Both pictures are from ther infamous Dragon. Most likely shot by Killboy.com. There are thousands of similar pictures in the same location.

 

JAHumphrey : thanks for the explanation.

Quote from TCDesign website:
Well... succes minus 1.
IMO its time to count to ten and pick up the phone.
(408)956-1526
"Who do I talk to, to report a product failure resulting in engine fatality?"

I'm not trying to make fun of you!
Costumer = King

 

Looks like shoddy welding cost you an engine.

 

Not really. The weld is still holding. Looks like poor design. Like SpitfireS said, the thing was probably vibrating (or being pushed/pulled by the oil sloshing around), and eventually fatigued and snapped in half. Probably another weld on the end would've given it some more strength.

You should definitely get in touch with the mfrs of the pan & give them a piece of your mind. I doubt you'll get any compensation for it, though (i.e., they're probably not going to repair your engine).

 

Sorry to hear that Bryan. Let me know if you you need an extra set of hands this weekend, I'll be in the upstate from tonight until Sunday.


I agree with everyone on here, the manufacturer of the oil pan is to blame. Their shoddy product casued the problem it was supposed to be preventing. You probably won't get any compensation out of them, but you should at least let them know so they can determine if it's an actual design flaw. A couple more situations like yours, and their reputation is toast.

 

bad bad bad...

 

This provides a fine example of why it's not necessarily a great thing to use race parts on a street car.

I have several TC Designs parts on my car, and Tony has a reputation for good customer service. One of his other products did have a fatigue issue, and he did a recall on it, replacing the part with a new design. So I expect he'll want to know about this.

However, I don't have one of his oil pans on my car. IMO, this is a case of not fixing what isn't broken. I've never been convinced that a baffled oil pan is going to be useful at all, and it's especially not going to be useful on the street. Up until now, I've kind of figured that it's probably not hurting anything to have one, but any time you add any new parts you also add a bunch of new (unknown!) failure modes to go along with them.

I'm very curious why SC Highlander installed the pan in the first place. It seems that you have an oil pressure gauge. Were you seeing low oil pressure at times? Did the pan solve that (until now)?

There is a joint responsibility principle that applies here. The manufacturer has to do his best to make a product that does not fail, but the buyer has to understand that race parts are not tested to the same level as the OEM parts, and that they are, in essence, acting as beta testers for the product.

 

 

mike garrison,

i'm curious, which other part failed due to fatigue and was recalled?

 

The original design of the anti-bumpsteer kit. Which I do have on my car, so I'm personally trusting the redesigned part.