Who has had a real engine failure?

[CR94]

Originally Posted By: JTK
... she started her 1980 Buick Skylark on a cold winter morning. The carbureted 2.5L 4cyl revved out of control and threw a connecting rod through the block. ... something jammed on the throttle cable/linkage. Startled her to the point she didn't think to kill the ignition, but my FIL said it happened in like 5sec.
Pretty much the same happened to my sister-in-law's '96 Camry a couple of years ago, except the hole was in the oil pan, and weather was mild.

 

[DeepFriar]

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Originally Posted By: jcwit
Had a 2001 Fd Escort drop a valve seat upon startup after having been parked may 10/15 minutes.
Exact same thing happened to my MIL's 1.9 Tracer-dumped an intake valve seat at 80K, pounded itself into the piston & tore up the head-bye bye motor!


That was a common problem with those. We've had two young friends swallow the seat in their cars. Ford absolutely didn't care. Basically their response was "Go pound sand sucker". Duly noted for future reference.

 

[DeepFriar]

Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
I know that some engines have baked-in problems that may result in early failure, but how many here have seen an engine in daily driven road use given reasonable, non OCD maintenance fail at anything much less than 200K?

13B rotary engine in a 1974 Mazda RX4. It wrecked itself catastrophically at 80K miles, the vehicle grinding to a halt on the freeway during rush-hour. Being an early rotary, this may have been one of those "baked-in" situations.

According to my mechanic, the failure was due to either of two causes:
1) the oil-feed line to that rotor had become blocked (the other rotor was fine), or
2) the chrome coating on that housing had failed.

I kept the failed rotor and housing around for years; it made a great conversation-piece.


I had an RX-2 and and RX-4. the -2 was rebuilt twice for side seal failures. The -4 I only had for about 50K and no probs with that one. Many of those early cars had tip seal failures (in an environment that makes piston rings look relaxed) and went instant grenade. I loved mine.

 

[dnastrau]

Recently had a 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 with the 4.8 liter V8. Driver's side head cracked around the top center head bolt hole at about 200K miles leaking coolant into the oil. I didn't catch what was going on until the next oil change and found the oil pan filled with chocolate pudding. Surprisingly, the stick did not look bad. The body was shot so I sold it for parts.

Going back in time to the 1980s, my parents lost a Toyota 2TC in a '76 Corolla to a broken piston ring. A used engine solved that.

Family members lost a '67 Firebird 326 (yes - 326) and a '68 Impala 327 to bent valves when the fiber timimg gears failed on the highway. Lots of bent valves on cars that were not worth fixing at the time (also the '80s). A '72 Chevy wagon with a 400 was saved when the fiber gear failed during a cold start (luckily no bent valves). All of these failed between 125 - 150K miles.

A '65 VW 1200 locked up after many years of duty - likely threw a rod. The body was shot so it was scrapped.

A '55 Ford coupe inline 6 (223?) had the crankshaft break in half. It was replaced with a new '65 Fairlane with a 289 and a three-on-the tree.

Oldest story - my dad had a '53 MG TD around 1958. My uncle borrowed it and drove it flat out on the PA turnpike from State College to just outside of Philly (probably topped out around 80 MPH). He overheated it badly until it seized (all of the bearing shells fused around the crankshaft). My dad had to chisel them off when he pulled it apart. To say that he was annoyed with my uncle was an understatement.

 

[Fastcompany]

Alot of British cars blow up on the turn pike lol. Just about all of them top out at 75. Add a poor oiling system on all of them. Leaves you with 2 choices take the long way or drive 55 and make people hate you.

 

[jeepman3071]

My friend blew the engine in a Saturn SL due to no oil in it. Engine was burning/leaking oil, and he never checked it. They put a used engine in the car, which burned/leaked about as much oil as the first one. He sold that car. He bought a new Honda CR-V. That car consumed about 1 qt per 1000 miles, which Honda said was normal. He failed to check the oil, and the engine blew about 6,000 miles past warranty, again with absolutely no oil. The used engine they put in is doing okay so far.

I sense a pattern.

 

[webfors]

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4369266/2013_Pentastar_engine_failure_

I pushed the dealer to give me details on the cracked block. They stated the "put pressure" on it to confirm the hairline crack, which they are definitive in that it was caused to overheating.

 

[Hootbro]

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
My friend blew the engine in a Saturn SL due to no oil in it. Engine was burning/leaking oil, and he never checked it. They put a used engine in the car, which burned/leaked about as much oil as the first one. He sold that car. He bought a new Honda CR-V. That car consumed about 1 qt per 1000 miles, which Honda said was normal. He failed to check the oil, and the engine blew about 6,000 miles past warranty, again with absolutely no oil. The used engine they put in is doing okay so far.

I sense a pattern.

Yeah, the pattern is your friend is an idiot that does not learn life lessons.

 

[Shannow]

Holden 161 c.i. 6 cylinder playing Rally Ace in Canberra's pine forrests....came around a corner, and over a cattle grid at an angle, looked down to see the tacho needle in the wrong spot...changed up, and still revving too hard...it started being noisy and burning heaps of oil, so I changed in, no forensics...wanted a steel crank 186 anyway.

Holden 202 that I bought off my brother...started making noises, and I noticed the balancer outer ring had displaced...Number 5 piston was fractured...didn't fail, I built an engine and fitted it over the weekend a fortnight later.

Holden 308, started it at work one cold afternoon, and banged and stalled pretty badly until I gave it a BIIIIG rev to clear it...Exhaust valve seat (aftermarket) had dropped into the cylinder and bounced around. Drove it home, compression tested it and found a really bad cylinder...replaced the heads, and kept running it no problems.

Victa lawnmower (2 stroke) that I inherited with the house...you had to pull from exactly the right point to stop it from locking up as the big end hit the bottom of the bore.

Nothing catastrophic has left me stranded, always got them home, and got them running.

 

[ram_man]

I've had a few only one left me stranded a 92 Plymouth Sundance I found it on Craigslist for $400 bucks it was in a bad part of the city. I knew it was just for fun. I was 17 and wanted a cheap Sundance to beat around the farm and possibly take to the annual mud run. I got it legal had it a week and put it in first floored it hit redline and when I shifted it to second it started rattling. It last about 30 more miles and it quit threw a rod through the oil pan . When I bought it the odo was stuck on 236,000
Second was a 98 cavalier good running at 210,000 miles 5 speed manual. I took off up a hill. 1st gear shifted at 5,000 tpms second gear at 5,500rpms then when I shifted to 3rd it started rattling. The motor knocked and the oil pressure light flashed for two weeks until I was able to pull the engine. It ever did quit even at the end when I held it to the floor in park it wouldn't come apart!
My dad blew up a Saturn sl2 ran it low on oil drive it for a month knocking it was terrible but he drove it to the junk yard it never did quit.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

2000 Honda Accord cracked block or blown head gasket around 200k. Oil in the coolant. Junked it because the ex didn't have money to do anything else and I was tired of throwing money at it

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Rod out the side of the block in my Audi. But I had beat on that motor for years. rebuilt it and went right back at it (I JB welded the piece of block skirt that broke out) ...

That car was WAY too much fun to just retire

Aluminum engine?