RIP F20 -- questions about causes, tunes, and E85

[gshopper]

Hi all
I have a 2019 BRZ that is/was my daily driver and track toy. It has 47K miles, and about 30 track days on the clock. It has a flex fuel kit, headers (JDL) and a tune by a prominent East Coast tuner. It gets frequent oil changes (Mobil1 5W30 or 0W40 in the summer) and has an oil cooler. I overfill the oil by a small amount when I track the car. Blackstone oil analysis last year showed minimal wear, and high TBN (meaning that I could have run the oil longer before changing it).

Last week, at the track, it was running great. I was running about 45% ethanol. I was accelerating, engine was at about 5 or 6K in third. And then.... I heard a bang, a cloud of smoke came from the hood and it dropped a few quarts of oil on the track. I don't know exactly what happened; I'll find out when the motor gets pulled for a swap. But there were fragments of metal in the engine bay. Probably parts of the block. Maybe it threw a rod... I couldn't see anything obvious from above, but there is a definite hole in the engine somewhere, and it definitely won't crank.

I am getting a new short block, and I will have my mechanic swap it in. My questions are:

1. I realize tracking the car is hard on the motor, and this has had a bunch of track days. But the FA20 is supposed to be stout, and there are many people who have flogged their engines more than me and had no problems. Was I just unlucky, or might it have been related to the header/tune/ethanol?

2. How should I configure the new engine? I still have the stock header so I can have everything stock. However, I have heard from people who are knowledgeable about tunes, that tuning actually helps with engine 'health and longevity'.

3. Can a tune be done more for longevity rather than power? I would gladly sacrifice a few HP for a more reliable engine.

Your thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

Glenn

[dpfarr]

Bummer.

When I had my tune done, I specified longevity. I’m still aware that pushing it isn’t a recipe for longevity. I hope your dude discovers something that you can add to preventative maintenance and last you through

[Stephen W.]

What had you done to the old engine to prevent oil starvation? Have your mechanic do a thorough post mortem. It might have been a valve that dropped and kissed a piston causing a rod to snap. Or an end cap came off. What you need to do to the new engine depends on what caused the old one to go BOOM!

[Grady]

I abuse mine at the track. 2019 stock block with AVO turbo and on E85. I shoot for around 8psi of boost when tracking. You do have more miles and track days than me but I have had no issues yet. I do run 0W-40 and will change the oil if it is over 1K on it or 2 track days. I do not have a baffled pan so I do run 1qt high. Yes you can back down the tune some for safety. You may have a bad tune? Without logging when the engine went it will be harder to determine what came first. Do you have the flapper valve in the fuel tank installed? Do you top off your tank between sessions? If your track has any long left sweepers you can go lean and damage you engine. Do you have an oil cooler? What weight oil are you using? I have the DT flex fuel kit with the fuel pressure safety just in case.

[Tokay444]

You had an F20 in it?

[gshopper]

It has/had a FA20. Oil cooler. heavy weight oil. slight overfill. No baffle. What other oil starvation mods were people talking about? Accusump? Dry sump? Fa20's are supposed to be pretty good about oil starvation. It's the Fa24 which doesn't like right turns.

Won't get a post-mortem until I get the swap. Probably in a few weeks. My mechanic is pretty busy right now and can't get to it right away.

[alphasaur]

Originally Posted by gshopper

It has/had a FA20. Oil cooler. heavy weight oil. slight overfill. No baffle. What other oil starvation mods were people talking about? Accusump? Dry sump? Fa20's are supposed to be pretty good about oil starvation. It's the Fa24 which doesn't like right turns.

Won't get a post-mortem until I get the swap. Probably in a few weeks. My mechanic is pretty busy right now and can't get to it right away.

think tokay was being a bit cheeky saying the cause is that it is an fa20

fa20 has oiling issues. Some basic mods people do are killerB oil pickup and baffled oil pan. Who knows if it helps.

There was a guy from peru that posted some data showing the killerB pick up likely helps.

[Tokay444]

I’m not understanding the F20 reference then.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by gshopper

It has/had a FA20. Oil cooler. heavy weight oil. slight overfill. No baffle. What other oil starvation mods were people talking about? Accusump? Dry sump? Fa20's are supposed to be pretty good about oil starvation. It's the Fa24 which doesn't like right turns.

Won't get a post-mortem until I get the swap. Probably in a few weeks. My mechanic is pretty busy right now and can't get to it right away.

The FA20 still has oil starve issues. I'd be a lot more concerned if I was boosted but I have seen low enough numbers that it is concerning though I haven't lost an engine to it yet.

Originally Posted by alphasaur

think tokay was being a bit cheeky saying the cause is that it is an fa20

fa20 has oiling issues. Some basic mods people do are killerB oil pickup and baffled oil pan. Who knows if it helps.

There was a guy from peru that posted some data showing the killerB pick up likely helps.

I saw a negligible difference with a baffle. I have a 2qt accusump I will be installing this winter. The guy from Peru did a lot more then install the killer B pickup. He ported the oil passages. solidsnake11 also did a lot of oiling mods, you can still find some of his posts that he didn't delete.

[Grady]

Originally Posted by gshopper

It has/had a FA20. Oil cooler. heavy weight oil. slight overfill. No baffle. What other oil starvation mods were people talking about? Accusump? Dry sump? Fa20's are supposed to be pretty good about oil starvation. It's the Fa24 which doesn't like right turns.

Won't get a post-mortem until I get the swap. Probably in a few weeks. My mechanic is pretty busy right now and can't get to it right away.

What are you oil temps coming off the track? What oil are you running?

[gshopper]

5W30 or 0W40. Oil temps always below 235.

[softail]

Had this engine been opened and the RTV gaskets redone?

[gshopper]

Nope.

[whataboutbob]

FA20s are fine, until they are not. Speaking from experience. My experience has been varied. On motor #3.