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Uncontrollable reving and smoke

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Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby Redo1 » Sat Jul 08, 2017 7:44 am

Hi,
I have a 1999 Transit van with a 2.5 turbo Diesel engine. On 3 occasions now for no apparent reason it has started to rev uncontrollably and produce huge clouds of white smoke that smells terrible(oil burning). If I didn't put in in gear and stall the motor I am sure it would it would rev off the scale.
Yesterday it did it a day after a long trip. Started ok cold and went into over revving and smoke clouds like you can't believe after 2kms down the road. Very embarrassing when it does it in a busy street. One other time is did it about 2 kms from home in a friends driveway (from a cold start)and the other time coming onto the motorway from an on ramp (about 2kms after cold start)and I could manage the over revving on the motorway. These events are months apart.
After it has its manic over rev and I am brave enough to start it, it will be a little smokey and behave like nothing has happened. Mechanic friend is baffled, we don't think its the turbo as its random when it does it and doesn't smoke between episodes. Doesn't use any oil on a trip, doesn't drip oil.
I have managed to control stall it(so far) but concerned any one else driving it will not be able to do this.
Appreciate your help.
Thanks
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby twin wheel camper » Sat Jul 08, 2017 1:18 pm

Under the rocker cover there is 3 or 4 little bolts above the pushrods they wil be lose or even dropped out, just take off the rocker cover and tighten or find in the area the bolts and refit and all will be good again 8)
It's well covered on here and fairly common problem and best of all it costs £0 to fix if you can remove the rocker cover yourself :mrgreen:
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby gotgcoalman » Sat Jul 08, 2017 2:30 pm

Oil being sucked into the intake and burned by the engine (run away)

As said check the rocker bolts.

If left and it gets really bad it'll rev to max and empty the sump causing total engine failure.
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby Keef » Sat Jul 08, 2017 4:03 pm

You should check the inlet manifold for signs of oil and get it sorted soon before it destroys itself.

The reason it smokes and runs away is because the engine is running on it's engine oil as fuel. The causes of this are normally

worn turbo
worn piston rings or bores
on the 2.5di engine, the small bolts mentioned in previous posts

If your bolts are all in place and tight, I'd suspect the turbo.
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby twin wheel camper » Sat Jul 08, 2017 4:33 pm

The guy said its using no oil so unlikely to be a worn engine it's almost 100% the little bolts loose.
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby gotgcoalman » Sat Jul 08, 2017 4:50 pm

twin wheel camper wrote:The guy said its using no oil so unlikely to be a worn engine it's almost 100% the little bolts loose.


It must be using a small amount if the 10mm rocker bolt is loose.

Start the van and take the oil filler cap off to see if it's breathing heavy.
Palm of hand over the filler tube should show any excessive oil in the vapor.
Black oily circle on hand = further investigation.
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby Redo1 » Sun Jul 09, 2017 5:05 am

I was able to take the rocker cover off and the back bolt was half out and the next one forward had fallen out. So they are back in their place.
Very grateful that no damage has happened. This motor/vehicle has done 260 thousand Kms and so been really reliable(apart from the 3 manic sessions) Was a school bus so has done good long runs. Took breather hose off and put palm of my hand over and no oil issues or excessive fumes.
Can I assume it has solved the over revving problem?
Thank so much for all the advice.
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby twin wheel camper » Sun Jul 09, 2017 10:29 am

Yes that's it sorted as long as it doent come loose again, you can get thread lock that works even on bolts with oil on them now and then it will never be a issue again :idea:
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Re: Uncontrollable reving and smoke

Postby trannyfreak » Thu Jul 13, 2017 1:04 pm

I had a transit that did this year's ago I thought it had a demon on it lol as it happened about 2 in the morning I just replaced the engine, it does sh*t you when it happens lol
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