Think I'm Up For A New Engine. How Does This Sound To You?

[Blackkers]

Hey guys I think I'm up for a new engine. Here's why:

I installed an oil temp gauge as I was looking to do some laps at wakefield soon and before going through the hassle of installing an oil cooler I wanted to see if it was 100% necessary.

Anyway I already had the sandwich plate so I installed it with a fresh oil filter and topped up the oil about 10 days ago. I didn't check for leaks (like a dumbass) because i've used this plate twice before on multiple cars and never lost a drop, didn't even cross my mind.

I drove about 250kms in the past 10 days so not heaps but yesterday arvo I started it up and it's rumbling and shaking all over the place so I shut it down. checked the oil, sure enough it took almost a full bottle of oil before reaching the full indicator. I reached under the oil filter and there was oil on the bottom side of it.

I didn't have time to go over it properly.

I drove it to the station this morning and the issue didn't go away or get worse in the 10-15 minutes but I kept revs well below 3k. I know I know it shouldn't have been driven but if it's truely f**ked I'd rather swap out a healthy motor than pull mine apart and rebuild.

What do you guys reckon? If it was a spun bearing would it even start?

If anyone is in the area I would really appreciate if you could drop in and check it out, 2nd/3rd opinions are always a good idea. I live in the north shore area of Sydney.

Cheers

edit: Also just wanted to mention that in that period I never hammered it, barely boosted at all since installing the gauge not that it really matters

also forgot to mention my setup. Hypergear 21U highflow on E85 300ish rwkw (was wheelspinning on the dyno due to semi slick tyres). standard RB25det R33 motor. Z32 nistune/afm 1000cc sidefeed shithouse FIVEO injectors

Edited May 19, 2014 by Blackkers

[Kris..]

drop the oil and look for metal shavings

[Blackkers]

ill do that this arvo. Would any shavings have been picked up by the filter yet? I'll check out the drain plug as well seing as it's magnetic

[KiwiRS4T]

What is a bottle of oil? 5L? 2L

If necessary I would pull the engine apart before buying another. it could be relatively cheap to repair as opposed to buying another unkown quantity.

[Blackkers]

it took around 3.5-4L i think. Yeah okay I'll pull the sump off once the engine is out to do some damage assessment

[Blackkers]

I dunked this magnet into the oil. no shavings but there are a few chunks of metal in there

[nicksamaniac]

You'll find if it has spun a bearing it won't be magnetic material (mostly) as bearings are made from white metal, like zinc, tin alloys etc, very soft material.

It will show up in the filter if you cut it open, and your dropped oil will be very sparkly/metallic looking.

Edit, unless it's spun so much you have removed the bearings completely, and it's rod against crank etc, then it will show alot of magnetic junk! But youd know it if it got this bad, you would shut it down due to the catastrophic noise it makes!

Edited May 19, 2014 by nicksamaniac