Motor Blew Last Night

[John Rambo]

I was running a FBM base kit @ 10psi on 91 octane for about 15k miles (brz is almost at 29k miles, turbo went in around 14k)... until last night, when the brz decided it would be better off with another window.

I'm posting because I'm wondering what my options are from here on out in terms of cost. I've done some looking around the forums and a lot of people would build the motor for boost, and others say they would just fix it and maybe part out their FI kit and other mods. Others still would take this as an opportunity to do an engine swap? Shop said they can't take a look at the car until the 23rd so I've got some time to decide.

How much am I looking at to replace the block? How much am I looking at to get a built motor? And is it worth it considering so many people have posted about transmission issues with high power output? What about an engine swap? How much money am I looking at for a dope swap? Looking for any and all advice.

Thanks in advance.

[swarb]

First off... find out why it blew.
From there, figure out your finances. Usually people sell off the turbo stuffs to pay for the rebuild.
Transmissions, half of it is driver, half of it is setup(tires/clutch/power).

[blueap2]

oh LORD, what tune were you running?

[Justin.b]

Junkyard low-mile complete motors seem to be in the $3k-$4k range.

My FR-S is at the dealer now having the engine replaced. I will check the invoice when I get it back to see what Toyota charges for a new short block.

-Justin

[jawn]

You can buy built short blocks for around $5K (Full Blown or MAPerformance), without a core exchange. With a core exchange, they're around $3500.

Junkyard motors are around $3-4K.

I'd be inclined to do one of those two options. Motor swaps are more expensive.

[Hostile_Kittens]

If your heads are good and you don't have a good block to exchange you can expect ~5,000.00 for a built block from Full Blown.

[FRS Johnny]

What else did you have installed besides the base kit? Who tuned the car? I'm very interested because I'm about to install my fbm kit next week. Trying to get more information on tuners in our la / oc area.

[John Rambo]

Originally Posted by swarb

First off... find out why it blew.
From there, figure out your finances. Usually people sell off the turbo stuffs to pay for the rebuild.
Transmissions, half of it is driver, half of it is setup(tires/clutch/power).

No idea why it blew. Not doing anything I haven't done before. Was passing someone and went WOT for a couple seconds and then I heard a weird noise around the exact same time I backed off... Engine cut out and that was that.

Originally Posted by blueap2

oh LORD, what tune were you running?

Evasive Motorsports custom dyno tune on ecutek, like I said 10psi on 91 octane which seems to be a safe bet from what I understand.

Originally Posted by Justin.b

Junkyard low-mile complete motors seem to be in the $3k-$4k range.

My FR-S is at the dealer now having the engine replaced. I will check the invoice when I get it back to see what Toyota charges for a new short block.

-Justin

Yeah idk if I should go junkyard or new if I decide against getting a built short block. I'm worried if I go used it might have problems down the line from damage done to it from the previous owner. I'm not sure how likely this is.

Originally Posted by jawn

You can buy built short blocks for around $5K (Full Blown or MAPerformance), without a core exchange. With a core exchange, they're around $3500.

Junkyard motors are around $3-4K.

I'd be inclined to do one of those two options. Motor swaps are more expensive.

Yeah I think motor swap is pretty much out of the question. The only reason I brought it up is because I wasn't sure if a built motor is worth it since the extra power will only increase the chances of transmission failure. This is a DD, probably doesn't even need boost, I want it to be reliable and it really sucks that it's out of commission right now. I don't want that to be the norm. Maybe if I do a complete motor swap it might be more reliable and I'll be able to make the power I want safely. Probably not the most cost effective option of doing this though.

Originally Posted by FRS Johnny

What else did you have installed besides the base kit? Who tuned the car? I'm very interested because I'm about to install my fbm kit next week. Trying to get more information on tuners in our la / oc area.

Nothing done to the motor itself. It's got a perrin oil cooler, koyo radiator, exedy stage 2 clutch (unrevised version), a catch can.
Evasive did the tune. I talked to Randy today on the phone and he said none of the cars (with FA20) they have tuned have had blown engines, except mine now, but some of their customers that have had tunes elsewhere have. Of course except their own racecar which they blew at 400-something whp. But he cautioned that anything over 300hp is kind of sketchy on the FA20. Mine dyno'ed at 279whp on their mustang dyno, before I got rid of some exhaust restriction.

He also said their tunes are generally conservative enough for longevity on the drivetrain, and he said customers with the Greddy turbo kit have been tracking their cars for a long time now with no engine failures like mine. My car has never been to a track or a drag strip. Just street driving. No tickets so I guess that might give you insight into how I drive :P

My car had a couple issues with the tune they tried to fix. When I would lightly press the throttle the revs would dip far below idle and the car would almost stall or sometimes stall. Occasionally would stall soon after starting it and driving around when I would put the clutch in or shift to neutral. They tried to fix it by fixing a vacuum leak I didn't know I had on the catch can, bumping up the idle and causing the revs to sort of hang around 1.5k rpm when I put the clutch in for a couple seconds but it didn't really do much to help. I didn't go back again for a revision on this.

Also the car would jerk/hesitate sometimes at low speeds making it difficult to drive and the AFR's would jump around a bit at low speeds and also the car seemed like it was running rich at times, but I was told that's to be expected with a custom tune like I had. I also had a warm starting issue where the car would continue to crank but not start if I was starting it when the engine was already warm. If I tried to start it a couple times though it would start.

