Runaway engine

[burn_your_money]

I just bought a 92 TD (not eco diesel) and I was told that the engine had ranaway on the highway. The owner was able to stall the car so excessive damge to the engine is unlikely right?

What are the reasons for the runaway engine? There's bad rings, bad turbo seals, bad valves and crankcase blowby that I can think of. Anything else? How can I test to see what actually happened to the engine?

If I do a compression test I need new heatsheilds right?

Any help is apprecaited.

I haven't tried starting the engine myself for fear of it taking off and crashing into my house. It is a 5 speed though.

Thanks
Tyler

Here's a picture of the engine for what it's worth

[vwmike]

It is doubtful, but if the previous owner adjusted the fuel screw too high or set the lever assembly incorrectly they could cause the engine to run away. If the fuel is set too high then it can cause the engine to hang or run away even though it seems fine at first. And yes, you will need new heat sheilds if you do a compression test.

[burn_your_money]

What exactly is the lever assmebly?

Can I use my mk1 diesel bentley (it has TD) for reference? I lost my mk2 one somewhere.

[vwmike]

By lever assembly I was referring to the linkage that the throttle cable is connected to. It has the nut on top which tightens it down onto the splined shaft going into the injection pump. If it were off a tooth or two it could cause some bad things to happen. It isn't all that likely as most people would be terrified to take the pump apart but it isn't out of the realm of possabilities. Your MK1 bentley would be good for most of the engine specs and whatnot but there were some smaller differences on the mk2's which might trip you up.

[PapaG]

Any where it can get fuel or oil. My 97 Passat TDI was filled with twice the amount of oil due to a faulty oil pump thing (right) at the dealer. My son picked it up and had enough sence to pull over and leave it in 5th gear tilled it killed the engine. It was the excess oil that it was using for fuel. Dealer came right away and took care of it.
When I worked on BIG trucks, GMC-Peterbuilt dealer, we had to leave them in highgear so if they started up in the middle of the night hope fully the tranny in high gear and the air brakes locked would stop it. Some air brakes leak down and we had a truck run throuht a wall in the shop. they left it in a lower gear.

Leaky turbo, supercharger and other things could allow it to run.. Now before you think I am crazy, I can not prove how they start by them selves but they do. Guess it leakes in a cylinder on the compression stroke.

Richard

[hillfolk'r]

what about the cam shield? is it still there,and some yoyo didnt take it out? just pop the oil filler cap and  make sure you CANT see the cam,because of the shield ,it may be tired,do the comp check and stuff,but a leakdown test is better :idea: everyone pulls off the inlet pipe to the turbo,see all the oil,and go dude my turbo is shot..no it is not,its the crankcase fumes oiling stuffup nice for you,i mean the turbo can go,but you will probably have a smoker(blue)heh in our shop when we pull in a "smoker" we say: hey look, there s nothin wrong its  just havin a marlboro!!

[burn_your_money]

I just went out and started the car. It took alot of cranking but I beleive that was due to excessive air in the fuel lines. It ran like crap for the first couple of minutes then it idled right at 900 with the cold start lever pulled out. When I pushed it in the idle dropped to 700 and it ran quite rough. It probably wasn't heated up enough.

From the engine bay I heard either a grinding or a rattling noise. I tried to disconnect the accesory belts to see if it was the AC or PS but I couldn't get the bolts lose so they are soaking right now.

The exhaust was pretty blue so I'm guessing it's burning oil from somewhere.

Any advice on what I should do next?

[RabbitJockey]

as far as i know it could be the turbo oil seal also leaking oil in

[burn_your_money]

I thought about that so I removed the hose that connects the turbo from the intake and started up the car. The only differance was there was about 10X more white smoke coming out of the tailpipe and it actually smelt like diesel, instead of just smelling terrible.
I can also hear that the timing is off a bit (clacking), could this be causing the white smoke?
The inside of the turbo was covered in oil, it literally ran out of the house when I removed it. Not piles but more then I was expecting

Here's a couple of pictures

[burn_your_money]

I had a look at the air filter today and it looked brand new so I didn't bother replacing it. I will set up the catch can next and see what happens, I'll have to get the stupid belts back on first so I don't overheat it. AC and PS, what a waste of an invention, those will be getting swapped out

Starting the car was actually pretty easy, but I will replace the glows before the cold winter sets in.

The oil return line is not the one that connects to the pan correct? And I would just remove it and run some gs through it, then let it dry out before re-intalling?

[coke]

Go ahead and remove your power steering, you'll regret it. Ask me how I know.

[hillfolk'r]

hey next time leave the cold start lever out longer,if ya push it in too soon,itll run rough etc,like ya said,so wait a little longer before pushing it in......

[burn_your_money]

Go ahead and remove your power steering, you'll regret it. Ask me how I know.

I'd like to know how.

Currently I'm not driving this car as I just bought it. I am trying to decide if it's worth fixing the engine or if I should just part it out.

[burn_your_money]

I talked to the guy I bought the car off of and he said that he had brought it to the shop and they confirmed that the rings were bad so I decided to part it out. I stripped the engine down so if anyone needs anything just ask. I'll make an official FS post later on in the week

[burn_your_money]

Ontario