Blown engine on the dyno
01-26-2018, 03:29 PM
#1
Advanced
Thread Starter
Blown engine on the dyno
I got the worst call ever from my shop today.They were tuning my C5 (45k miles) on the dyno after an A&A SC kit install. Tuner had 3 runs in and no problems. Then on the 4th, he noticed knocking. He said he knew immediately something was wrong. They diagnosed the noise coming from the #1 cylinder. Plus they removed the spark plug and noticed there had been impact. Supposedly a troubled area due to the last place the oil goes to? The tuner said it was running a little rich but nothing out of the ordinary. They are not sure if it’s the rod bearing or not. They have to tear the engine down to find the problem and see if can be repaired.
Feeling pretty defeated. I put a lot of research into finding the right components and installers so I could avoid something like this. I should say the shop is working with me to remedy.
Once the engine is torn down they’ll know more obviously of what kind of damage there is and what my options are from there.
Any feedback or thoughts on how I should proceed would be appreciated.
Feeling pretty defeated. I put a lot of research into finding the right components and installers so I could avoid something like this. I should say the shop is working with me to remedy.
Once the engine is torn down they’ll know more obviously of what kind of damage there is and what my options are from there.
Any feedback or thoughts on how I should proceed would be appreciated.
01-26-2018, 03:51 PM
#2
Drifting
Hard to say what to do till you know what is wrong. Also will depend on your power/racing goals. A stock crank, forged rods and pistons can go along way and overall inexpensive compared to a full long block. Or you can spend a ton of money and make big power lol. Its a hurry up and wait and you to decide what you want to do with the car.
01-26-2018, 07:09 PM
#5
Melting Slicks
Any pics of that plug ?
more likely detonation as a cause. Whether that has damaged the plug ( and motor ) or a bit of piston broken because of the detonation has then damaged the plug...same causation really.
Chances of it being anything to do with the oil system is incredibly low.
more likely detonation as a cause. Whether that has damaged the plug ( and motor ) or a bit of piston broken because of the detonation has then damaged the plug...same causation really.
Chances of it being anything to do with the oil system is incredibly low.
01-27-2018, 02:42 PM
#7
Advanced
Thread Starter
I’ll get some pics of the spark plug and find out how rich it was running. It was being tuned at 6 lbs of boost. 4th run at 4K rpm she started pinging and they stopped everything and called me shortly after.
Tony’s Corvette is doing the work for me here in MD. Impeccable record and I have the utmost confidence in them from owner to mech to tuner. They eat, sleep and breath vettes. Once they start tearing it down I’ll have more detail. Leaning towards forged, currently.
Tony’s Corvette is doing the work for me here in MD. Impeccable record and I have the utmost confidence in them from owner to mech to tuner. They eat, sleep and breath vettes. Once they start tearing it down I’ll have more detail. Leaning towards forged, currently.
01-27-2018, 02:54 PM
#9
Team Owner
a little rich would be the least of my concerns....lean on the other hand...
6psi ain't much
oil starvation would be an issue for the cam and lifters more so than in the cylinder, if he said you spun a cam bearing near the front due to oil starvation then I could see that
be curious to see what the diagnosis is after tear down
6psi ain't much
oil starvation would be an issue for the cam and lifters more so than in the cylinder, if he said you spun a cam bearing near the front due to oil starvation then I could see that
be curious to see what the diagnosis is after tear down
01-27-2018, 08:32 PM
#10
My 2cents.
Don't fix the car unless you are using cash.
I should add, if it makes you feel any better, I got 1500 miles out of mine after the supercharger was installed and tuned by what is said to be a professional shop. I too am looking to rebuild.
Don't fix the car unless you are using cash.
I should add, if it makes you feel any better, I got 1500 miles out of mine after the supercharger was installed and tuned by what is said to be a professional shop. I too am looking to rebuild.
Last edited by Water_Walker; 01-27-2018 at 08:34 PM.
01-27-2018, 08:51 PM
#11
Instructor
I’ll get some pics of the spark plug and find out how rich it was running. It was being tuned at 6 lbs of boost. 4th run at 4K rpm she started pinging and they stopped everything and called me shortly after.
Tony’s Corvette is doing the work for me here in MD. Impeccable record and I have the utmost confidence in them from owner to mech to tuner. They eat, sleep and breath vettes. Once they start tearing it down I’ll have more detail. Leaning towards forged, currently.
Tony’s Corvette is doing the work for me here in MD. Impeccable record and I have the utmost confidence in them from owner to mech to tuner. They eat, sleep and breath vettes. Once they start tearing it down I’ll have more detail. Leaning towards forged, currently.
