Engine Failures

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Twice... Bike though...

With my first ZXR750R I got sodomized by the shop that sold it to me. I was young and innocent and got shafted.. A badly put together mix og J (the regular) and K (the homologation model) - sold to me as a straight K.. But put together with fluid seals and what not.. Resulted in fluid sealant in one of the oil channels to cylinder 1.. It wasn't pretty.. Luckily it was salvageable with an 836cc kit..

Sold the bike...

Second failure - this time a _real_ straight K model (which I still have)... A bad crankshaft bearing gave in under... ehhrrrmm... easy acceleration.. Wasn't pretty either - grinded half the crank down.. Cases didn't take any damage, so a used crank and 4 new bearings...

Ohhh.. My old Saab 99 (my first ever vehicle) got cooked so if the revs dropped to under 3K, the water would leave the engine... Drove like this for 3000kms before it was sold - for US$ 90 or something similar ;)
 
I have owned probably over 20 vehicles and have only encounterd a few engine failures. Some minor and some major. I will list mine in order from when they happened.

1. 1988 Ford Escort
-Engine: Ford 4 cylinder
-approx 180,000 miles. Engine rings were so bad it went thru 1 quart of oil every 25 miles. Engine finally completely seized up meaning most of the rings welded themselves to the cylinder walls. Sold entire car to junkyard.

2. 1973 Oldsmobile Cutlass
-engine: Oldsmobile 455 over 400hp
-After much abuse I was showing off with a friend then after I dropped him off I started to hear a very low knocking noise. After taking the engine apart I found out that one of the MAIN bearings on the crank had spun. Not too dramatic but still bad enough that the engine needed rebuilt. So I just sold the entire car and engine. Car was very ugly anyway.

3. 1987 S-10 pickup truck 4x4 (Worst truck ever)
-engine Chevy 2.8 6 cylinder
-Had my stereo cranked very loud while a friend was outside the truck watching me drive into mud and beat the heck out of the truck. After I shut the truck off we watched the video only to hear my engine knocking severely. So I turned truck on and sure enough. Knock, knock, knock. Spun a rod bearing this time and bent a couple valves. Replaced engine myself with a used 2.8 from junkyard. Later that engine also bent a couple valves. Decided I needed a bigger truck with more powerful engine.

4. 1969 Camaro.
-Engine: Came with a Chevy 350 that had been sitting for many years without running. After I got it running and beat the heck out of it for a while it spun a rod bearing. I That leads me to the next damage.....

5. 1969 Camaro
-engine: Chevy 383 stroker. I had the 350 built into a 383 stroker for some instant torque and an easy 400+HP. Just last year while at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit Michigan, I broke a push rod and a rocker arm. Probably only $20-$50 worth of damage. Very minor. :)

I will update if I think of any more..
Come on everyone lets hear some good ones where parts fly out of the engine. :lol:
 
Well, mine is fairly common......

'97 Talon TSi AWD
*2.0L 4G63T
*Minor mods, nothing major
*65k miles, regular maintenance done
*Got the dreaded crankwalk, like most 2G AWD DSMs

It sucked when it happened, but I knew it was coming. The crankwalk is a common failure with the 7-bolt 4G63 used mostly in the 2G cars, but also some 1G cars. The crank and bearings on some 2G engines were machined out of spec. The crank isn't supposed to have any horizontal play, but with the mis-machined parts, there is a lot of play. Thus, you get the "walking" crank. And, over time, the engine basically eats itself. It sucked when it happened, but was a nice thing in the long run. I, like many DSM owners, replaced the engine with a stronger 6-bolt engine from an early 1G car. Very strong, and not prone to the "Walk" like the 7-bolt engine was. Thats the only engine failure I've ever had.

