Engine mishap
Author
Discussion

broadslide

Original Poster:

739 posts

223 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
quotequote all
Gentlemen, I'm crying into my beer tonight. Was accelerating away fom a roundabout onto a dual and at about 4500 rpm a sudden small drop in power. No smoke , no loss of oil or pressure. It seemed like the S/C belt had broken. Anyway pulled over and on idle could hear the metal on metal sound! All belts in place. It was difficult to identfy whether it was top end or deeper in the engine. Fortunately I was only 1/2 mile from home and managed to get it there on tickover. It's going to be recovered to Greens next week all under warranty hopefully (18 months old 11,000 miles). Didn't somebody else have this about 6 months ago down in the New Forest area?
There goes my trip to Walkinshaw next week end!

PS Still haven't had a track day or been to the Pod with it!

Any beer tokens sent will be gratefully recieved.

Charlie

anonymous-user

77 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
quotequote all
Sorry for the bad news but as yours is a VXR500 it should mean it's down to Greens to cover it?

What PSI were you running as a matter of interest and on standard or forged internals? I've heard these engines eventually disintegrate at 12psi without internals.

Perhaps you should build one of these? http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4dWVOoh

Chin up!


Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 3rd May 19:54

ringram

14,701 posts

271 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
quotequote all
Sounds like a few have had a similar issue. Chrisjez also I think.
Reinforces my idea for a basic nice plain old stroker smile

jamiep

1,791 posts

242 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
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Sorry to hear that, has crisisjez car got engine problems? ive seen it at monkfish the last couple of weeks.

Boosted LS1

21,200 posts

283 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
quotequote all
Ah, the sound of cracking pistons spring to mind. That said, if your lucky there won't be any other damage. Fair Bit of labour involved though. Have you thought about water injection? Snow Performance offer some really good kits, top quality stuff.

jamiep

1,791 posts

242 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
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I read somewhere that the vxr500 is not intercooled, is that right?

AM04ARO

3,646 posts

238 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
quotequote all
Not intercooled and not running high PSI either.

Hope it is something minor Charlie.

If not will put some beer coupons in the post.

ringram

14,701 posts

271 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
quotequote all
Might not be related, but I understand on occasion the bearing can get play in it causing rotors to munch into each other and the housing.
Of course pure speculation smile
Let us know what the deal is.


Scoobaro

193 posts

227 months

Saturday 3rd May 2008
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Very sorry to hear that. Hope its nothing too serious and your quickly back up and running

broadslide

Original Poster:

739 posts

223 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. As far as I'm aware it's all bog standard so no intercooler and still running at 6 psi? I was just wondering if it is major internals what are the options for VX. New block and rebuild or complete new engine? Might be able to coerce someone into doing something a bit different like a new 6.3 if there aren't any LS2 around.
Oh I think the hops are starting to take effect, still here's hoping they get it sorted soon.

crisisjez

9,209 posts

228 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
jamiep said:
Sorry to hear that, has crisisjez car got engine problems? ive seen it at monkfish the last couple of weeks.


No problems with my engine, just more goodies again......
Sorry about your engine Charlie, think the last guy to post had shell bearing troubles and got a new engine.

stevieturbo

17,959 posts

270 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
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Would be interesting to hear the noise. Odd that there is a power loss to go with the noise though....well, depending on what the noise is.

Boosted LS1

21,200 posts

283 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
broadslide said:
Thanks for the kind thoughts everyone. As far as I'm aware it's all bog standard so no intercooler and still running at 6 psi? I was just wondering if it is major internals what are the options for VX. New block and rebuild or complete new engine? Might be able to coerce someone into doing something a bit different like a new 6.3 if there aren't any LS2 around.
Oh I think the hops are starting to take effect, still here's hoping they get it sorted soon.
If the blocks damaged you have all sorts of options you can consider. A stroker conversion would work nicely based on an ls3 block. I'm doing a 418 with ls7 crank for somebody. Or you could buy a complete stroker kit from the US quite cheaply (appx $2000) and fit that into a stock ls1 block. If minimal damage then just repair yours and rectify the fault. 6 psi shouldn't cause any detonation but a lean mixture on an atmo engine can trash an ls1 so if it is piston damage then there must be a reason. Fingers crossed whatever it is isn't to serious.

broadslide

Original Poster:

739 posts

223 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
The noise sounds like a 'tink tink' and speeds up with revs. The loss of power was only slight. I only put my foot down once after and it seemed that the S/C wasn't working both from performance and noise. As soon as I realised all was not well I pulled over and haven't run it( don't want to be accused of driver abuse) apart from when the AA man came. (The look on his face when I popped the bonnet!!) He was obviously more used to fixing fuses on a Daewoo. It's being transported to Greens on Tuesday so if you see it going up the M4 put a posted up, I've never been spotted before!

stevieturbo

17,959 posts

270 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
If its a piston and it isnt chucking oil out, chances are block damage will be minimal, if any.
If it has melted one badly, then it would be spewing oil out some breathers etc, and more chance of bore damage.

And you have an LS2 block already ? plenty of room for re-boring there.

If it is a piston, re-bore the block and throw a set of rods and pistons into it.

That would be the cheapest upgrade. ALthough complete built shortblocks from the US arent expensive either.
Depending on labour costs to strip down, bore, re-balance if so desired, adn rebuild in the UK...a complete built shortblock from the US might work out cheaper, and you could perhaps sell off your old block and crank etc ??

Edited by stevieturbo on Sunday 4th May 10:40

ringram

14,701 posts

271 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
I might have a nice low mile LS2 engine spare soon smile

hsv_rulz

957 posts

245 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
ringram said:
I might have a nice low mile LS2 engine spare soon


I don't suppose the phrase '7 litre' might feature somewhere in the cause for this? rolleyes

ringram

14,701 posts

271 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
hsv_rulz said:
I don't suppose the phrase '7 litre' might feature somewhere in the cause for this? rolleyes
Anything is possible smile



Edited by ringram on Sunday 4th May 12:57

ukvoyager.info

2,782 posts

245 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
Sorry to hear that.

I have to admit to being more scared of FI upgrades regarding longevity. Dont know why when I am pretty ignorant tbh. I guess its things like "you must let a turbo charger cool down after you have run it" and all that shenanigans.

anonymous-user

77 months

Sunday 4th May 2008
quotequote all
There's no need to be scared so long as you accept the limitations of the standard engine. Bits are plentiful as is the expertise to rebuild them. Labour can be expensive though - about £6k for a top end rebuild inc forged internals.

Also, superchargers are easier to set up and run much cooler than turbos, they have their own oil supply that never gets hot enough to worry about reliability.