I am always seeing a post here and there "how much power can X engine take" and other posts here and there about breaking an engine. To get an idea what they can take lets hear some stories bout what broke and why!
If you have blown a motor lets hear what motor, was done, how much boost, (if applies) what part failed and what ya think caused it.
I will start,
stock 2.4 and i was just like driving it. Hello #3 rod bearing. that sucked.
99 Turbo Sunfire GT | Ram 2500 | International Rollback | Mr Hanky the Suburban
Stock LD9 ~20K
Spun #3 rod
No Boost
Excessive WheelSpin
? (burn-out) +/- Insufficent Oil.
Save a Tranny, Roll-on
15.3@88m.p.h.(I/E)
15.2@94m.p.h.(S/C'd)
15.5@89m.p.h.(Stock GTP)
'97 Z24...... Spun #3 Rod bearing....
'02 Z24....... ran lean, busted ring lands in cylinders 2 & 4......
SPD RCR Z -
'02 Z24 420whp
SLO GOAT -
'04 GTO 305whp
W41 BOI -
'78 Buick Opel Isuzu W41 Swap
***edit***
'97 Z24...... Spun #3 Rod bearing.... AEM Intake, RK cat-back exhaust.....
'02 Z24....... ran lean, busted ring lands in cylinders 2 & 4...... Custom Turbo kit, 15psi, to low of fuel pressure.
SPD RCR Z -
'02 Z24 420whp
SLO GOAT -
'04 GTO 305whp
W41 BOI -
'78 Buick Opel Isuzu W41 Swap
unknow amount of boost , but had over 15psi at 4500 rpm , and foot wasnt to the floor yet
ran lean because of because wrong waste gate was put on my turbo(got turbo new from a hack company) , so it over boosted for the amount of fuel i had set it up for (4-6 psi)
from what i could tell a piston went out , it has major amounts of blow by anything above 1500rpm , soaked the under hood with oil
i never took the motor apart , i prob should 1 of these days
On my first Cavalier, which was a 94 3.1 V6, I had several problems. First I blew the head gasket. Too much boost was my conclusion. I installed some decent gaskets and kept going. Then it was a spun bearing. Rebuilt the bottom end, back in business. Then the final straw was when the engine blew the f*ck up at redline. It was the #1, #2, and #5 pistons that time. The skirt cracked around the wrist pin on number one, and on the other two the rings were completely fried.
Awesome posts!! Lets the rest of us learn about what we should be aware and careful of when tuning. Keep'em come'n !!
the engine i have spun a #3 rod bearing. stock motor about 30K miles
95 2.2, no boost, 150,000 miles, was extremely hard on it, wot throttle on take offs 80-90 percent of the time. 2&3 rods both broke IN HALF about 2 inches below the wrist pins.
Do NOT do 5th gear pulls in full boost. I did this one time for aout 10 seconds and the motor let go. AFR's were great, it just was making a little too much power under that load. Threw the #3 rod out the block and oil pan. Cracked the block in 5 diff. places. Pulled the piston, and the rod tore right off it. Lesson learned
Blew it up
if you are going to do a 5th gear pull under boost, you better have a way to pull a lot of timing...
2004 Cavalier, 2.2L Ecotec
1965 El Camino, 396 BBC, 14:1, 800 BHP
7 psi stock block with 93k on it...
Laid into her until it was knocking and kept going...since I knew it was going to blow...
Rings lands gone, pretty much every bearing spun, everything was garbage.
1998 Motor - 60K - Spun bearing (No boost) tried driving home and threw the connecting rod though the side of the block.
1999 Moto - 41K - 6 PSI boost GM SC leaned it out, my fault but that got a spun bearing.
New built motor better not blow!
http://members.cardomain.com/vertz24 1998 Z24 Convertible
#1 - Nitrous solenoid stuck open... ring lands on pistons 1 & 2 broken off halfway around each piston.
#2 - Lean under boost... ring lands on pistons 1 & 2
#3 - 3 years of nitrous, and turbo abuse. Not lean, the motor just let go. The motor didnt run right from day 1 tho. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did..... ring lands on pistons 1 & 2 again.
"Growing old is mandatory. Growing up? Definitely optional."
^^^ nitrous back fire didnt help matters , lol
vote for eco killer of the org
98redcavz24 wrote:Do NOT do 5th gear pulls in full boost. I did this one time for aout 10 seconds and the motor let go. AFR's were great, it just was making a little too much power under that load. Threw the #3 rod out the block and oil pan. Cracked the block in 5 diff. places. Pulled the piston, and the rod tore right off it. Lesson learned
odd I do very long 5th gear pulls all the time... no problems at all
LE61T PTE6262 Powered 
Any pics on spun bearings? just wanna see how it looks....
QBE (The Boosted One) wrote:98redcavz24 wrote:Do NOT do 5th gear pulls in full boost. I did this one time for aout 10 seconds and the motor let go. AFR's were great, it just was making a little too much power under that load. Threw the #3 rod out the block and oil pan. Cracked the block in 5 diff. places. Pulled the piston, and the rod tore right off it. Lesson learned
odd I do very long 5th gear pulls all the time... no problems at all
Were you redlining 4th and going deep into 5th? I was probably at 130mph and beginning to go up a hill. I guarentee my egt's were through the roof at that point.
Blew it up
I always redline 4th when going into 5th during a race...
LE61T PTE6262 Powered
98redcavz24 wrote:QBE (The Boosted One) wrote:98redcavz24 wrote:Do NOT do 5th gear pulls in full boost. I did this one time for aout 10 seconds and the motor let go. AFR's were great, it just was making a little too much power under that load. Threw the #3 rod out the block and oil pan. Cracked the block in 5 diff. places. Pulled the piston, and the rod tore right off it. Lesson learned
odd I do very long 5th gear pulls all the time... no problems at all
Were you redlining 4th and going deep into 5th? I was probably at 130mph and beginning to go up a hill. I guarentee my egt's were through the roof at that point.
You 2 are comparing Apples and Oranges. Ecotec and LD9. I know of a Ecotec that has done 151mph under 17psi more than once. Also know of a LD9 that (supposely) did 160mph under 15psi.
With his comments his air/fuel was probably thew the roof, that means he did not know, which could be more driver error. At those types of speeds would be more concerned with oiling, oil temps, pressure etc...
FU Tuning
id be more concerned about the fact that im going 160 mph in a j body
99 Turbo Sunfire GT | Ram 2500 | International Rollback | Mr Hanky the Suburban
my 2.4 had a wrist pin knocking due to gm charger with 6 psi with a 35 shot of nitrous.
unless they have a different tranny its impossible to do more than 140 in a ecotec, 6500 in 5th puts you just shy of 140 not to mention drag is a factor at that speed
1989 Turbo Trans Am #82, 2007 Cobalt SS G85
