Hi All,

I've got an OM606.962 running the stock turbo and pump from the 603 with 6mm elements. Until now it's been running great, it used to start very quickly, less than 1/2 a second on the starter, even when below freezing sitting outside and not driven for a week.

One of the injector return lines came off, and above the valve cover filled to the top with diesel.. I was driving up and incline and it must have sloshed backwards enough to get sucked in the valve cover breather, then sucked through the intake. The air filter and box was soaked in diesel.
It pegged the rpm off the scale at 7000rpm+ for maybe 5-10 seconds even though I turned it off.
It must have run out of air filled diesel and stopped with a puff of grey smoke under the hood.
No loud bang, no horrible noises other than the very high rpm. Scary stuff.
Immediately after it happened I had a really good look - it wasn't overly hot (it's cold here now), no oil or coolant anywhere it shouldn't be.
The engine oil smells burnt.

No idea if I've killed it, really want to get it to fire so I can hear if I've done major damage.

We dragged it home, cleaned it up and have been trying to get it started for a couple of days now . It turns over fine. I'm cranking on the starter with the throttle wide open, and have done that for at least 10 minutes of cranking (in 5-10 second bursts)
We've bled the entire fuel system multiple times and have strong diesel with no air bubbles coming out at each injector.
It's sucking air really strong, lots of grey smoke out the exhaust while cranking. Rarely does it even sound like it might fire.
Spraying WD-40 or "diesel start" in the air intake makes no difference.
We even manually hot-wired the glow plugs to make sure they're lighting up.

We have not done a compression check yet, we don't have the tools. When we do, is it easier to do via the injectors?

Does anyone have any other ideas as to what we can check or do to get it to fire?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
-Dan

It this point, compression and timing would be the next steps. I'd suspect timing as even with terrible compression you should get at least something with starting fluid.

__________________
Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

Being that the engine has a 5200/min red line I would say that bad things happened to your engine. I suspect the valve train did not like it at all.

Have you pulled off the valve cover to see if the cam is rotating and operating the valves?

I had the issue of injector wells filling up on my 606 but it was the VC gasket.
Attn OM606 - inspect under the engine cover

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

How would the timing have moved?

-Dan

That was one of my first thoughts, but isn't the 606 an interference engine?

Chain jumped a tooth?

__________________
Current Stable

• 380SL (diesel)
• Corvette C5
• Manx
• Baja Bug
• F350 Powerstroke
• Auburn Boattail Speedster replica

The 606 is definitely an interference engine.

There is a definite time required for the lifters to relax and allow the valve to retract out of the way of the rising piston. If the engine speed exceeds the red line the valve does not have enough time to retract before the piston comes back up. The piston strikes the valve and bends the stem.

I suspect you have bent the valves. The valves can no longer seal against the head and you cannot develop compression.

No compression = no fire.

__________________
The OM 642/722.9 powered family
Still going strong
2014 ML350 Bluetec (wife's DD)
2013 E350 Bluetec (my DD)

both my kids cars went to junkyard in 2023
2008 ML320 CDI (Older son’s DD) fatal transmission failure, water soaked/fried rear SAM, numerous other issues, just too far gone to save (165k miles)
2008 E320 Bluetec (Younger son's DD) injector failed open and diluted oil with diesel, spun main bearings (240k miles)

1998 E300DT sold to TimFreeh
1987 300TD sold to vstech

Thanks for the replies all, I appreciate the help.

Using more starter fluid we were able to get it to turn over fast enough to hear very bad loud noises.
We don't know if it's pistons hitting valves, or a rod knocking, but either way it's very bad.

Have to figure out the plan from here.

-Dan

I know it's too late for Dan, but please people, if your engine runs away and you're not in any danger, DO NOT TAKE IT OUT OF GEAR!

Keep a cool head, try to get your car stopped in gear, figure out what's happening, in many cases the engine will not be able to run once the car is stopped and the RPM at torque-converter stall speed, or has run out of what has kept it running (did this with a Caterpillar diesel on the freeway, was able to stall it, ended well). Your W210 brakes can dissipate something like 1500-2000hp so stopping against a meager 150-200hp isn't going to have much impact until you get down to 1st gear.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Trying to start it on starting fluid might cause "very bad loud noises".

When it cranks, does it have a continuous and steady rhythm or does it tend to crank through one or more compression cycles faster than the others? This should tell you quickly if you have a cylinder(s) with no compression.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

x2 If you haven't worn out the battery, there probably isn't sufficient compression.

Sixto
83 300SD

It's not that the lifters need time to relax, it's that the spring needs to be strong enough to close the valve in time. Valve float is when you reach the point where the spring is not strong enough and can't close the valve fast enough. Built engines that have a higher redline than stock need to use stronger springs to prevent valve float. In severe cases or in interference engines with very close tolerances, a crash is very likely.

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'84 190D 2.2 5MT (Red/Palomino) Current car. Love it!
'85 190D 2.2 Auto *Cali* (Blue/Blue) *sold*
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Thanks all for the input.

I would say it turns over unevenly.

Also, we've chewed through the battery 6 times now - i.e. crank until the battery attached to 80 amp starter dies, wait till it fully recharges again and repeat.

-Dan

If the engine sounds like this Mitsubishi I diagnosed, you have bent valves.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=c8C2reyVlM8

__________________
'84 190D 2.2 5MT (Red/Palomino) Current car. Love it!
'85 190D 2.2 Auto *Cali* (Blue/Blue) *sold*
http://badges.fuelly.com/images/sig-us/302601.png
http://i959.photobucket.com/albums/a...0/sideview.png

Unevenly, not a regular rhythm would indicate low or no compression on at least one hole. Pull the cam cover and look for crushed lifters, damaged camshaft, stuck valves, ... next step is compression test or just pulling the head. Likely that a collision occurred, at which point you hope that the head is repairable, cams and pistons not damaged.

Sorry this didn't go well.

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff