valve spring issue question

[airrick]

hello,

there is a turbo kit i want to buy from someone used. they say its only like 100 miles old. He informs me he's selling it because his engine blew a hole in the block from valve spring issues.

My question is, Can the valve spring issue cause an engine to blow a hole in the block? I looked into the recall issue. https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=18V772

It only says to stall an engine. I'm assuming an aftermarket turbo probably didn't help the cause. I'm just wary if it isn't a recall issue. His engine just blew from something else and it went into the turbo.

thanks!

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by airrick

hello,

there is a turbo kit i want to buy from someone used. they say its only like 100 miles old. He informs me he's selling it because his engine blew a hole in the block from valve spring issues.

My question is, Can the valve spring issue cause an engine to blow a hole in the block? I looked into the recall issue. https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls?nhtsaId=18V772

It only says to stall an engine. I'm assuming an aftermarket turbo probably didn't help the cause. I'm just wary if it isn't a recall issue. His engine just blew from something else and it went into the turbo.

thanks!

....and I think that would be a valid assumption.

A busted valve spring could allow a valve to drop and allow the piston to hit it and that interaction could cause something to punch a hole in the block.

[airrick]

Originally Posted by humfrz

....and I think that would be a valid assumption.

A busted valve spring could allow a valve to drop and allow the piston to hit it and that interaction could cause something to punch a hole in the block.

I see, thanks!

and he further specified what happened to his engine. he says something along the lines of RTV sealant broke off and clogged the oil galley and starved the rod bearings.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by airrick

I see, thanks!

and he further specified what happened to his engine. he says something along the lines of RTV sealant broke off and clogged the oil galley and starved the rod bearings.

Unfortunately, that is not uncommon with 2013s that have undergone the valve spring recall. That's the reason I've decided to take my chances with the old valve springs.

[airrick]

Originally Posted by humfrz

Unfortunately, that is not uncommon with 2013s that have undergone the valve spring recall. That's the reason I've decided to take my chances with the old valve springs.

Yea i read about the recall issue and what happened with all that. Mine is a 2015 so i never thought it would effect me. it seems like the old valve springs even though they supposedly sucked were still better than the "new better" ones.

welp, i guess i am gonna boost it. :happy anim:

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by airrick

Yea i read about the recall issue and what happened with all that. Mine is a 2015 so i never thought it would effect me. it seems like the old valve springs even though they supposedly sucked were still better than the "new better" ones.

welp, i guess i am gonna boost it. :happy anim:

OKaaaaa ........ boost awayyyyyyyy -

(just be aware that boosting this car puts more pressure on the engine and drive train - but, you know that - )

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by airrick

Yea i read about the recall issue and what happened with all that. Mine is a 2015 so i never thought it would effect me. it seems like the old valve springs even though they supposedly sucked were still better than the "new better" ones.

welp, i guess i am gonna boost it. :happy anim:

You are looking at a few different potential issues here

To be perfectly clear:

The new valve springs are better than the old ones. The people that had problems after the recall were due to shoddy sealing of the engine NOT the new springs failing.

When some dealership techs did the recall work they did not follow the instructions for resealing the engine properly and this resulted in blocked oil flow. The blocked oil flow caused bearing to seize. The result was destroyed internals in the engine. Very very rarely did this result in a hole in the block.

As Hum said an actual broken spring can let parts drop and get hit. This could result in valves getting jammed up into the head. This is the most unlikely of the possible scenarios when talking damage to the block.

The engines in these cars are built to run at a higher compression than FI cars. When you run at boost with FI this compression goes even higher. If you over boost or have a tune that is too aggressive then you bend or break connecting rods. When you break a connecting rod it almost always comes straight through the side of the block.

Although it is impossible to totally rule out a valve spring issue the higher probability of the cause of a hole in the block is an over boost or tune issue from the turbo. install. The fact that he says he only had 100 miles on the turbo is sort of a clue. Without knowing how long the car ran between the valve spring repair and the turbo install it would be very coincidental that it decided to fail after only 100 miles on the turbo. Of course there is very limited info here but my money is on a turbo or tune issue not a valve spring one.

Answer a few questions and people may be able to give you some more insight. What kind of turbo is it? How did he tune for it? Was the turbo already on when the work was done or was it added later? How long between the recall work and failure?

[airrick]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

You are looking at a few different potential issues here

To be perfectly clear:

The new valve springs are better than the old ones. The people that had problems after the recall were due to shoddy sealing of the engine NOT the new springs failing.

When some dealership techs did the recall work they did not follow the instructions for resealing the engine properly and this resulted in blocked oil flow. The blocked oil flow caused bearing to seize. The result was destroyed internals in the engine. Very very rarely did this result in a hole in the block.

As Hum said an actual broken spring can let parts drop and get hit. This could result in valves getting jammed up into the head. This is the most unlikely of the possible scenarios when talking damage to the block.

The engines in these cars are built to run at a higher compression than FI cars. When you run at boost with FI this compression goes even higher. If you over boost or have a tune that is too aggressive then you bend or break connecting rods. When you break a connecting rod it almost always comes straight through the side of the block.

Although it is impossible to totally rule out a valve spring issue the higher probability of the cause of a hole in the block is an over boost or tune issue from the turbo. install. The fact that he says he only had 100 miles on the turbo is sort of a clue. Without knowing how long the car ran between the valve spring repair and the turbo install it would be very coincidental that it decided to fail after only 100 miles on the turbo. Of course there is very limited info here but my money is on a turbo or tune issue not a valve spring one.

Answer a few questions and people may be able to give you some more insight. What kind of turbo is it? How did he tune for it? Was the turbo already on when the work was done or was it added later? How long between the recall work and failure?

Thanks for the detailed response!

I can answer some of those questions
Its a Works turbo kit stage 2 carb legal. He said he had it tuned with the tactrix cable he was provided from the kit, he used the carb tune to tune it.
and he said he got his recall done 3-4k miles ago.

A question about overboost. I did read about that. Its also called boost creeps right? The kit runs pretty high Psi of boost. 12 psi. Would an EBC (electric boost controller) fix this problem?

I actually want to run a lower psi of boost, maybe like under 10.