Sr20 - Bearing Failure On The Dyno

[tacker]

yep Liz look at this way i am on engine # 4 and Duncan is on about 20. If you do get a used one, do yourself the favor and get some one to look at the bottom end for you and even throw in a new set of mains / big end bearing shells and a oil pump.

[Az_StrYdeR]

yeah that sucks hey! Same happened with my old car, got the head taken off to check the problem... wasnt worth putting back on!

[Liz]

i didn't even get to go out with a bang

[Beer Baron]

going out with a bang is not all it's cracked up to be. lucky you've found it now. going out with a bang means you need new crank, new block, new rods ie the whole caboodle which means much more dough. catching it early means you can keep block, crank, rods and just replace the bearings and pistons and rings. a little bit of machining, a bit of assembley, and voila! new SR20 ready to put out some nice reliable power.

[bloodzkull]

i didn't even get to go out with a bang

lol do what i did when the sr in my old sil80 was about to go bang. nothing was in good condition anyway so i held it in a 3rd gear burnout till it's stopped. didn't go out with a real bang either. put a hole in the block among other things though

[Guilt-Toy]

going out with a bang is not all it's cracked up to be. lucky you've found it now. going out with a bang means you need new crank, new block, new rods ie the whole caboodle which means much more dough. catching it early means you can keep block, crank, rods and just replace the bearings and pistons and rings. a little bit of machining, a bit of assembley, and voila! new SR20 ready to put out some nice reliable power.

exactly!

Lucky it happened where and how it did, you could have been at wakefield doing some laps and then have to get the car towed home after she blows up in a big way and have to replace the whole engine.

[mico]

i think the tuner has done a great job, and definately prolonged its life considering the afrs were at 14 !! all the best with the new engine mate, im sure it will be awesome !!

[Liz]

how has he prolonged it's life? i dont get it?

[Tangles]

to me, sounds like the previous tuner was the one who f**ked your engine,

nothing more than a grenade waiting to go boooom with lean afr's

bad luck, honestly, and its why I stick to one tuner; so that no-one else f**ks with the tune without having been the one installing the mods in the 1st place.

who did the previous tune? ... should be chatting to them IMO, from what Ive gathered from this thread

[Liz]

guys - perhaps you didn't read what I was posted.

So none of you think that it's

1 - wrong to tune an engine which you know has metal all through it.

2 - advise the owner of the risks involved in tuning it

3 - and no one things it's dodgy that I wasn't told of this issue until AFTER I had taken the keys and taken it for a test drive?

4 - If it was rattlying PRIOR on the first run, with the stock computer, whcih is what I was told, why on earth was it pushed!?!?

5 - does no one think that it's odd that what I was told is different to what I've been told in this thread?

I'm not saying "OMG THIS WORKSHOP HAS f**kED MY MOTOR IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!".. I'm saying that he owned me a duty of care to let me know the risks involved.. they knowingly did something that would kill my motor.

THAT is what I'm concerned about.

[mico]

how has he prolonged it's life? i dont get it?

he lowered ur hp level and ur afrs. it is an absolute miracle it did not blow b4 u got it 2 him !! read the rest of the thread, and what i posted 1st up. fullstop.

[Tezzah]

Don't take offence to this Liz, it isnt directed at you, just something BB has said that i really respect.

I'm sure there are times people have rocked up with poorly maintained and poorly modified cars that are in bad shape and just waiting to fail, then the workshop gets it, puts it on the dyno and it (surprise) fails. then the owner tries to accuse the workshop of breaking it, when in fact it's not their fault at all.

I wish everyone would be handed a piece of paper with this written on it before they give their keys over for a tune.

EDIT: Sig'ed

Edited December 15, 2008 by Tezzah

[Liz]

No offence taken Tez! That's the first thing I said to Trent when I started asking questions....I know my car has had a hard life and I don't want to be one of these people that claim a built on someone if it's not their fault!

But when some fairly basic questions uncovered some fairly obvious issues, I started questioning more and more.

[RRob]

If the cams were flogged out then there were oil issues long before the tune. No suprises the big end bearings let go.

On the other hand it shouldnt of gone on the dyno and revved.

[Tangles]

putting any engine on a dyno puts that engine at risk.

many factors, temp, tuner, fuel quality / quantity, condition of engine, etc

by the sounds of this thread you went there twice with the issue, 1st time having things fixed / replaced (finding metal shaving then?)

then again to tune after fixing the broken parts. took time, and tuner said there were still issues (ie death rattle sounds)

and you're questioning what went on.

is that the jist of it?

from all that URAS has posted over the years, Id trust his work.

Just one of those things - that we all hope never happen to us, but hear of time and again

however Id say trent may regret not being in a little more contact with you in regards to the issues at the time, and whether he should have continued tuning or not.

commuication is the key here, however it is (slightly) understandable as workshops are busy busy busy and customer relations can be at the back of the workshops mind.

perhaps go back eye2eye, sit down over a lunch break and discuss ALL of what went on, with Trent and whoever else worked on the engine.

but as it is, the workshop insurance wont cover you for your losses, as the risk is entirely yours when/if you go on a dyno

harsh and sad but truth. its OUR risk as owners to modify / tune cars above and beyond factory specifications.

I feel for you, and recommend you go BACK to trent for the rebuild, as Im sure he would look after you 100% in terms of pricing, quality of workmanship etc

best of luck with it.

my stagea is being tuned atm, headwork etc, and what you're going thru is my worst nightmare !~

[joeyjoejoejuniorshabadoo]

NOW on the first visit i refused to put it on the dyno as the engine was noisey in particular the head, the top end was thrashing itself to bits (engine was generally noisey)... (inlet cam was missing a lobe) we replaced the cams with 2nd hand low kay s15 units, new lifters and rockers and spray bars, did not have time to put it on the dyno so it came back a week or so later.

Car came back for a tune, pulled the rocker cover to asses if cams etc were ok... did a full flush and oil change (including magnetic oil filter) to make sure any metal residue floating around from previous damage got flushed or caught.

Put it on the dyno with stock ECU, AFR's on the dyno were 14:1 under full throttle (pulled power run early) .... dangerously lean... so this car was running lean for how long ? i pulled std ecu fitted PFC and did all the cruise and low end stuff, pulled a power run and noticed a rattle, pulled it off dyno and left it at that.

i think you need to read this again liz...

what i am getting from this is that you were going to lose it anyway and trent tried very hard to salvage it for you.

[Liz]

yeah but that directly contradicts what I was told when i started asking questions...

[mico]

1. u obviously pushed the tuner 2 tune it because u took it bak a second time with the same symptoms as b4, even with the squirters etc replaced. u knew there was something majorly wrong, and should have been asking 4 rebuild NOT a tune. that does not fix a broken eng. sounds like you wanted it 2 blow up on the dyno so u could get a free eng .....

2. the tuner did not blow it up, u did. u drove it home didn't u ? the prob was the same as BEFORE u went there, but got worse the more u drove it. just like what would have happened if you never went to this workshop anyway.

the same (b4 and after tuner) components will need 2 be replaced anway. once again good luck with the new engine.

[acsplit]

I noticed you said the oil suirters were blocked, I would say trent got a bad egg. if the oil squirters were blocked with that much damage it indicates poor service from the previous owner. oil contamination and poor service would have led to the death of this SR20 in my oppinion.

Unlucky Liz but its an old car which has been treated badly at some a stage

[Liz]

1. u obviously pushed the tuner 2 tune it because u took it bak a second time with the same symptoms as b4, even with the squirters etc replaced. u knew there was something majorly wrong, and should have been asking 4 rebuild NOT a tune. that does not fix a broken eng. sounds like you wanted it 2 blow up on the dyno so u could get a free eng .....

2. the tuner did not blow it up, u did. u drove it home didn't u ? the prob was the same as BEFORE u went there, but got worse the more u drove it. just like what would have happened if you never went to this workshop anyway.

the same (b4 and after tuner) components will need 2 be replaced anway. once again good luck with the new engine.

oh shit. I've been found out!

OK GUYS, THE SCAM IS OVER.. SOMEONE HAS BLOWN MY COVER!

honestly...one more time for the loser up the back.

the tuner KNEW there was a bearing problem, he told me there was metal shavings in the motor.. but he still tuned it anyway.