Engine at all oil and over revved like mad!!

[stevensuf]

Yanmar 4jh3e, switched engine on to charge batteries, engine went apeshit, made strange noise, started hunting for revs, then revved like mad full steam ahead, we tried the cut off, it would not work, cut fuel from tank and crimped fuel line and it eventually stopped, afterwards there was no oil left in the engine, anyone any ideas what caused this?

i think i know , but other opinions would be nice, engine will turn over now, so not siezed but not started it yet, on the other hand 800 nm with no engine, it was quite cool, i surprisingly enjoyed it!

[colemj]

Did you change or add to the oil recently? Possibly overfilled it and it got sucked up into the air intake through the breather tube?

If you had worn pistons or valve guides, that would have been very noticeable way before they got bad enough to let that much oil in.

Best thing for shutting an engine down quickly is to go for the air first - stuff something into the inlet or put a bag around the air filter.

Mark

[model 10]

Is this a Turbo engine?

[atoll]

this sounds like a classic case of using cheap synthetic oil,and leaving it way too long between oil changes,and the oil becoming very viscous due to its poor quality,and vaporising ,then being sucked in to the air filter,causing the over rev and consuming all the oil..........ergo probably nothing wrong with the injector pump,try refilling with quality oil...castrol or duckams sae 50,api cdi,engin should run fine if you are lucky!!!!

[sabray]

Say what? This has nothing to do with synthetic oils. Could be seals at the turbo or overfilled oil. Synthetic oil is just higher refined oil with additives to enhance its performance. Dino oil is oils with additives to enhance its performance. Both will burn in a diesel as will veggie oil Etc

[atoll]

Originally Posted by sabray

Say what? This has nothing to do with synthetic oils. Could be seals at the turbo or overfilled oil. Synthetic oil is just higher refined oil with additives to enhance its performance. Dino oil is oils with additives to enhance its performance. Both will burn in a diesel as will veggie oil Etc

this might be the case if the engine was a turbo,but it is not it is normally aspirated,with no turbo,so the only place for an over run such as this is via the oil breater pipe to the air filter......***** oil or not if the oil has not been changed for in excess of 400+ hours it will breakdown and vaporise causing said problem

[stevensuf]

the oil was less than 150 hours old, there was a funny rattling noise when we first started the engine, which was strange.I wish it was something easy.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

the oil was less than 150 hours old, there was a funny rattling noise when we first started the engine, which was strange.I wish it was something easy.

can you confirm it is not a turbo engine and what type of oil you had in it?

[stevensuf]

no turbo, prob cheap api 35 or whatever it was , which was rated suitable for the engine. confused dot com

[atoll]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

no turbo, prob cheap api 35 or whatever it was , which was rated suitable for the engine. confused dot com

that sounds like the problem then cheap oil that broke down,should be using sae 40 or 50 oil on an oldish engine, or might be a diesel leak from the lift pump into the crank reducing the viscosity of the oil .

had it happen to me using crap oil where it sprayed out the breather and lost oil pressure, would have caused an overrun had it been connected to an air filter,but was not,instead painted the the whole engine room with oil spray!

check the lift pump is not leaking diesel into the engine

[perchance]

You have suffered a classic runaway diesel caused by ingesting all your engine oil into the combustion chambers. The trick is finding out the how and why.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by atoll

or might be a diesel leak from the lift pump into the crank reducing the viscosity of the oil .

Very good point - check that out. I think you sucked most of the oil into the engine through the intake. See if you have oil residue there.

Also, make sure your valve cover vent / breather tube is clear.

I don't know of a general 35 weight oil. If it was 30 weight, that is too thin for your engine unless you are in really cold temps - but probably still too thin even there.

I don't understand Atoll's point about becoming viscous and vaporizing - those are two opposite physical property directions.

Mark

[bobconnie]

Im with Atoll on this one ! Cheap, too light oil in an older engine. Thats a normal happing with sea going diesels, And I aways change my engine oil at at least 150 engine hours, and would prefer to get it changed at 100 hours!! But then I like my dieseld to run 8 or 9000 hours or ore ! Just my 2 cents and when did we start useing light oil in diesels ??

[onestepcsy37]

ok, you guys are scaring the crap out of me now.

i have a 34 year old perkins 4-108. i've owned it for ten years now. i've always used rotella t 15w40, changed it and the filter every 100 hours.

a few days ago i changed the oil and filter. instead of 15w40 i bought rotella t 30 - straight 30 weight. on the container it said that is was suited for older diesels, which probably convinced me to buy it. i ran up the engine and it seemed to run just fine, although i think i heard a single valve 'clacking' that i hadn't heard before. the oil pressure was about the same as before - 60 pounds.

so advise me. should i just drain it out and replace it with 15w40? those are the only two weights of oil that i've seen available.

[glenn.225]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

the oil was less than 150 hours old, there was a funny rattling noise when we first started the engine, which was strange.I wish it was something easy.

That funny rattling noise could of been something (spring, weight??) letting go in governor that caused it to go to full fuel, then when fuel was cut off it fed on it own oil.