Gallardo con rod issues

[auyt]

Hi All
I have been contemplating an early Gallardo as they are in my price range.
However I have discovered there is a significant issue with the con rods on the pre 2011 cars.
I have searched this on this forum but haven't found any comments. for me its a show stopper.
What has been peoples experience.
This Set of videos explains it all.
Video 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcU9P8L-y-U
Video 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlvv280cErI
best - video 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXQzVjMYy50

[4321go]

There are no comments here as we're all being paid vast sums of money by Lamborghini to perpetuate the conspiracy.

Either that, or the members of the largest motoring forum in the world, with hundreds of thousands of miles driven in Gallardos, have simply never experienced a problem.

Take your pick.

(Sod's Law will now dictate that I suffer conrod failure tomorrow!)

[auyt]

Ive heard of at least three blown engines and others with engine replacement with no explanation why.
Having bought a Ferrari 456M with that turned out to have the dreaded valve guide issue that also effected 355s and was described as a lucky dip of a problem, sure enought my car had the problem.

Apparently its not isolated to the Gallardo but other cars with scintered rods, Audis and BMWs.

[luigisayshello]

4321go said:

There are no comments here as we're all being paid vast sums of money by Lamborghini to perpetuate the conspiracy.

Either that, or the members of the largest motoring forum in the world, with hundreds of thousands of miles driven in Gallardos, have simply never experienced a problem.

Take your pick.

(Sod's Law will now dictate that I suffer conrod failure tomorrow!)

Or they aren't active on forums, or just don't want their cars to devalue. Take your pick.

[auyt]

I have just had an interesting conversation with a Independent Lamborghini service place in Melbourne Victoria, They have a Gallardo used by a drive experience company with 160,000ks where the only issue was a broken valve spring..
So it is a very rare thing to happen.

[70proof]

Not a common problem that I am aware of fwiw

[Powerlatch]

Gallardo con rod issues. Well, from what I've seen over the last 10 years it's not a "common" problem, but I have seen it happen a couple of times. At least one of those wasn't actually a problem with the con rod itself but more with the bolts that hold the two halfs of the con rod together. And to be fair the reason they failed was more due to the fact that the engine had been apart previously, and the bolts weren't replaced during re-assembly.
So no, I wouldn't say it was a common problem to worry about when thinking of buying a Gallardo.

[auyt]

Other forums have similar experience and its not that big a deal as it first appeared.
But tell tail signs of a bent rod are are compression and exhaust smoke on start and excessive oil consumption, as they use oil like the Honda S2000

[Powerlatch]

A bent rod? Well, that's a whole different issue. I'd be more worried about how the rod became bent in the first place.
Oil consumption, up to a litre for every 600 miles is considered acceptable.
The biggest killer of Gallardo engines is the exhaust cats disintegrating and getting sucked back into the engine. That never ends well.

[auyt]

CATs disintegrating and being ingested, that,s the first I have heard of.
Is there any discussion on this?

[70proof]

Auyt.... read this... most informative thread for buyers...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Porsche has had far bigger issues with its engines... lambaudi are very reliable by comparison, my first car a my08 prefacelift hasn't missed a beat in 5 years and current owner has her up over 35k miles!!!

[andrew]

70proof said:

Auyt.... read this... most informative thread for buyers...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Porsche has had far bigger issues with its engines... lambaudi are very reliable by comparison, my first car a my08 prefacelift hasn't missed a beat in 5 years and current owner has her up over 35k miles!!!

35k ? pfft

[auyt]

08 Gs have the latter style rods so no issue there.
Porsche have issues from the 996 to the 997 S2 before they fixed the ISB, but Ihave had my fun with Porsche's.

So whats the deal with Catalytic converters?

[4321go]

My '05 car is at 83k miles and is my daily driver.

[Powerlatch]

04-08 Con rods are all the same, 09 onwards LP560 are different. The same rules apply for all regarding re-use of rod bolts though.
Gallardo engines are pretty bullet proof though, especially when compared to the aforementioned Porsche engines.
Regarding catalytic converters; not a massive issue but it does happen. If the cat internals break up, say if overheated for example, the debris can get sucked back into the engine. Sounds impossible doesn't it? The results can be unpleasant for the insides of the combustion chambers.

[sambalee]

I would guess that the cars with blown engines are possibly mistreated, and/or CAT problem.

Biggest problem I've heard is the CAT dissintegrating - overheating from serious use or static rev ups etc.

Lee

[dang2407]

Twin-turbo conversions also kills conrods... I