2017 L5P runaway!!!!!engine gone.. scary..now what?

[cowboy86]

My 2017 high country 3500 dually....purchased 6 weeks prior to this..42,000miles completely stock...decided to dig its own grave and almost mine!! traveling at approx. 75 mph on a texas state highway (2 lane) my L5P out of no where started what most call diesel runaway. the truck out of no where accelerated on its own, to complete red line rpms and speeds of 90 plus...I cant recall what the top speed reached was but for about 2 miles I had both feet mashed on the brakes to no avail.  massive amounts of smoke blew behind me mostly white.  the truck held steady pushing through the brakes until I heard it blow and lock up and I coasted to a stop over a mile after that....this whole time I had to maintain the left lane avoiding hitting other vehecles in the rear and thank god no one came in that lane.  after stopping there was a fire under the truck but it went out fairly quick...I have ideas of what happened under the hood from reading forums but any insight would be appreciated.  I could not slow it at all until it blew...softball size hole in pass. side of engine. scariest situation ive ever been in...currently awaiting call from the dealer!!

[davester]

thank goodness you didn't shift into neutral, or else you would have missed that exciting ride.

 

and what are your ideas on what caused your l5p to runaway?

[gearheadesw]

Did you try to shut it off? Would it have shut off with the key?

[CRApex]

A runaway diesel will not shut off with the key.  Very very  rare, can happen to any diesel though.  Normally the brakes are more than sufficient to slow it down, putting in neutral will allow the vehicle to be stopped but that will certainly destroy the motor.  If I had two miles, I would probably shift to manual model, put in 6th gear and use the brakes to slow it and hopefully stall it.  I'm sure you have pics, would be interesting to see those.

[avalonandl]

DOWNSHIFT- overspeed will cause fuel cutoff to engage.

[KARNUT]

If oil got into the cylinder your not going to stop a run away blown diesel very easily. Neutral and get away before she blows is usually the best if you’re unable to brake stop it. The other way is choke the air. We had flaps in the intake with heavy equipment. I don’t think I would want to open the hood of a runway vehicle Diesel engine to choke the intake.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[oldmann]

I vote floor mat hitting the pedal.  

[Black02Silverado]

Sounds like it started using it's own oil as fuel.  

 

Scary and glad you are ok.  One in that situation doesn't have time to think.  The normal stuff comes to mind like standing on the brakes.  

 

As stated above, put it in neutral and steer it to safety letting it go.  Not much you can do.

[kenny_r]

F....k that! Yikes

[redwngr]

If it was sucking in and burning engine oil only way you could have stopped it would have been with an air shut-off. 

 

One of the down sides to compression ignition engines - when they get an uncontrolled alternate fuel source there is no way to stop them except cutting off the air.  This is why diesels operating in high risk areas like chemical plants and natural gas pimping/processing stations always have air shut-offs added. 

 

 

Lots of 'run away' entertainment / instructional videos out there. 

 

 

If they are able to determine what happened please update the thread.

 

 

 

 

 

[cowboy86]

Sorry for the long delay in getting back to this I've had a little extra stress. The truck is still at the dealership and gm is denying any help with it. They claim there was damage to the oil pan  and it has a hole in it. For starters how would that cause a runaway....2. I did not hit anything to cause any damage. 3.i went to the shop Monday and looked for myself and there is no "hole" in the pan....there is a small ding in the pan and a significant dent in the crossmember which had to have happened prior to me buying it and I over looked it. I bought it at 34k miles. That means I had put 8k on the truck with a whole in the pan (and an oil change lol) get real people. We all know a couple scenarios that may have caused this and they have no answers for me. My insurance has stepped in because of the fire and "might" cover the damage but still fighting with chevy....(only $24,800 as estimated by dealer).....they have not even dug in to see what's inside or what happened even though their telling me they did. Lies on top of lies. This gets more frustrating and more ridiculous by the day....i filed a complaint with GM and GM has contacted them and they are supposed to come up with some answers. I have posted pics of the hole in the engine and the damage under the truck. I will keep you posted. 

[cowboy86]

More pics. 

[cowboy86]

Also not sure how oil coming from pan at 80mph could be all over the truck....(much less cause a runaway)...by far the worst and most frustrating experience of my life. And to answer the questions I was a little more concerned with the traffic around me than to think how to kill it.  I was in the left lane at 80mph and climbing(2 lane highway) and trucks beside me but now I know the things I  would have tried wouldn't have worked. Also it may not have been 2 miles but it sure seemed like a long time when I couldn't control it. The dealership is just trying to get out this costing GM. It wouldn't be hard to find the cause of this.  They just see an easy out.

[bg1988]

they ARE WRONG if the oil was gone the engine would have SEIZED rather then "run away" (except for Toyota corolla  those will last a little bit for it fails without oil)

 unless they bought the engines from the same guy who sold jack his bean  stock beans...

I suggest you get a LEMON LAW lawyer ... most states it's paid for by the Manufacture.. 

 

obviously they think you are stupid..  I suggest you STOP talking to the dealer or GM and get a lemon lawyer right away..  Even have your thread deleted as well..  then let us know the outcome after you deal with it

 

ALSO tell them you want your RENTAL EQUIVALENT paid for.   (yes there is 3500s available for rental)

[cowboy86]

They are trying to get out of this but I'm not a pushover like they hoped. If my insurance wants to pay fine but I will still be shedding light on them. My hope is that GM stepping in will change things a bit.   Time will tell. Going on 3 weeks now. No loaner no rental....nothing but lies!