Stalling an auto

[ScottD3]

Its been playing on my mind since I read about one of our members engine using engine oil from the turbo to run on.

On a manual, you put it in gear and drop the clutch but autos don't have that luxury.

So, if that situation ever happened to a auto driver, how do they stall their engine or do we just wait for the engine to implode?

 

[adamss24]

You try to squeeze the rubber boost pipe from the intercooler to the plastic hard pipe so it chokes the engine, you might be able to stall it that way ! I had one v6 tdi that runaway after some numpty drilled holes into the breather filter- managed to stall the engine by chocking it but it bent a couple of rods in the process...

 

[aragorn]

you cant stall an auto, because theres no solid coupling between the engine and box.

If your feeling brave, your only option would be to block the engines air intake. Dumping a CO2 fire extinguisher into the intake might also work?.

 

[PAULF]

Switch off with the key and blocking the intake would be the most likely option to work.

Failing that, foot off the throttle, put in econ (not sport) gear, and wait until it tops out. The slower engine speed will eventually put less oil in, slowing it further. It could take a time due to the box dropping down and the revs going back up.
Topping out will be nowhere near as fast as with diesel because of the efficiencies of burning oil, although I'd guess you'd need a good bit of road.

It happened to my mates wife in a montego, and she was very scared and ran away - dropping into fifth and stalling it stopped it.

I've had an old landy try a couple of times. It ran so badly on the oil changing up a gear slowed the revs and put less oil in, slowing the revs as mentioned above and it stopped.

I wouldn't worry too much Scott. You should notice the turbo going way before it gets leaky enough to accelerate to destruction.

 

[aragorn]

I dont agree on that last point.

On my mates bora it was driving completely normally, we were 3/4 of the way up stelvio pass and it went POP. No boost and clouds of smoke out the back. Luckily it didnt run away, but it emptied 2 litres of oil from the sump into the intake and exhaust in the very short period of time it was running before we realised what happened. I pulled into a layby and shut it off within about 10 seconds. Got out and had a look thinking it was a boost hose. Couldnt see anything so restarted it and revved it a bit while stationary then shut it off again. Then disconnected the intake from the intercooler and tried again. All in all it was about 20-30seconds of running. Then we realised there was no oil on the dipstick.

I suspect the fact he'd fitted a huge FMIC with long pipework probably stopped it from actually running away, as it acted like a huge reservoir and simply collected up all the oil.

The turbo shaft also snapped, meaning boost vanished instantly, massively reducing airflow and RPM's. The worse case scenario would be the seals failing bigtime, but the turbo staying intact and keeping the engine boosting. But even in our situation, had we been on a motorway when it happened, by the time we'd realised what was going on, and safely stopped the car, if it hadnt run away it'd have at least dumped all its oil and be running with no oil pressure.

 

[Tom_B]

Have a drink Scott and stop worrying so much. Our autos are magic carpets - one day the magic will run out...