Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board

Re: Run on 3208

Posted By: Sean Burlingham
Date: Thursday, 18 August 2005, at 2:30 a.m.

In Response To: Re: Run on 3208 (Carl)

I'm sure all I have is a sticky/sluggish stop solenoid, but the whole thing caused me to do a lot of research on runaway engines at boatdiesel.com. A "runaway" diesel is an engine running on it's own crankcase oil, and if it gets enough it'll run out of control and un-governed, until it blows up or is stopped. Only way to stop that is to stop the air flow, but without any quick-trip flappers, who's going to lean over an engine running out of control at 4000+ RPM and start stuffing in things to stop up the air intake before shrapnel starts flying? Not me. If it happens and you're out of gear, engine is going to blow apart. If you are in gear then you could probably stop it in time.

The runaways are typically either the turbo bearing leaking oil, which usually warns you before it fails badly, or by oil from the airseps which have a check valve that can clog and cause the engine to drink it's own oil. Both cases are somewhat common to Detroits, from what I gather, but not to Cummings or Cats. In fact Detriots are so famous for being prone to runaway failure that a lot of them come with the flapper shut-offs, some rigged with cables to the bridge. But then when you trip one by accident when running, the engine is starved for air and can suck out it's own turbo bearing seal. Then when you re-start, blammo, Detriot Diesel grenade.

From what I've learned about them I'd never have the airseps, which can screw up and leak oil into the air intake without warning. I'm going to install the Racor CCV's with the puke bottles (ala Tony Athens) to eliminate any possible source of crankcase oil and also to keep the turbos clean. Also would like to have air cutoff's as a safety feature but don't know where to find such a thing for CAT's. Nobody seems to make or want them because it doesn't seem to be a problem for CAT's.

Anybody in the know that reads anything wrong in the above, please correct me. It is what I've been able to compile on the subject from the boatdiesel message boards. Amazing how much you can learn there (and here)

Messages In This Thread

Run on 3208
Sean Burlingham -- Sunday, 14 August 2005, at 1:27 p.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Ed C. -- Sunday, 14 August 2005, at 7:41 p.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Walter Kaprielian -- Sunday, 14 August 2005, at 9:54 p.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Capt. Dave Kosh -- Monday, 15 August 2005, at 12:48 p.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Sean Burlingham -- Wednesday, 17 August 2005, at 4:54 a.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Capt. Dave Kosh -- Wednesday, 17 August 2005, at 9:56 a.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Rawleigh -- Wednesday, 17 August 2005, at 10:40 a.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Carl -- Wednesday, 17 August 2005, at 4:23 p.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Sean Burlingham -- Thursday, 18 August 2005, at 2:30 a.m.

Re: Run on 3208 *LINK*
Rawleigh -- Thursday, 18 August 2005, at 12:30 p.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Sean Burlingham -- Thursday, 18 August 2005, at 5:58 p.m.

Re: Run on 3208
Capt. Dave Kosh -- Friday, 19 August 2005, at 9:52 a.m.