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Is there any valvetrain damage?
Piston doesn't look to bad but seems to be some marks from the valve. I guess if a valve was dropped there should be much more damage there.
What oil filter was used?
if its a rebuild my bet is he used non FRM compliant pistons, they expanded and wedged in the cylinder cracking the walls, engine still trying to spin snapped the connecting rod.
With a heavy heart I post this thread. My friend has a 2006 DBW EuroDM spec F20 S2K. He said he installed a rebuilt, 4.7 final drive diff just recently. He bought the old stock diff from me and got the final drive swapped out with a 4.7. Last Saturday after the install he decided to go test it by doing drag racing... he got up to fourth gear after maxing out every gear before that and then noticed a lot of smoke out the back and then the engine switched off...see pics of the carnage below... I'm stumped as to why a stock ECU'd, non-boosted, non modified (except for the new diff) F20 engine with about 95000 miles on the clock and a one owner car (he said he never over-revved it before) would break like this...? Even the sleeve of cylinder four broke?! Oil he has been running is Liqui Moly 10W40 which is a semi synth oil. He runs on Shell V Power 95 octane pump fuel. Looking for advice to help the dude out please?
Looks to be some blue on one side of the wrist pin, that may mean a start of the overheating & thus oil feed problems.
hydrolocked? A friend broke a con rod with a stuck fuel injector on a new crate engine LS a few years back and hydrolocked.
darcy
We ran this thought by him but it doesn't seem that an injector of his might have gotten stuck open however, it's plausible since he didn't check the dipstick to confirm if it was reeking of oil and that Liqui Moly 10W40 semi synth oil his mech recommended is not as capable of handling fuel dilution as well as a full synth one.
Originally Posted by Chuck S
USDM fuel spec is 91 (pump) octane which is typically 95 RON octane.
I suspect he's not telling the whole story...
-- Chuck
funny how there is a difference in octane ratings dependent on part of world but yeah locally we have access to either 93 RON or 95 RON and the sticker says premium unleaded 95 or higher. Investigating as much as I can to find out as much as I can from him about the history. His wife also drove the car for a long time I think...what if she filled 93 instead of 95...?!
Originally Posted by windhund116
Wow! Crazy damage. Was he using OEM rods and wrist pins?
Thanks!
Crazy damage indeed It's an OEM F20 through and through. Never been opened according to the owner who is the first owner.
Originally Posted by HawkeyeGeoff
Unfortunately there are always outliers in engine production. There are so many people that race these engines every weekend modified....everything we suggest could be just a guess at this point.
Originally Posted by flanders
Is there any valvetrain damage?
Piston doesn't look to bad but seems to be some marks from the valve. I guess if a valve was dropped there should be much more damage there.
What oil filter was used?
Doesn't look like a valve dropped otherwise we would have seen its head at least mashed into the piston. I asked now about the filter. Waiting for response then will tell you.
Originally Posted by und3r
Is 95 recommended? I have euro S2000 and it has huge 98 on gas tank lid sticker and small 95 as an option.
Locally yeah its recommended as the minimum in fact but it also says or as high as possible. Wish we got 98 here...
Originally Posted by flanders
95 octane RON is the minimum recommended, if you can get 98 that is better.
Yeah definitely.
Originally Posted by Deckoz
if its a rebuild my bet is he used non FRM compliant pistons, they expanded and wedged in the cylinder cracking the walls, engine still trying to spin snapped the connecting rod.
Original engine according to him. If it were a rebuild then I wouldn't be surprised by this and your theory could very well be exactly what happened.
your final question was for advice to help him out...not trying to be a dick here but I'd say replace the engine- problem solved.
darcy
Yeah that's the best option here. Its gonna cost him at least $4000 for a second hand engine but he'd better go that route of original unopened OEM engine rather than getting this one rebuilt.
Wondering how this could happen to a stock engine. Details are surfacing now though. His wife also drove the car for a while. Not sure if she might have mistakenly filled lower RON fuel during that time for example.
Piston top doesn't show any obvious signs of detonation which could be caused by running lower octane fuel, but check the other pistons as well to make sure.
Some pictures to show how it might look https://www.google.com/search?q=pist...w=1599&bih=824
Lugging the engine (driving constantly in to high gear) is really bad and this might be something an inexperienced driver could have been doing.
Seem a bit far stretched to cause this kind of massive failure though but who knows?
11-27-2018, 08:03 AM
It's an OEM F20 through and through. Never been opened according to the owner who is the first owner.