Anyone blown a stock boosted motor yet?

[King Tut]

Originally Posted by civicdrivr

On the 9th run, it put down 286/216 at the wheels. Then the oil volcano happened. The rod snapped about an inch below the wrist pin, spun around and punched a t shaped hole in the block. The cause? No idea. The logs from the run showed zero detonation, AFR was dead on (factory O2, so there's that...), there was no knocking, and it did not overboost (IIRC, the logs showed 9.4psi). I must also mention that I kept the stock rev limit as I saw no need to rev higher.

I have some pics of the carnage that I can post when I'm not on the work laptop. But yea, that was my experience with this motor.

Also, not that this matters anymore, but Visconti picked up the tab of the motor and the labor, and drove me 4hrs back home that night (then turned around and drove all the way back to CT), so lets not use my experience to disparage him - there are plenty of others that can easily accomplish that.

Thanks for posting the details.

[King Tut]

Added @shiro to the list.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by King Tut

Thanks for posting the details.

Rod fatigue methinks, unsure how it occurred though.

[civicdrivr]

Originally Posted by civicdrivr

Yes, the motor blew with about 33k on it. And yes, it did have coolant issues in the past, which I thought were behind me. I guess I'll post the story:

I noticed the car losing coolant since new. Around 19k miles, I noticed that the coolant loss accelerated and I had white/light gray smoke from the exhaust above ~4k miles. Queue dealer trip #1. They did a compression test and scoped the cylinders. The #3 cylinder was down compared to the others, but not "enough". There was coolant residue visible in the cylinder as well. Toyota requested that I monitor the coolant levels.

Dealer trip #2: About 3k miles later it was low again. They topped it off and told me to keep looking at it.

Dealer trip #3: At ~26k miles, while on the highway, the car started knocking and misfiring. I brought it to Toyota and they said that the valves on the #3 cylinder were bent (none of the others though) and the paperwork said "something in the valvetrain came apart". They replaced the cylinder head and sent me on my way.

From then on, the car ran fine. I still noticed some coolant loss, but chalked it up to evaporation. At 33k miles, that's when the fun stuff happened.

I had installed a wastegated Vortech kit along with a new fuel pump and injectors and had it on the dyno for live tuning by Visconti. We had the standard 9psi pulley on for initial tuning. At 5psi, it made ~250ish whp. At 9psi, it was consistently making 280-285whp. Earlier that day, prior to putting the kit on, the car put down 171whp, in line with other mostly stock twins that have run on that dyno.

On the 9th run, it put down 286/216 at the wheels. Then the oil volcano happened. The rod snapped about an inch below the wrist pin, spun around and punched a t shaped hole in the block. The cause? No idea. The logs from the run showed zero detonation, AFR was dead on (factory O2, so there's that...), there was no knocking, and it did not overboost (IIRC, the logs showed 9.4psi). I must also mention that I kept the stock rev limit as I saw no need to rev higher.

I have some pics of the carnage that I can post when I'm not on the work laptop. But yea, that was my experience with this motor.

Also, not that this matters anymore, but Visconti picked up the tab of the motor and the labor, and drove me 4hrs back home that night (then turned around and drove all the way back to CT), so lets not use my experience to disparage him - there are plenty of others that can easily accomplish that.

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

Rod fatigue methinks, unsure how it occurred though.

Pics:

































I wish I had the motor here so I could take in depth pictures, but all I grabbed was the piston and part of the rod that was attached (kinda)

[SmsAlSuwaidi]

@civicdrivr what weight oil ?


Sent from my IBrick

[civicdrivr]

Originally Posted by SmsAlSuwaidi

@civicdrivr what weight oil ?


Sent from my IBrick

Mobil 1 5w-20

[OrbitalEllipses]

That is carnage.

[xwd]

Originally Posted by civicdrivr

Mobil 1 5w-20

Not sure if it's the same with the BRZ or not, and some of this is just superstition IMHO, but Subaru engines seem to hate Mobil 1. Most Subaru guys avoid it like the plague, even with no definitive scientific basis.

Well there is some science to it, their 5W-30 is not very good and breaks down easily. Being the recommended weight for the WRX/STi, it's not recommended. Their other weights like 0W-40 are actually decent.

[Jesse@JDLAutodesign]

looks identical to my motor...same exact spot.

[civicdrivr]

Originally Posted by dwx

Not sure if it's the same with the BRZ or not, and some of this is just superstition IMHO, but Subaru engines seem to hate Mobil 1. Most Subaru guys avoid it like the plague, even with no definitive scientific basis.

Well there is some science to it, their 5W-30 is not very good and breaks down easily. Being the recommended weight for the WRX/STi, it's not recommended. Their other weights like 0W-40 are actually decent.

It's a possibility, I guess.

Originally Posted by Jesse@JDLAutodesign

looks identical to my motor...same exact spot.

Most of the blown motors that I've seen pics of looked the same as mine....

[Skorov]

We've had a few in Australia too. It's pretty hush hush, but the two that I know about are rumoured to be from bad tunes.

[shiro]

Originally Posted by King Tut

So I guess I decided to compile the list today:

@Frs300 - Full Blown Turbo - blew his in 100 miles, reason unknown
@nelsmar - Vortech Supercharger - blew his after 12,000 miles due to running lean
@alexisfire02 - Larger Sprintex Supercharger - blew it on the drive home from getting it tuned
@Innovate Motorsports - Innovate Supercharger - blew it while developing the OTS tune to sell with the kit
@Jesse@JDLAutodesign - JDL Turbo Kit - blew up do to overboost while running AEM EMS on only port injectors
@civicdrivr - Vortech Supercharger - blew up while on the dyno
@shiro - Greddy Turbo - blew his in less than 600 miles believe to be caused by the cam timing

If anyone knows of any others, please post them up.

I just bought a new engine last week and Full Blown is currently rebuilding as we speak. I will also be releasing information in the near future of what possibly caused my engine failure. I am personally paying Subaru (not Toyota) to tear down my engine and write up a report. My cams might actually be good...we'll find out in the next week or so. More to come. Nice thread!

[SmsAlSuwaidi]

2 family members blew 2 ejs with mobil, so i believe the myth


Sent from my IBrick

[shiro]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

Rod fatigue methinks, unsure how it occurred though.

I honestly think you are onto something. I've torn everything off my engine (all sensors, pipes, HPFP, direct injectors, etc.) From what I can see it almost looks like my heads might be fine. I think rod fatigue could be the major problem these engines have. They are very cheaply made. My engine block hole was caused by my rod breaking and being driven through my engine block. I can tell it is from a rod because the hole looks like an hourglass "I" shape... More to come...