Damaged engine

[stuartellis]

Hi
I purchased a 2008 cls320 back in January this year. It blew small puffs of white smoke on first start up. I was advised to renew the glow plugs which I did, this did not cure the problem. It then developed a rev related noise from the engine which steadily got worse. I was advised it sounded like a turbo problem so booked it in for an analysis at a local dealer. On the day it was booked in, the car started bellowing white smoke from the exhaust approx 5 minutes after first start up. It turned out the turbo had blown, however , the engine has also suffered considerable damage. Cylinders 1 and 5 have burnt piston heads and scored cylinders. I have been told this can happen if it burns its own oil.. However the car is back with the dealer I purchased it from and they are insisting it has been mis fuelled ie it has been run on unleaded. I put diesel in it 2 days before the incident with a receipt to prove this.
Is the damage to the engine consistent with it burning oil caused by a blown turbo. Any help or advise is appreciated.
The car has covered only 2800 in the 5 months I have driven it and it has 44000 on the clock.

 

[television]

Hello and welcome with your sad news, The dealers will always try to wriggle out when something big goes wrong, the chances are it is bits from the turbo that have done the damage. Stick to your guns on this, and do not give in.

 

[Biggles299]

You are very lucky that you didn't get a turbo runaway. Having experienced this on my wife's Nissan turbo diesel I can only describe it as one of the most frightening things I have ever known in a car. It started with a white puff then a rattly type noise, we pulled over and as my wife dipped the clutch the engine revved flat out despite her not touching the throttle.
The really frightening bit was when we took the keys out and it just kept running flat out. By now the car was filling up with white smoke so we got out as quick as we could and moved a safe distance away and called the emergency services, I honestly thought it would blow up at any moment.
Eventually after what seemed an age it stopped (the fire brigade pulled up just at that moment) They explained to me what had happened and how common an occurrence this is . The seals on the turbo fail and oil leaks into the inlet side of the turbo and gets pushed into the cylinders. This then get's burnt causing the oil pump to push more oil into the turbo. The oil feed to the turbo has to be considerable because of the speed and loads on the turbo when spinning at high speed. The engine will keep self fueling until it either seizes or as in our case it runs out of sump oil to burn.
What you can do with a manual is try to stall it but as far as an automatic goes just get clear.
The above is not much help in your situation I know but it may be useful to other members to know the dangers of a defective turbo.

 

[Some guy on the internet]

Wouln't blocking the air intake kill the engine?

 

[Some guy on the internet]

Kill as in shut down, not destroy.

 

[television]

Wouln't blocking the air intake kill the engine?

This crossed my mind, but on mine with an air intake each side not so easy to block plus they are in the order of 100mm diameter, would you have something suitable to block it with.

A flap for emergency use would do it, but the chances of ever having one built in are small

 

[RobWheatley]

Wouln't blocking the air intake kill the engine?

As long as it not a hand put over the intake the vacuum a diesel engine on full tilt would cause serious damage, plus I dont think I would like to be too near a runaway engine in case it lets go....

 

[Biggles299]

My thoughts exactly - I would not even consider popping the bonnet under those circumstances let alone putting any part of me near a diesel engine screaming at full revs and about to let go at any moment.
Incidentally it was a conrod that let loose on my wife's car when it finally stopped, ended up nicely wedged in the radiator.

 

[shaggy]

I would say 99% of people would run! especially with the concerns of getting the family out as well

 

[cellutron]

none of the comments are really constructive for the poor chap who started this thread though!!!

 

[ernieh]

As TV said, stick to your guns and don't let that receipt out of your sight! If you had the previous receipt, that would be a help. However, that on its own isn't too much help as the receipts for diesel don't prove that petrol wasn't put in at any time.

One other thing I would do is get a sample of the fuel from the car and if they try anything on, have it analysed. Even traces of petrol from a mis-fuel would be detectable on analysis as there are markers in petrol that are not present in diesel.

If I read your OP correctly, there was a problem with the car right at the beginning...hopefully that was registered with the supplying dealer at the time, so should be recorded; remind them of that, but try to keep calm and factual and don't get into a slanging match.

As to the original fault, it could be a number of things, but certainly mechanical failure of something, turbo, inlet flaps, etc; either way, not your fault!

Let us know how you get on.


Ernie

 

[Some guy on the internet]

Why would anyone buy a 2008 car that was smoking?

 

[ernieh]

That's how it reads, doesn't it?

Ernie

 

[ernieh]

Why would anyone buy a 2008 car that was smoking?

'Don't worry about that, Sir, it will be fully checked in our workshop before delivery and in any case its fully covered by our world standard fully comprehensive warranty'.


Ernie

 

[yorkshire1]

damage

your engine damage and symptoms to me sound more likely to have been caused by faulty injectors, if some werent atomising properly and firing a stream of diesel into the cylinders it could well cause the piston melting

white smoke -badly burnt/unburnt fuel