Kill Switch

[JLEONARD]

It is rare that one of these engines will runaway by sucking oil.

Yes it can happen, but it is very rare.

It is definately nothing that I would even consider worrying about or planning for.



My old VW diesel... now that would occasionally run away, but it would be the oil from the valve cover that would lay in the bottom of the intake manifold... then when running with the pedal to the floor (always had to run that way) when the manifold would overflow..... black smoke lots of power (probably a whopping extra 10 hp) for a few seconds... . then the "resevoir" would be depleted and it would be back to normal 52 hp.



It was actually fun when this happened.

Jay

 

[dpuckett]

I think Chris has visions of having a shut off like the farm tractors of old- turn the key and pull the kill switch. (that, and when he had electrical problems, he could just roll it down a hill and get to the parties ) The one I had was just a choke cable from the HELP section, hooked up the manual shutdown on the pump. JUst had a round handle, nothing fancy.

 

[sparks57]

You guys gotta quit joking around, my post count is going up too quick!

 

[Excessive Force]

CB, I've got a kill switch on mine. I used an extension cord,and cut the male end off (leave about 5 inches of wire on the plug). Then hooked one of the wires to the fuel shutoff solenoid,and the other to the solenoid power source. Then i ran the cord along the frame to the rear of the truck. Then take the male end you cut off,and make a loop in the wiring (for the sled operator to hook his snap to). Connect the two coresponding wires in the male end so that when the plug is put together it completes the circuit. Works great !!Kind of a long explanation,but it's real simple to make.

 

[dkuehn]

I have a kill switch in my truck. I had a Python alarm years ago installed as I had taken it off and it had a wire cut in the steering column that went to the unit for it to kill the truck. I took and put heavy gage wire with a 30 amp switch (burned up a small switch before on it). The truck will not turn over when the switch is off. When its on and you turn it off it kills the motor. I don't know which wire but if you want I will try to find out this weekend if you want me to.



Dan

 

[sparks57]

Cool, thanks guys!

 

[1stgen4evr]

runaway

Any diesel can do the run away thing if oil gets to the cylinder. It was so common on the Detroit engines that a flap was built into the intake so as to block air from entering the engine. Idleing was the culprit most times on the Detroit but sometimes oil could be getting from the crankcase to the plenum box by the lower rings and on into the cylinders. The plenum has a drain but on older engines this would sometimes be plugged and "Runaway". As noted the most common occurance for our engines would be seals in the turbo or pump problem.



I have seen the result of run away on one engine. It was an old Buda engine on a genset. A bearing failed in the governor and it severely overspeeded the engine. A brave (crazy) soul manually shut the engine down with the kill lever. Everyone said it was quite scary. My guess is that it would have scattered the engine if there had been enough fuel supply. I rebuilt the governor and it is running today.



I doubt there would be enough co2 in a fairly good size bottle to kill the cummins. It is gulping hugh quantities of air at the speeds it is turning and that assums one could get it into the engine almost instantly. The flap/buttefly would kill it.



Cummins doesn't think it enough of a problem to offer anything for the job.



1stgen4evr

James

 

[phillips5]

Buffalo That isn't it is an electric valve that stops the fuel from getting to the injection chamber of the pump. Had to replace one once.

 

[sparks57]

Seems like there is a lot of info on this subject!

 

[nascar mark]

Diesel fuel runaway with the 1st gen Ve pump can be stopped 2 different ways.



- Cut air off to the engine by any means until engine stops turning or it will gain rpm again.

It can be done by blocking the turbo intake or any where between turbo and head, a butterfly intake valve or smothering the air supply with a big full fire extinguisher, spraying directly into the turbo intake and hope you have enough in the bottle to keep spraying until engine stops turning. Its been done before with Co2.



- Fuel starvation

Can be done by pinching fuel supply line between fuel filter and injection pump, unscrewing fuel filter or backing out power screw.



Any method must be done quickly.



I've played around some in the past and had 3 runaways with my old engine. I was prepared each time by taking the pre caution of welding a nut on the power screw and having a ratchet within arms reach to back out power screw before engine damage.



I can tell you the shut off solenoid, no matter how you wire it or the injection pump lever isn't going to stop the runaway once it happens. Been there, tried that with my free hand while the other hand was backing off the power screw. A little scary the 1st time.



As mentioned above, oil can be sucked into the engine from a few different sources. Gasoline vapors, propane or variety of other fuels spills can also cause a runaway if in large enough quantity.



Chances of having a runaway is very slim unless you turn the pump up too high. How far is too far? Do a search from the past under "runaway" in 1st gen forum for more info.

 

[sparks57]

Thanks for all the input Mark!

 

[phillips5]

The oil that caused a Detroit diesel to run away came from tho piston seals. They are soft plugs drove in to the ristpin bores. Most diesel ristpins are pressure fed so on a 2 cycle diesel you have to stop that oil from gettiing into the air box so they have piston seals. After a fiew toll booths had been run down they made Detroit put on an emergence air floper. Time after time the drivers would call me and say the truck would start and die,starte and die. I would say why did someone stupid pull the wronge shutoff handle. Than there was that word that there is no excuse for ( AGAIN). Once shame on the un marked handle. Twice shame on the driver!