Runaway Cat C-12

[RIDE-RED 350r]

So as some of you might remember from my major thread jacking in the holiday giving thread, my ten wheeler plow truck at work blew the turbo and ran away when I was at work plowing Christmas morning.

Well, we got her into to the shop yesterday and started evaluating things. But real quick before I get into what we found and where things sit now, a bit of background. It's a 2004 Freightliner FLD112 Super Duty with a Pre-EGR Cat C-12. When it shut down after running away, it did not come to a sudden stop, but rather slowly came down and stalled. About 20 minutes after the incident, I bumped the starter and remarkably it willingly turned over without delay and actually tried to fire.

So having said that, our mechanic told me that sometimes a runaway will begin to ingest so much engine oil that it chokes out the air to the point it will stall out. So, we go about checking things over... Drained about 3-4 gallons out of the pan (10 gallon capacity), removed the oil filter and found it completely full. No metallic debris found in either. With that discovery, the mechanic stated he was confident that the bottom end survived. The turbo: we found that while the turbo shaft was broken in two, the compressor turbine was still present attached to the shaft and undamaged except for some mild abrasion from rubbing on the housing when the shaft bearing went. Pretty good indicator that turbo debris probably didn't end up inside the engine.

According to our mechanic, all of these things point to the engine surviving and able to work again with a new turbo, charge air cooler, air filter, oil, oil filter, and a thorough cleaning of the charge air piping, hoses, and intake manifold. So at this point, we are waiting for the new charge air cooler and turbo and will give her a try when we get those new parts on.

I'll let y'all know how it turns out. I am genuinely surprised at the possibility that the engine could survive such and incident!

 

[Big1066ih]

I run the same truck, same year and engine. Not sure what happened but the engine has been done. Only 150k on the truck but not many are easy on a plow truck

 

[Redfin]

Subbed to see the outcome.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Plow trucks work HARD even with a driver that takes care not to flog it.

Looks like Everest plows on yours?? That's what we run too.

Mine..hope she lives again. 153k on it

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Mine has the Everest high speed nose plow...tall, 6 foot at the discharge side. I can stand straight up inside it. A little Christmas cheer for the motorists.

 

[Big1066ih]

It is Everest, 4 of 5 in shop are. One tenco left. Our Everest all have the candy cane style hook up, our garage is to small to fit tandems with plows on so they come off everytime.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Not sure what the candy cane hook up is. I hope it's for making dropping and hooking plows easier! Seems like and awful pain to have to drop them every time you park the truck

 

[huskihl]

I'm in

 

[Big1066ih]

Not sure what the candy cane hook up is. I hope it's for making dropping and hooking plows easier! Seems like and awful pain to have to drop them every time you park the truck

Piece of cake, I'll take pictures next week. Momma fell n broke a bone in her foot so I'm off rest of week. It's similar to a loader, drive into it n when ya pick up it pulls the plow into the truck and the pins lock in with air, if ya line it up right the first time ya can be hitched up n 30 seconds.

 

[Dub11]

 

[Milkman31]

Keep us posted!

 

[Marshy]

In for carnage.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Piece of cake, I'll take pictures next week. Momma fell n broke a bone in her foot so I'm off rest of week. It's similar to a loader, drive into it n when ya pick up it pulls the plow into the truck and the pins lock in with air, if ya line it up right the first time ya can be hitched up n 30 seconds.

That sounds pretty cool, and much faster than our method of a floor jack and alot of jockeying... sometimes it goes pretty quick and easy, other times not so much. Always requires at least one helper outside the truck helping to spot you and get you lined up just right. But in our case, unless the plows need to be unhitched for a repair as in my case, once they are hitched they pretty much stay hitched all season.

Get well soon to Momma!

 

[Big1066ih]

Get well soon to Momma!

Thank you

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Well, we have been trying to get a decision out of the boss about fixing the truck. He has been very wishy-washy and reluctant to spend the money on it as it is slated to be replaced in a year or two. So, we have a new AM charge air cooler and found the best price we could on a reman turbo at a smidge over $1000 after they receive our core.

The boss wanted to gain a little better idea of whether or not the engine survived before committing to spending the money on the turbo. So, we filled the crankcase up with fresh oil, stuck the turbo oil supply line into a 5 gallon bucket and fired the beast up. First off, I volunteered to hold the oil bucket since this truck is my baby. Glad I opted for earplugs cuz that SOB is LOUD running straight off the manifold! Anyway, she fired right up as if nothing was wrong, made 45psi oil pressure and made no unusual noises. We only ran it for about 15-20 seconds as that was all that was needed to make the assessment and we didn't want to let it pump too much oil out into the bucket. In that short time the turbo supply line pumped about 2 gallons into my bucket.

