Marine diesels can produce big power, which makes sense when they’re tasked with pushing a few thousand tons of metal a few thousand nautical miles across large bodies of water. It’s unclear just which MTU diesel this is, but when the company’s whole range of 8-valve runs the gamut of horsepower doesn’t offer fewer than 800 horsepower, you can bet there’s more than enough juice even in the lowest-power generator versions to be a handful if something were to go wrong. This engine on a test stand demonstrates that to full effect, sending its internals on a spontaneous connecting-rod jailbreak.
The run-up through the RPM seems to go just fine, but a few seconds into the run, there’s an awful clattering that is clearly a failure. The engine continues on for a couple seconds until whatever has broken causes a chain reaction and at least a couple of components exit the block with explosive force, at least one broken engine piece one hitting the camera mounted in the test cell. The engine clatters on for a bit, puking its guts all over what was very likely a finely manicured floor in the dyno room.
I guess that’s why they test these things in a safe environment.
