Head On Collision With Starlet Diesel

[StarletOwner]

Hey Guys,

Any Diesel experts around? a girl did a U Turn right in front of me. bonnet, bumper, both side panels, smashed lights. but engine was still running, the starlet managed to get me home it was idling ok then it suddenly revved / runaway engine and i pulled the key out. after that tried to restart it but it responded like it had a dead Battery although it was something worse that that.

does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong with the engine and why it suddenly revved?

i might be able to fix the panel damage although i also saw a little chassis damage. but as for the engine I have no clue.

and to make it worse neither of us were insured and the person the caused the accident will only give me $1000 (half the price of the panel beater quote and also half the value of the car...)

poor old girl she lasted me 11 years and well over 300,000k!

I currently have no car!

:(

Cheers

Stephen

[Cyker]

If the engine was revving with no input, there's a good chance oil was being sucked into the engine and was being combusted. We've had a few cases where damaged turbos have leaked oil and caused the engine to rev (Although I'm not sure if the Starlet diesels had turbos!).

Have you looked at your engine at all? e.g. checking oil and other fluids.

If it was revving due to oil ingestion, and the dipstick shows low/no oil there is a good chance your engine may be badly damaged :(

I'm also a bit worried about the fact that you were both uninsured! If the police find out you're going to be in deep doody!

[adam_d]

You say you pulled the key out, do you mean it stopped then or just carried on with the key out? If it carried on until it stopped I'd agree with the above, it's probably burned all it's own oil and started to seize, or has bent/broken something fairly serious.

Also as mentioned, I'm guessing/hoping where you are insurance is not a legal requirement?

Good luck getting it sorted out.