So, new turbo on the way and should be here tomorrow. We got the new charge air cooler installed as well as everything else mounted to it today. All that remains is the charge air pipes and the turbo itself. Hopefully the test drive once everything is back together yields good results so we can harness her back up and I can get back to plowing my route!

Stay tuned for more updates...hopefully by this time tomorrow.

 

[Canadian farm boy]

Well, we have been trying to get a decision out of the boss about fixing the truck. He has been very wishy-washy and reluctant to spend the money on it as it is slated to be replaced in a year or two. So, we have a new AM charge air cooler and found the best price we could on a reman turbo at a smidge over $1000 after they receive our core.

The boss wanted to gain a little better idea of whether or not the engine survived before committing to spending the money on the turbo. So, we filled the crankcase up with fresh oil, stuck the turbo oil supply line into a 5 gallon bucket and fired the beast up. First off, I volunteered to hold the oil bucket since this truck is my baby. Glad I opted for earplugs cuz that SOB is LOUD running straight off the manifold! Anyway, she fired right up as if nothing was wrong, made 45psi oil pressure and made no unusual noises. We only ran it for about 15-20 seconds as that was all that was needed to make the assessment and we didn't want to let it pump too much oil out into the bucket. In that short time the turbo supply line pumped about 2 gallons into my bucket.

So, new turbo on the way and should be here tomorrow. We got the new charge air cooler installed as well as everything else mounted to it today. All that remains is the charge air pipes and the turbo itself. Hopefully the test drive once everything is back together yields good results so we can harness her back up and I can get back to plowing my route!

Stay tuned for more updates...hopefully by this time tomorrow.

Good deal. She's gonna smoke a whole bunch on that first test drive. It will have to burn out all that oil from the exhaust system. Hopefully no other vehicles will be following. They usually spew oil right out the stack for the first couple miles and then smoke like crazy for a few more miles.

This is a Volvo D12b. Just had a few bad injectors but the manifold is off it here. Love that sound. Lol

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

I'm sure it's gonna smoke a fair bit. Our mechanic insists on drilling a 3/8" hole in the lowest parts of the exhaust to drain any oil that might possibly still be sitting in the exhaust. He says it poses a fire hazard.

In my mind, the runaway scenario had four possible outcomes... 1: Runs away, catches on fire, whole truck ends up a total loss. 2: Runs away, pistons break and/or heat seize ruining cylinder liners and pistons. 3: Runs away, burns all of the engine oil, rotating assembly smokes every bearing and locks up. 4: Runs away, engine grenades due to ungodly high no-load RPM.

I never would have dreamed it could be force fed so much oil that it choked off enough air supply to keep running. As I eluded to earlier, I had not heard of that scenario until our mechanic told me about it.

I stood there corrected and absolutely surprised today as that engine ran like a watch and apparently his theory was proven correct, thus far.

Gotta love a Caterpillar!! LOL!

Yeah we had no turbo mounted to the manifold when we fired it up today..open manifold!!

 

[Canadian farm boy]

I'm sure it's gonna smoke a fair bit. Our mechanic insists on drilling a 3/8" hole in the lowest parts of the exhaust to drain any oil that might possibly still be sitting in the exhaust. He says it poses a fire hazard.

In my mind, the runaway scenario had four possible outcomes... 1: Runs away, catches on fire, whole truck ends up a total loss. 2: Runs away, pistons break and/or heat seize ruining cylinder liners and pistons. 3: Runs away, burns all of the engine oil, rotating assembly smokes every bearing and locks up. 4: Runs away, engine grenades due to ungodly high no-load RPM.

I never would have dreamed it could be force fed so much oil that it choked off enough air supply to keep running. As I eluded to earlier, I had not heard of that scenario until our mechanic told me about it.

I stood there corrected and absolutely surprised today as that engine ran like a watch and apparently his theory was proven correct, thus far.

Gotta love a Caterpillar!! LOL!

Yeah we had no turbo mounted to the manifold when we fired it up today..open manifold!!

The oil in the exhaust system definitely does pose a fire hazard. Personally I've never seen it happen but the possibility is there. A 3/8" hole is pretty big. Maybe drill a 1/8" hole and when it's done draining you can just put a pop rivet in to fill the hole.
Just a thought. Glad your ole truck is gonna live for the next big snowfall.

 

[RIDE-RED 350r]

Well I'm refraining from jumping for joy until a test drive is under her belt... but things are looking up that's for sure!

I was thinking I could weld up the holes after the oil drains off. Our mechanic isn't much of a welder, but I can hold my own. Even if I stuck a very short bolt in the hole and welded it in place. That could work too.

 

[Dub11]

So here is a random thought, but why don't these high dollar motors have a "OH CHIT" flap on the intake track to can pull to choke the air supply off?