We have seen plenty of videos featuring diesel engines meeting an untimely end due to too much boost or too much rpm, or too much something else but this is the first time we have ever seen a Cummins literally go up in a mushroom cloud. This truck belongs to a guy named Shawn Baca and he was making dyno pulls at a place called No Zone Diesel, presumably during some sort of dyno competition. These are pretty popular deals with the diesel community and we can see why. It is a neat form of competition to pit your rig against similar ones to see who is making the most power. Is it as cool as the drags or pulling? No, but it is competition and we’re all for people using their junk.
This is obviously a highly modified truck with some serious turbochargers on it because of how hard the dude works to get them spooled up and making boost on the rollers. In my experience at the Diesel Power Challenge each year, watching guys get their trucks ready for the pull on a dyno is fascinating. Because most dynos can’t load the truck like the road can, there is a delicate balance that needs to be struck so that when the driver levels his foot on the floor, the truck is spooled and ready to go.
In this case, the driver works to spool the turbos and we’re not sure if it is his hand or the hand of someone in the passenger seat, but it seems like the button for the nitrous button is in their hand. The truck is making a strong pull and all of a sudden KABOOM! That kaboom is followed by the immediate sounds of the thing running to stratospheric RPMs (for a diesel) and then thre whole works erupts in a literal mushroom cloud. This is seriously one for the ages.
PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE THIS INCREDIBLY VIOLENT DYNO EXPLOSION –
How many times has Dan told y’all to stay away from any engine running on a dyno??!!
We were NOT allowed in a dyno cell with an engine running above idle and only if we had an observer. The event in this video is just one of the things that can – and do – go wrong.
Dan