Hilg
 
Besides the my recent failure I mentioned on the first post ive also had

1982 Toyota Dyna light truck with a 3.4L diesel 4 cylinder had abit of a blocked up radiator but was holding temp ok, one day I had to use it and it was a 35+ degee Celcuis day and after a full day of the engine temp being high it finally cut out and siezed up on the freeway. Was a tired motor that we were going to replace anyway.


80's Subaru wagon, this was a friends car that was given to him, that we took for hours of thrashing in a paddock and having tons of fun rallying around, after awhile we decided to take a small break, then the starter wouldnt work so we push started it and made it home.
The next day tried to push start it down the road and it wouldnt start so we gave it a big roll down the hill, dumped the clutch and a huge spray of coolant came shooting out the exhaust.

A Chev 350 engine that we imported from Canada that was rebuilt in 1981, I put it in my monaro as a temp engine and I thrashed it around intill one day the bottom end started knocking bad. Oil pump failed and lost oil pressure.

Not really a failure but, I just rebuilt a Chev 350 for my dads 85 Chev Suburban and the rebuilt carby started playing up, I replaced it with a non rebulit one we had and that was faulty too, after 4 carbs we found a good one but when we started it the engine made a loud tick/knock mix sort of sound. After pulling the heads off I found a peice of metal that fell down the intake manifold in to the a cylinder (while I was changing so many carbs) mashed between the piston and head.

Ford 302 BOSS motor in our boat started knocking not long after rebuild, spun bearing.
 
Oh I finally thought of a good one. Its not a car engine but it was my friends riding lawn mower. It was really old and he drove it around like it was a truck in his yard just running everything over. Finally one day he was riding around trying to pop wheelies when we heard a noise that sounded like he ran over rocks. Then after that it wouldnt start. I went to inspect the engine only to see right into the crank case. The rod broke and went right thru the side of the block. :D
Thats the only cool engine damage I have ever seen. Sorry. Besides the stuff I listed in post #3.
 
I had a '91 Corolla (4A-FE) that blew 2 conrods at once. Made some really nice crunchy sounds. Running on two cylinders and probably about 40 horsepower for a few more miles, then it just died. Whatever... that one went to the junkyard.

I blew a transmission in my '96 Neon as well. Like an idiot I put a spare tire on the front wheel, and a few miles later my transmission exploded all over the road. I walked around for awhile picking up all sorts of gears and crap. Forgetting that you can't put a spare on a front wheel drive car cost me over $1100.
 
Car: 1987 MR2
Engine: Toyota 4A-GE 20Valve (1.6Liter)
Camshaft seal failed on the VVT/Intake cam, leaking oil out over the block. SInce the oil pressure gauge wasn't working due to some confusion in the setup... and me not actually seeing any oil come out the bottom of the car... I ran it almost dry in under a week, then had a nice knocking sound... the bearing shim on the con rod was practicaly gone... and the con warped a bit.

Nothing too bad it seems... but the parts would have cost more than the engine twice over. But I have a new one now in the car :)
 
slowman
I blew a transmission in my '96 Neon as well. Like an idiot I put a spare tire on the front wheel, and a few miles later my transmission exploded all over the road. I walked around for awhile picking up all sorts of gears and crap. Forgetting that you can't put a spare on a front wheel drive car cost me over $1100.
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Ive blown a few transmissions aswell :guilty: :)


Anyone else have engine failures? They are interesting to read about.
 
My friend had a 13B FC Mazda rx7 that blew one rotor. He actually purchased the car like that and didn't know it was blown. It had a really deep note comming from the exhaust and the idle was a little rough but the importer that sold him the car said that it was normal coz the motor was ported. He drove it for about 3 months and the car still had awesome power, but he couldn't figure out why it was drinking so much fuel. Well after getting a compression test they determined one rotor was screwed. It was still making around 180kw at the wheels which was the funny thing. I have read about some 13B motors producing over 200Kw at the wheels even with one rotor not working properly which is really amazing.
 
