[Vwdiesel] runaways

[Shalyn Shourds]

I got a call from my friend Ali the other day.  He had been taking his 
mom to the airport in his '86 NA and it went into runaway mode.  Not 
knowing what was going on, he put it in neutral and pulled off to the 
side of the road, white smoke coming out of everywhere, and waited until 
it shut down of its own accord.  It eventually stopped, but it's been 
starting really poorly since.  He's been having to use æther to start it 
and he doesn't really trust it.  I have a strong feeling that he had 
really overfilled it, probably leading to the runaway episode.  This is 
the same car with the 3 qt/day leak he can't stop, so he puts in a 
couple of extra quarts before he heads off to work in the morning (and 
yes, I've told him that's a really bad idea).  I'm fairly worried that 
running at what, 10,000? 15,000? RPM has eaten his engine somehow.  I 
don't know if it could have sent the rings into the ridge or what.  
Anyone have any runaway recovery stories to share? 

I do know that his mom wasn't impressed with his car. 

-Shalyn