01-27-2018, 09:31 PM
#12
Advanced
Thread Starter
Cash it is. What direction build are you leaning towards?
01-27-2018, 09:43 PM
#13
Advanced
Thread Starter
not saying it means that much but I've been deep in the lsx game for over years years now and live in maryland.....and I've never heard of tonys corvette. I'd like to see the dyno sheet of the pull that it popped on. Boost is always a gamble, hence why I decided to stay n.a. this go round.
Yeah, I knew it was a gamble but I thought I was staying safe. Tony’s is in Gaithersburg. My first round of mods just got finished a month or two ago, see my older posts, that round went awesome. Needless to say, they were familiar with my car. There is plenty of reference on them online. Tony has been in business since 1988.
01-28-2018, 01:16 PM
#16
We are in the the same boat.
Going to take the ls6, use a stock crank, k1 rods, custom weisco pistons, custom cam. Reuse the stock top end of the motor, reuse the supercharger kit (ti-trim), and change the fuel system to e85.
Cost effective, forged internals, a good fuel, pistons with better rings, and it should last awhile with good power.
Glad to hear your a cash guy too. It is an emotional thing to have such a thing happen and I think people can start borrowing money because of it, which of course is a terrible idea.
Best to you.
Going to take the ls6, use a stock crank, k1 rods, custom weisco pistons, custom cam. Reuse the stock top end of the motor, reuse the supercharger kit (ti-trim), and change the fuel system to e85.
Cost effective, forged internals, a good fuel, pistons with better rings, and it should last awhile with good power.
Glad to hear your a cash guy too. It is an emotional thing to have such a thing happen and I think people can start borrowing money because of it, which of course is a terrible idea.
Best to you.
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nrs (04-03-2018)
02-01-2018, 02:08 AM
#18
Former Vendor
I got the worst call ever from my shop today.They were tuning my C5 (45k miles) on the dyno after an A&A SC kit install. Tuner had 3 runs in and no problems. Then on the 4th, he noticed knocking. He said he knew immediately something was wrong. They diagnosed the noise coming from the #1 cylinder. Plus they removed the spark plug and noticed there had been impact. Supposedly a troubled area due to the last place the oil goes to? The tuner said it was running a little rich but nothing out of the ordinary. They are not sure if it’s the rod bearing or not. They have to tear the engine down to find the problem and see if can be repaired.
Feeling pretty defeated. I put a lot of research into finding the right components and installers so I could avoid something like this. I should say the shop is working with me to remedy.
Once the engine is torn down they’ll know more obviously of what kind of damage there is and what my options are from there.
Any feedback or thoughts on how I should proceed would be appreciated.
Feeling pretty defeated. I put a lot of research into finding the right components and installers so I could avoid something like this. I should say the shop is working with me to remedy.
Once the engine is torn down they’ll know more obviously of what kind of damage there is and what my options are from there.
Any feedback or thoughts on how I should proceed would be appreciated.
wow! I’m sorry to hear about your misfortune. I think you’re heading in the right direction with a careful disassembly and analysis to try and find “the smoking gun” here.
Obviously in a perfect world we would find a smoking gun, and correct the deficiency. Sometimes this can prove to be challenging. My advice is a systematic approach to disassembly and analysis.
All too often I see people build an engine or put double or triple the power the factory intended; it is often timed with mindset of what can I get away with. While there’s never a perfect true “bullet proof” combination of parts the idea behind a quality engine build is that the builder and the customer understand that when we start making these engines do things they weren’t intended to do that we need to carefully and thoughtfully select the proper components to attempt to mitigate and manage the potential for failure instead of trying to simply cross our fingers and hope.
On that note; I would be happy to help if I can from analysis to, a new build. Feel free to PM or give us a call. We have all sort of blocks and parts we could get you something suitable.
Last edited by The Race Engine Shop; 02-01-2018 at 02:09 AM.
02-01-2018, 09:35 AM
#20
I dont believe the oiling issue excuse, that makes no sense nor does it being rich. If something hit the plug, it was likely a piece of the piston and pulling the heads will reveal that.
Now that its broken, I'd stop and take the time to HONESTLY decide what you were going to do with the car, not what you think you'd like to do. If you know you're going after big power down the road, build a bottom end. If you think you'd be fine with <750whp, put an stock LS3 in it and your blower back on, upgrade our fuel system and call it done
Now that its broken, I'd stop and take the time to HONESTLY decide what you were going to do with the car, not what you think you'd like to do. If you know you're going after big power down the road, build a bottom end. If you think you'd be fine with <750whp, put an stock LS3 in it and your blower back on, upgrade our fuel system and call it done