That reminds me, a few years ago my good friend bought a series 1 RX7 (1981 FB) which had a 12A rotary engine, all day we thrashed around in it and had alot of fun. Later that day my friend dropped me off home and as he was going home he pulled out of a corner and pop there goes his apex seal, when he wasnt even thrashing.

We replaced that for a series 4 RX7 (FC) 13B engine and that lasted the year or so before he sold it.
 
Yeah the thing was failry worked. It was around180Kw at the wheels and producing about 650nm of torque...yes all on only one rotor that was working properly. It was an import from Japan. It had a HKS Dragster exhaust system, massive aftermarket Panspeed turbo, Panspeed ECU, customer air intake with top mount stock cooler. Umm whatelse, boost set to 14psi. It had coilovers all round, 17 inch Enkei lightweight racing rims and other goodies that im not sure about. I think 13b rotaries are capable of lots of power even with mild modifications. Im by no means an expert on rotaries, but if someone here is please enlighten us.
 
1. 94 Honda Civic Si D16Z
Stock bottom end, build head (JG cam/valves/valvesprings/retainers, 3-angle valvejob), DIY ported intake manifold, 4-1 Header, CAI, no cat 2.25" exhaust, Erik's Racing ECU, ACT 6-puck unsprung clutch.
Regularly maintained, often beaten on.

Snapped a timing belt at 130 on the freeway, bent most of the valves, dropped afew into the motor. End result, everything F'd up...

2. 94 Mazda Miata 1.8L
Stock bottom end, Crane cams, DIY intake manifold porting, SRI, 2.25" exhaust no cat straight back, XS chipped ECU, Racing Beat Helical Clutch LSD, ACT 6-puck unsprung clutch.
Regularly maintained, often abused.

Not so much an engine failure, tranny took a crap. Coming down the long straight at Buttonwillow into Star Mazda Turn, Heel-Toe down from 4th to 3rd to 2nd. Went down into 2nd alittle too early and jammed it into gear cause I was going too fast and needed to slow down. End result, mangled 2nd and 3rd gear & synchros, snapped shift linkage...
 
VIPERGTSR01
Ive blown a few transmissions aswell :guilty: :)


Anyone else have engine failures? They are interesting to read about.
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When it blew, it was pretty spectacular. I was getting ready to shift to fifth, hand on the shifter knob. I felt a crunch with my hand, and was like, "WTF?!". I then put the clutch down and it went to the floor with no resistance. Then almost immediately, it went BOOM, and big smoke cloud flew out behind my car as I coasted to a stop which was essentially that transmission's last quarter mile. Gears and transmission fluid all over the road and my friend's car, who was driving behind me. My friend spent awhile trying to get all the transmission fluid off his windshield. I actually still have one of the gears on my entertainment center... a trophy of sorts.
 
slowman
When it blew, it was pretty spectacular. I was getting ready to shift to fifth, hand on the shifter knob. I felt a crunch with my hand, and was like, "WTF?!". I then put the clutch down and it went to the floor with no resistance. Then almost immediately, it went BOOM, and big smoke cloud flew out behind my car as I coasted to a stop which was essentially that transmission's last quarter mile. Gears and transmission fluid all over the road and my friend's car, who was driving behind me. My friend spent awhile trying to get all the transmission fluid off his windshield. I actually still have one of the gears on my entertainment center... a trophy of sorts.
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haha lol, nice one. My gearbox failures are the usual bang crunch crunch grind lost acouple gears.
 
