continually order the operator not to jump off - I said because I had a sore toe from a dropped piece of plywood from a few days back and was worried he would not be able to see and may have tramped on my foot. Let it cool down, checked fluids, started it up and it ran fine; finished the trench down the slope for that utility conduit. Another one. I prefer diesel whackers compactors over gasoline....placing class II base for a concrete slab, the whacker was left firmly standing and barely idling and then it fell over. Instantly it revved to the moon going around and around in somewhat of a ludicrous crazy circle....we watched it and figured soon it would all be over with the rod outside or something but I couldn't stand to hear it screaming so I timed it and just as the foot went by me I jumped into that action circle of insanity & grabbed for the throttle control and the fuel tank valve (I had figured when it fell it must have simply bumped/raised the throttle setting and had mentally noted there wasn't the big smoke cloud like the trencher event) but to my apprehension discovered otherwise - the throttle control had remained exactly on idle....apprehension changes to fear after moving both the throttle to Off and the fuel valve to Closed position since those actions accomplished nothing and the machine kept moving with me doing all I could to hang on and keep up with it: There I was going around in circles with the jackhammering beast, of course keeping well away from the foot and that rapidly pogo-ing leg. I could only think to try and stand it up to help ease my escape &/or still the thing [hope] and it was futile impossible and crazy difficult what with the antics of the jumping / wiggling and when I was thinking what else to do, the helper joined the melee and we agreed to both try and and stand it up.... somehow we did get it back up onto the foot, held onto it while it was compacting at Mach 5 and within a bit of time, it settled down, idled, then came to a stop. Never did smoke that much. We gathered ourselves while we let it cool. Nervously started it up and it ran like nothing had happened. Still have it in fact. But we don't let it stand idling. Rather buy starter ropes.
Never had one really run away but did have a dd15 in a new freightliner run backwards about 5 years ago and took out the crank Detroit didn’t believe it till they tore it down and checked the computer