Jake Brake Question

I have an 85 volvo cabover and pulling away from a stop my rig was blowing plumes of exhaust smoke. I limped it a little less than a 1/4 mile to a gas station then another 1/4 while I was figuring out what was going on.

Turns out the floor mounted Jake brake switch was stuck...so I was limping with the compression brake on.

Seems to be driving fine, but wondering what kind of damage I could have done. It'd be dumping fuel so I figure sooty exhaust valves that hopefully clear up. Valve stem seals or anything else could have gotten toasty from the fiery exhaust charge?

Thanks all. I feel like a #######.

 

Here's what I've gathered from research and various diesel mechanics.

If it doesn't smoke, overheat, or ping and it idles well / hasn't lost power I should be fine. Keep an eye out for oil consumption. Possible damage includes sooty exhaust, toasted valve stem seals, and a bent or broken valve from the valve train fighting compression.

If anyone else has any additions I'm all ears!

 

Appreciate the feedback and peace of mind. Its a personal rig, so still wish I had more bearing on how catastrophic what I did was (slight vs moderate vs significant chance of damage).

Only limped at ~5mph with light throttle but sounded a bit pingy pulling to a stop. Temp did come up a little but nowhere close to yellow.

Would you consider having the valve cover pulled / or doing a compression/leakdown test at next service? Any other symptoms I should watch for besides oil consumption or smoke?

 

That must have been a puckering moment, glad you kept your eyebrows! So otherwise just a muffler replacement and then you were good to go? Thanks man, makes me feel lucky I drove home without incident. It's a TD60B. Bosch PES 6 Injection pump. Tough to find info online but a wealth of info in the operator manual (good ol days).

Now I'm wondering how much oil I should expect to burn between changes (6k interval). 23qt capacity w/ bypass and oil filter change. This rig is new to me so I don't have a baseline, 61k on the clock.

Drove it again today and pulled a few hills at 10 tons loaded weight. No smoke, heat, or other issues, rock solid idle. Thought I hear a small miss just off idle when blipping the throttle to get moving but I think it's just paranoia.