VIPERGTSR01
After a recent engine failure, I would like to hear about yours :)

*Car model/make
*Type of failure
*Factors influencing the failure
*State of tune of the engine
*Oil used and service interval
*General comments

You can read about my engine failure here https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?p=1601974#post1601974
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I've over-heated my 5.0L 6 times via coolant leak to the point of it shutting itself off, ran it on really low oil several times, ran it timed wrong, ran it with switched plug wires, run it with minimal back-pressure, ran it out of gas a couple times which makes for dirty injectors, ran it hard at the drag strip, the street, autocross even (a 7.9 mile track)... still in one piece. Built Ford tough. 👍

My friend's Chevy however...
'94 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 (LT1)
Spun bearing + bad opti-spark
not entirely sure
good tune, made maybe 300 rwhp
German synthetic oil every 2000 miles
Chevy blows up :crazy:

But now he has a new LT1 V8 bored .030 over (355 ci now), and it makes 417 hp at the flywheel, forged internals, built for spray. Too bad he blew his second T-56 recently. :grumpy: Now he wants to get a '99 Mustang GT while he fixes the Z28. 👍
 
1967 Pontiac LeMans 326 2bbl
This was my mother's car, now mine (that red one in the pic I post now and again). My mother was driving home in it and the oil pressure light came on and stayed on. She didn't know what else to do, and she was only about 5 miles from home, so she just kept on drivin'. She made it home, barely.

It had the notorious GM late-'60s nylon-covered timing gear. Over 10 years or so all the nylon wore off the timing gear, and the little nylon shavings all collected in the oil pump and blocked it up. The engine had about 190,000 miles on it at the time and had never had the valve covers off. We tore it down and in fact 6 of the 8 pistons/cylinders were still in spec, so we just put all new bearings, rings, and lifters in it and put it back together. I've put about 80,000 more miles on it since then.

1995/6 Neon/Stratus hybrid, 2.4l DOHC
This was my wife's Neon. We had done a 2.0-2.4 swap after the original 2.0 had chronic headgasket problems. I had it set up with a shortened CAI, with the filter located just below the battery. It should have been safe but during a wade through some flash flooding it ingested a pint or more of water. She called me from the middle of the puddle saying she was stuck; by the time I arrived some firemen had pushed her out. She said it was running when the car wouldn't go, but I don't see how it could have been. It wouldn't turn over when I got there. After pulling the plugs I found oil and water in all four cylinders; it had at least two bent rods and substantial internal damage. We filed a claim and junked the car; it had other issues that needed correction anyway and it was 10 years old.

Mid-'70s Ferrari, wish I could remember the model/engine.
This was my father's friend's car, the first Ferrari he bought new. It was an early smogged model from the first days of pollution control. In order to get the car into the US, Ferrari had installed little air pumps that injected air into the exhaust manifold to help the catalytic convertors stay alive and dilute the exhaust stream.

He was taking me for a ride and we were wailing along about 6,000 rpm. Suddenly it sounded like somebody threw a bucket of miscellaneous nuts and bolts into a whisper chipper, there was a moment of lockup from the back tires, and all the gages fell to zero. The guy instantly stabbed the clutch in and drifted to the side, but it was way too late. It was agonizing to hear.

Turns out in the post mortem that one of the airpumps had seized. Unfortunately, they were bolted to the front end of each camshaft and driven by the timing chains. When it seized it basically locked the OHC on the right cylinder bank in place with the various valves opening or closing. There was obviously massive internal damage to the inside of the engine, from piston/valve collisions on the right side and shrapnel on the left. Fortunately Ferrari replaced the engine and transimssion as a warranty item. We noted on the new engine that the pumps were mounted with a breakaway so that if the same thing happened again it would not stop the camshaft.
 
