what went wrong ?

tonite coming back from canberra to newcastle ..i noticed a guy driving a camerons" B double pushing his beast to the max..on pennant hills road cab bouncing between gearchanges at the lights smashing it down through the gears to stop again .. you get the picture .. anyway i heard a bit of a bang (wasnt sure if it was from my truck or his lol ) anyway he quickly lost power as i pulled ahead i could see heaps of what seemed to be white smoke from his exhaust ..quickly followed by flames which would of been 4ft high from the exh stacks .. im guessing he either blew a turbo and the engine sucked the remains in?(unlikely) or a piston and the hot air charge ignited the oil .. anyway i didnt hang around to see if the whole truck went up in smoke
ken

Sounds like a turbo Kenny. I've had one blow with no warning and a 6 foot flame coming out the exhaust but once i shut it down it went out. Very scary on a dark night when you look in the mirror and between the cab and the van is lit up like daylight. Also did another one it went off like a fire cracker and let out a high pitched squeel. when i pulled up there was oil right down the back of the van and oil dripping off the visor and down the windscreen. Both were on ISX 450 cummins. No warning they just go bang. The company started to replace them every 400,000km after the 2 i did and another one all within 2 weeks. They were on 3 different trucks.

yep.........sounds like a turbo gone boom......if mate was driving like you said and spooling the turbo up and down then its just a matter of time.the late model turbo's are overstressed to buggery (to comply with emissions) and they have become..."the weakest link".......the latest variable vane ones are piling up in repair shops all over the USA.

newto

cheers guys ..i do a lot of miles on the road but havnt seen that one before .. interestingly i had to head down to canberra again last nite ..i seen the two trailers he was hauling being towed by another companies prime mover

I did a turbo hose clamp pulling up out of the Burnley tunnel a few years ago.
Was in a C15 550 Argosy B-Double at full weight.
It went off with a hell of a bang and the instant power loss amazed me...
It was like I had stepped 20 years back in time to the 903 days with the gravity taking over..
Throwing back through the gears to about 10-15 kmh at the top...
Made me realise just how much extra a turbo gives you.
And...the good news was I only lost 2 hours....

My old 400 in the Road Boss did the same up the top of the Toowoomba range with an empty trailer. A bang, then it sounded like an air horn under the bonnet. The clamp or it's remenants where nowhere to be found. Cummins in Toowoomba didn't even have a parts department. Put 2 worm drive clamps on it and changed them when we got home.

I have blown a hose clamp too. It went bang and instant loss of power. I got a piece of fencing wire, doubled it over and wrapped it around the hose and cobb and co it. It worked a treat and lasted a couple of days until it could be replaced.

The 2 turbos that blew. The first one was at night with about 16 ton of produce on. I was going north of Benaraby up the big hill and it was pulling like a train. When i just went over the top and started down the other side it went bang.
The next one was pulling an empty van. I was heading south through Yaamba and half way up the hill it went pop.

Oh....
I forgot to add that I was in the right hand lane at 3pm at the time...
The car drivers behind me were most upset.
Gee my heart went out to them..
I probably made some late for their parking lot at Toorak Rd...Or Warrigal Rd!
I suppose I'd get a big fine for being in that lane now...
Not to mention my 4pm slot at GHPL Hampton Park..
An absolutely BRILLIANT place to unload a B-Double..........Once you managed to back in.
Yes I DON'T miss that particular DC.

G'day paul404 good to hear the old No 8 being put to good use,once apon a time it was an essential toolbox item but nowdays a lot of young drivers wouldn't know what let alone know how to do a "cobbnco" hitch well done,it's good to see old skills can still be of use on tuppaware trucks.

Hi Mick, yeah the old cobb and co has got me out of trouble a few times. It's good for pulling a piece of exhaust flex together too when it breaks in half. Doesn't stop all the noise but gets you through the day.