Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all, few days ago I had experienced my first diesel runaway with my T3. As scary as it was I'm mostly interested in knowing if I did something wrong or the engine was about to die anyway. De day before I added one liter of motor oil because it's showed min on the dipstick. After a hour if driving I got the runaway. I've managed to stop it by putting it in high gear and let go of the clutch.
 Its a 1.9 diesel without turbo. I've no idea how old the engine is since it was swapped but unknown when by the previous owners. I've been driving it for almost 2 years without any issues. It's a t3 from 89. The van is now being shipped back to my garage in the Netherlands from the UK so I haven't had a detailed diagnosis yet except it won't start.

Seems its running on oil - too much added. Maybe blown some rings and the oil is burning.

It's possible the dipstick isn't the right length giving a false reading. Mine (1.9 1Y) was reading wrong, over time it had slipped through the little clamp just below the top loop so was always reading low by about half a litre.  Easy enough to rectify by filling with the correct amount for the engine you have and then adjusting the dipstick to suit.  Hopefully you managed to stop it in time and haven't done any major damage.