Dukes water story just reminded me of another engine failure.
My old 79' Blazer with a 9" lift and 38" tires got sunk in massive water hole out at the Dunes with a bunch of guys. I kept driving around the outside of the water hole for about 10 minutes. Finally I went in a little deeper each time to the point where water was over the hood!!! I finally got stuck in 2wd so I put it into 4wd. By this time it was too late the engine was sucking water in nonstop.
The engine obviously stopped running.
After about 20 minutes I was pulled out by a friend. Somehow after it was pulled out, the truck started!!! It ran for about 5 seconds then POW lots of nasy noise and it shut off. We towed it home for inspection and there was water in the transmission, gas tank, rear axle housing, front axle housing,engine, and transfercase.
After a couple tranny flushes and oil changes I was able to get the engine started again. But the pressure from the water entering the pistons at the water hole caused several push rods to bend and destroyed a couple valve guides. The lack of proper lubrication also killed every piston ring.
I still drove that truck for another month or so out at the water holes but it went thru sooo much oil and lost a lot of power. I eventually had that engine rebuilt and it is currently in my white truck. This was over 6 years ago and the new engine still runs. :D
Lesson learned that if you ever sink a vehicle in water, do NOT try to start it. Drain every fluid and pull the spark plugs to let the water out.
 
89 toyota corolla
stock engine

new plugs and filters in prep for a long drive (cali to tx). im in tx when a plug drops its center electrode into the combustion chamber and i lose compression. drove it back all the way from tx in that condition, and for another 6 months besides. piece of junk didnt want to die.

most appliance like mobile i have ever owned. and thats including bicycles.
 
slowman
I had a '91 Corolla (4A-FE) that blew 2 conrods at once. Made some really nice crunchy sounds. Running on two cylinders and probably about 40 horsepower for a few more miles, then it just died. Whatever... that one went to the junkyard.
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Azuremen
Car: 1987 MR2
Engine: Toyota 4A-GE 20Valve (1.6Liter)
Camshaft seal failed on the VVT/Intake cam, leaking oil out over the block. SInce the oil pressure gauge wasn't working due to some confusion in the setup... and me not actually seeing any oil come out the bottom of the car... I ran it almost dry in under a week, then had a nice knocking sound... the bearing shim on the con rod was practicaly gone... and the con warped a bit.

Nothing too bad it seems... but the parts would have cost more than the engine twice over. But I have a new one now in the car :)
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I'm starting to think I was a good idea I got the non-performance rubber band version... :scared: That I don't erm... can't push it anyway. :rolleyes:
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I don't think these count but the closest I've had to blowing an engine was spark plugs coming out during drives. One was in my dad's '64 1/2 and the other was in my '88 corolla sr5. The only difference was in my sr5 I some how was able to strip the threads on the spark plug hole even though I went and BOUGHT a tool kit with a sparkplug bit. :dopey: I ended up driving home from SF to SJ (about 100+mi.) with three cylinders and I guess it worked out quite well because I ended up getting 42mpg that time when I filled up. :dopey:👍 Didn't notice that much of a performance drop since it doesn't have any in the first place. :lol:

slowman
I blew a transmission in my '96 Neon as well. Like an idiot I put a spare tire on the front wheel, and a few miles later my transmission exploded all over the road. I walked around for awhile picking up all sorts of gears and crap. Forgetting that you can't put a spare on a front wheel drive car cost me over $1100.
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:scared: you can't put a spare on the FWD car?? :confused:

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90's Saturn

I wasn't driving but it was during a driving lesson with an instructor. I had just finished my "lesson" ( :lol: yeah whatever, he was an idiot). This blond girl took over and we proceeded to get on the freeway. For whatever reason between the girl hesitation on hitting the gas and seeing the on coming cars merging on the freeway I guess the car didn't respond too well because we got to a certain point and the car died.

We waited on the side of the road while the instructor got a tow truck and in the mean time he came back, got the car started and headed down the road. I little ways down there was a clunk and ding sound like hollowish aluminum sounds.
Well, I looked out the back of the car and saw shinny metal.

