Exploding shite

[bigstraight6]

Has anyone else about these parts had the misfortune to be following a vehicle that suddenly decides to have a serious engine failure? well, it happened to me a couple of days ago on the good old A303 just past Yeovil, and it was a rather horrendous experience.Picture the scene, a dual carriageway section of the 303, a slow moving Volvosaurus antique dealers favourite estate on the inside lane, a Daewoo Nubira behind it, then me. The intrepid pilot of the Daewoo pulls out into the overtaking lane, seemingly giving it some toe as he does so, I indicate and start to move over to the overtaking lane also when all of a sudden there's a loud bang from the general direction of the Daewoo and in what seemed like a split second, a wall of dense blue fog, I couldn't see past the end of my bonnet and had to anchor up quickly as did the antique dealer beside me and a number of vehicles behind.The oily smog seemed very slow to clear, but once it started to I inched slowly forward and after about 100 yards there was captain Daewoo on the side of the road, revving the still running engine and producing even more clag Piston broke perhaps

[andrew e]

I blew an auction house polo up like that

[Richard]

That sort of thing happens quite a lot at the stock cars. Sometimes the oil escapes and all the cars behind pile into the wall like American police cars.

[M'coli]

Seen this sort of thing on the hard shoulder, usually diesel Renos, revving their tits off while chucking out huge clouds of white smoke - metering unit/diesel pump/common rail diesel ecu failure, one suspects, something like that.

[Richard]

I think on the Renault DCi engine it's a leak on the EGR valve that causes them to run out of control on their own sump oil.

[wuvvum]

Seen this sort of thing on the hard shoulder, usually diesel Renos, revving their tits off while chucking out huge clouds of white smoke - metering unit/diesel pump/common rail diesel ecu failure, one suspects, something like that.

Funny you should say that - saw a 52-plate Laguna DCi doing exactly that on the hard shoulder of the A14 this afternoon. Didn't realise it was a common trait with them. The only other time I've seen that happen was with my first Trooper - fortunately jamming it into 5th, stamping on the brakes and dumping the clutch was enough to stall it before any permanent damage was done. The Laguna driver didn't seem to have worked out that it would be a good idea to stop the engine though - he was standing there staring at it as it turned the eastbound carriageway into a wall of smoke. Maybe it was an auto and he couldn't stall it. Or maybe he was like most modern car drivers and completely clueless as to how an engine works.

[Father Ted]

The intrepid pilot of the Daewoo pulls out into the overtaking lane, seemingly giving it some toe as he does so, I indicate and start to move over to the overtaking lane also when all of a sudden there's a loud bang from the general direction of the Daewoo and in what seemed like a split second, a wall of dense blue fog,

Happened to me in a Mk 3 Fiasco on the M55 about 6 years back - con rod made a bid for freedom through the side of the block, middle lane, giving it some welly trying to overtake a twhat in an escrote when it started "making a funny noise" rather than pull up I just buried the loud pedal then it went "bang" anda sound like gravel in a washing machine as bits of cast iron block redeposited themselves round the engine bay and all over the middle lane of the M55 - I indicated (shrist knows why as the motorway was lost in a dense fog of oil and steam) and pulled over to the hard shoulder just yards from the exit. For about 12 months the black trail leading from lane 2 to the hard shoulder was visible on the road. At least the scrote driver would have had his car peppered with oil

[CortinaDave]

Happened to me in a 175,000 mile cavalier SRI I had bought only a few days earlier... On my way to edinburgh when the piston came straight through the block on the dual carriageway.Having opened the bonnet and seen it was a lost cause I phoned my mate who towed me the 5 miles to the local scrappy with it there and then.Engine was still warm as the grab crane came down. Ultimate revenge on the car for leaving you stranded!

[Volksy]

I think on the Renault DCi engine it's a leak on the EGR valve that causes them to run out of control on their own sump oil.

Yup, Discoveries do the same thing too.

[Albert Ross]

I did it on a rented Citroen C25D Van..........The "junior mechanic" had "checked" the levels prior to me taking it, and it was all warmed up for me. I got into it, took it to the exit, and hit the brakes, and it revved, and revved, till it shot a rod through the block.............I was out of it by this time and walking back to the office, keys in hand............I had gone about 30 feet! Turns out he had put 3 litres of oil in, thinking that the danger mark was the max mark on the dipstick......................He was in the dole office the next monday. (I knew the boss quite well, he wasn't too sympathetic!)

[25v6turbo]

Ah no its nothing to do with the EGR on a Renault,if you overfill it with oil it picks up on its own oil,then it all goes BANG!!! happens on the F9Q(1.9) and the 2.2(G9T)engine,never overfill them!!!