Also the car made some strange noises at idle that sounded kind of sketchy to me, but Randy told me that it wasn't anything to be worried about and there wasn't much I could do to fix it.
You can kind of hear it in this video, the tapping sound I guess.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D561sNVIFzw"]Turbo BRZ blue smoke after long idle - YouTube[/ame]

(I had this problem with oil burning out the exhaust a while ago and it resolved itself - probably had to do with me tipping the catch can accidentally when I was trying to empty it.)

Evasive is a well known and popular shop. They do a lot of great builds. I think I just got unlucky somehow and I'm not sure if it's the tune or something else that caused it to blow. They said they will be able to take a look at the car on the 23rd and maybe then I'll have more insight into how it happened.

[weederr33]

Everyone whose boosted is blowing motors! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! I better rip my supercharger off asap!

[Flashfire88]

Originally Posted by John Rambo

I was running a FBM base kit @ 10psi on 91 octane for about 15k miles (Car is almost at 29k miles, turbo went in around 14k)... until last night, when the car decided it would be better off with another window.

I'm posting because I'm wondering what my options are from here on out in terms of cost. I've done some looking around the forums and a lot of people would build the motor for boost, and others say they would just fix it and maybe part out their FI kit and other mods. Others still would take this as an opportunity to do an engine swap? Shop said they can't take a look at the car until the 23rd so I've got some time to decide.

How much am I looking at to replace the block? How much am I looking at to get a built motor? And is it worth it considering so many people have posted about transmission issues with high power output? What about an engine swap? How much money am I looking at for a dope swap? Looking for any and all advice.

Thanks in advance.

This is odd to hear, there have been people running FI for thousands and thousands of miles with no issue, I remember reading here somewhere someone passed 100K in FI miles with no issues and the car still behaved as it was first put on.

The first two things that come to mind is what oil viscosity was used and if any supporting mods were installed which you stated the perrin oil cooler was used, did you happen to check if you overboosted by the actuator getting stuck?

[John Rambo]

Originally Posted by Flashfire88

This is odd to hear, there have been people running FI for thousands and thousands of miles with no issue, I remember reading here somewhere someone passed 100K in FI miles with no issues and the car still behaved as it was first put on.

The first two things that come to mind is what oil viscosity was used and if any supporting mods were installed which you stated the perrin oil cooler was used, did you happen to check if you overboosted by the actuator getting stuck?

Motul 5w30 was in the car. Before that I had motul 0w20, and before that I had motul 5w30.
I know it's odd to hear. I am honestly surprised myself. I always knew there was a chance of catastrophic engine failure but I spent time and effort researching a reputable shop to get a solid conservative, but well sorted tune and supporting mods that would make the car work properly. The car still needed additional cooling mods, but I never had a major overheating incident and always let the car cool down if I noticed the coolant temps over 215 or oil over 235, and I watched the temps and AFR's religiously, as well as boost. When it blew, I had the p3 on the boost gauge, and I don't think it overboosted because it wasn't any faster than normal and it's not like I saw a crazy number on the gauge. I would have noticed otherwise.

I was always the kind of driver that let the car warm up for 15 seconds after a cold start before driving, avoiding boost before the oil was at 180 at least, and watching my p3 gauge to make sure everything was in check. I knew it was a possibility, but still never seriously thought this would happen to me to be honest.

[Flashfire88]

Originally Posted by John Rambo

Motul 5w30 was in the car. Before that I had motul 0w20, and before that I had motul 5w30.
I know it's odd to hear. I am honestly surprised myself. I always knew there was a chance of catastrophic engine failure but I spent time and effort researching a reputable shop to get a solid conservative, but well sorted tune and supporting mods that would make the car work properly. The car still needed additional cooling mods, but I never had a major overheating incident and always let the car cool down if I noticed the coolant temps over 215 or oil over 235, and I watched the temps and AFR's religiously, as well as boost. When it blew, I had the p3 on the boost gauge, and I don't think it overboosted because it wasn't any faster than normal and it's not like I saw a crazy number on the gauge. I would have noticed otherwise.

I was always the kind of driver that let the car warm up for 15 seconds after a cold start before driving, avoiding boost before the oil was at 180 at least, and watching my p3 gauge to make sure everything was in check. I knew it was a possibility, but still never seriously thought this would happen to me to be honest.

As long as you ran 5w-30 you're good to go, alot of boosted engines fail on anything thinner, 235 on your oil temp in street driving or spirited?? even when I go quicker than usual mines don't climb past 215. I would've said a dying fuel pump but you say you watch your afrs so this is all very odd

[John Rambo]

Originally Posted by Flashfire88

As long as you ran 5w-30 you're good to go, alot of boosted engines fail on anything thinner, 235 on your oil temp in street driving or spirited?? even when I go quicker than usual mines don't climb past 215. I would've said a dying fuel pump but you say you watch your afrs so this is all very odd

Yeah I've seen 235F oil, with the cooler, with spirited driving on uphill canyon runs, but as soon as I see that number I either slow down a lot or turn around at a turn out and coast down the hill.

[JimmyMac]

Can't find the receipt right now but a new shortblock from the Toyota dealer cost me approx $2100. I haven't checked locally, but I think the heads are approx $1600~1700 for the pair.