Fast forward to the dealership and he said the cam shaft or crank arm fell out of the bottom of the engine (I was too clueless at the time to know or look at what actually happened but it was bad). :lol: That was the last I saw of that car and I got to drive home in a ****ty '85 Cutless supreme just like the ****ty cutless supreme wagon we had at home... yay... 👎:grumpy:
 
VipFREAK
:scared: you can't put a spare on the FWD car?? :confused:
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You can put a spare on the back tires. Just not the front. Sorry I had you confused. :)

This is only a problem with a donut spare, btw... not a full size spare. The different in tire sizes causes a difference in driveshaft speed, the faster you're going, the bigger the difference. Well, FWD transaxles have a tendency not to like that. The stress of trying to even out the speeds for both sides eventually makes it go boom. I went to a junkyard and bought a fullsize rim and tire (tire not from junkyard:)), and kept it inflated in my trunk. That way I wouldn't have that problem. It came in very handy that winter when I slid on a patch of sheet ice and curbed my front passenger side rim, flattening the tire because the rim was so bent the air just escaped. Went to the junkyard, and took another newer rim off another neon. Went back to Farm and Fleet and ordered myself another Bridgestone Comp T/A, which the Neon responds well with. :) Good grip, but good treadlife as well. It's a good balance between a regular touring tire and a more aggressive sporty tire. (Way O/T by now ;))
 
My dad blew up a V8 a couple of years ago hauling something in a truck; he was going up a mountain side and the truck didn't have enough torque. All of a sudden I heard a loud pop, a few clanks, some hissing, and saw a giant dent in the hood. No idea what happened. We left the truck there, walked home and he had it towed. Still haven't heard about it. It was a pretty big haul though, he was pulling his quad and a trailer up like a 35 degree incline. It was an F250 XLT if anyone knows anything/cares. And it had a camper on the back lol (he's a redneck, he could live in his truck if he had to).
 
PS
It was a pretty big haul though, he was pulling his quad and a trailer up like a 35 degree incline.
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This is my favorite part from your post. If a quad on a trailer is too much for a truck then it was almost dead already. :lol:
You would never believe the stuff I have pulled with my 79 Chevy truck!
I was out camping and a huge motor home RV got stuck going up a dirt hill. A guy with a brand new Chevy 4x4 truck couldnt pull him out. So I hooked a strap to his truck at the same time he was trying to pull the RV out. I put it in 4WD and in low gear. I backed up about 5 feet and floored it. I was amazed I actually pulled both of the trucks up the hill. Keep in mind the RV was NOT even running.
Thats the best story I have with my white truck. Now a few years later my tranny is getting quite tired. :sly:
The hill was at such a bad angle, my truck would not stay running if I got out. I had to have someone keep their foot on the gas while I attached the strap. The carburetor was just starving for fuel. :scared:
 
CAMAROBOY69
This is my favorite part from your post. If a quad on a trailer is too much for a truck then it was almost dead already. :lol:
You would never believe the stuff I have pulled with my 79 Chevy truck!
I was out camping and a huge motor home RV got stuck going up a dirt hill. A guy with a brand new Chevy 4x4 truck couldnt pull him out. So I hooked a strap to his truck at the same time he was trying to pull the RV out. I put it in 4WD and in low gear. I backed up about 5 feet and floored it. I was amazed I actually pulled both of the trucks up the hill. Keep in mind the RV was NOT even running.
Thats the best story I have with my white truck. Now a few years later my tranny is getting quite tired. :sly:
The hill was at such a bad angle, my truck would not stay running if I got out. I had to have someone keep their foot on the gas while I attached the strap. The carburetor was just starving for fuel. :scared:
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He had a quad, a trailer, and a camper.

[edit]

What do you think happened to the engine? Don't think a rod went thru the block- it wasn't turbo'ed or anything...
 
WOW ok that is a lot then. :lol:
EDIT: If there was a dent in the hood a piston or rod flew out of the engine.
EDIT2: How do you pull a quad, trailer and a camper????
 
camper was on top, and the quad was behind the trailer. lol as Famine would say: "Hnnnnnnng!!!!"
 
'99 Eclipse GS-T: Two words - CRANK WALK. Simple solution...find a 1G 6-bolt, mount, move all parts from 2G motor to the new one and I was as good as new. THE END

(Kind of a boring story huh?)
 

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