As the title says somthing in my engine broke whilst I was returning from holiday in Italy, any help you can give would be appreciated.

I was on the autobahn in Germany doing about 165MPH, and when I slowed down I heard a noise comming from the engine. I pulled over, and under the hood I could hear a "clicking" noise comming from the engine. I switched the engine off and checked the oil and water levels, all was OK. I decided I would limp the car home, about 260 miles @ 60 MPH. During the limp home things did not get much worse, maybe the noise increased a little but not too much.

The strange thing is I got no "Engine check" light, no oil pressure problem, and I did not seem to have lost any power. If I tried to accelerate though the noise got louder.

The car has done 30,000 miles, the last 4,000 with a "Vortech SC" fitted.

My feeling is I have damaged one or more of the connecting rod bearings!

What do you guys think?

Has anyone else had this sort of problem, and if so what's the best way to fix it?

Kevin

 

you drove 260 miles with bad rod bearings?? Now you probably have a bad crankshaft.

 

that's an impressive speed...how long did you run the car at that speed for? do you have the oil jet mod? or any other lubrication changes...

if the noise is very loud, suggest you go to a garage/tuner as it won't be a DIY jobbie if it is what you think it is.

 

I only held the speed for a few minutes as I was comming up pretty fast on other traffic. I still had a bit to go though before I would have hit the rev limmiter, I think I could have got 170 MPH.
It's a European car an they all had a recall for the oil bolts.

 

I feel some bottom end work is in order, as well.

Pull the oil pan, inspect rod clearances.

 

Sorry to hear that

But a friend of mine happend the same thing with his vortech supercharger on the German Autobahn. He accelerated up to 165 mph for some minutes. About 25 miles later his engine broke (4th cylinder)

I personally done also some 165 mph on the Autobahn, but this was after i changed my 14.5 AFR to 12.5 AFR with the E-Manage. No problems yet and the car drives as good as on the first day with the Comptech SC + Aftercooler.

I suspect that the european models have a different ECU which runs leaner. S2000_Europe, me and some others runs very lean with a SC Kit + European Models....

 

You've probably fried your conrod or crank bearings. The stock cooling system (oil and water) was not designed to handling that kind of HP for sustained periods. If you are going to drive like that you need to upgrade to a more efficient oil cooler and maybe a larger radiator.

 

My guess would be the engine running too lean for an extended period of time. With the supercharger and the high load on the engine, if your air/fuel ratio isn't proper...

Regarding overheating, do you remember seeing the water temp gauge ever go higher than normal?

 

well even if you don't go for the cooling upgrades, at least get some temp/pressure gauges on the car if you have power upgrades and are running the engine hard. Relying on a CEL is really a bit too late.

 

is it a knocking noise?
how many km have you done since you/your mechanic last checked your spark plugs?

what was the air temperature on the day?
have you had your oil jet bolt upgrade?

what do you use to tune your vortech system?


I fear that the sound you stated could be the sound of a piston slapping around.........same as my problem. At 165mph the amount of air rushing through the radiator MIGHT be enough to save your main bearings. However, if the noise is from the engine it's more than likely that you will need a rebuild.