Report that engine failure

[PM-R33]

Engine/Car: 1994 R33 GTST with R32 RB26

Type of failure: Broken ring land and slight meltage of No6 piston

Factors influencing the failure: Revving to 8000rpm and a 32deg day lol Bad detonation at night time at the drags wasn't it?

State of tune of the engine: Trust 3.5in full exhaust, Djetro, FMIC, 11psi and 245rwkw and 610Nm of torque I thought the dyno sheet says 230kw@14psi?

Suspension and tyres: Cusco Camber, toe and castor rods, G4 Coilovers I thought all the suspension bits were from the Drift shop?

Oil used and service interval: Motul Turbolight 4100 (3000km)

General comments: Every day for about a year or so, Was less than 8 months on the road with the RB26 wasn't it? revving hard for drifting, drag and circuit, she finally cried enough. Was doing 12.89 at 114mph with shithouse 2.4sec 60ft times Thought u never cracked below a 13 and were trying for a 12 on the night she blew? 2.4 60ft on those semi slicks you had...you sure about that? haha 3rd run of the day and away she went. Did sound good hitting 8000rpm limiter though

Hmmm thought i would fix some of your typos Marty, its late and im bored

Edited November 17, 2008 by PM-R33

[den001]

Engine/Car: r32 gtr, my old car, very clean purchansed for 9500

Type of failure: after 3 months major blowby, never pulled apart

Factors influencing the failure: im guessing 2 much timing and also fowled injector, no 2 gonskis

State of tune of the engine: stock computer, stock turbos, stock fuel system, just a clutch, cloilovers and pulled numerous 11.7 passes at 115mph, was stock turbos as one popped aswell after the motor was toast

Suspension and tyres: buddy club coilovers, brodgestone

Oil used and service interval: dunno, only owned it for 3 months

General comments: for some reason the thing ripped hard, suddenly started to missfire, never heard pinging, changed coilpacks, stoll missfiring, done a leakdown test, wen we got to no.2 it was f**ked bad, i mean real bad... sold the car as is for 11g

[drag-on silvia]

Engine/Car: 1994 R33 GTST with R32 RB26

Type of failure: Broken ring land and slight meltage of No6 piston

Factors influencing the failure: Revving to 8000rpm and a 32deg day lol Bad detonation at night time at the drags wasn't it? pretty sure she was knockin perty bad from a a'vale special tune too

State of tune of the engine: Trust 3.5in full exhaust, Djetro, FMIC, 11psi and 245rwkw and 610Nm of torque I thought the dyno sheet says 230kw@14psi?

Suspension and tyres: Cusco Camber, toe and castor rods, G4 Coilovers I thought all the suspension bits were from the Drift shop?

Oil used and service interval: Motul Turbolight 4100 (3000km)

General comments: Every day for about a year or so, Was less than 8 months on the road with the RB26 wasn't it? revving hard for drifting, drag and circuit, she finally cried enough. Was doing 12.89 at 114mph with shithouse 2.4sec 60ft times Thought u never cracked below a 13 and were trying for a 12 on the night she blew? 2.4 60ft on those semi slicks you had...you sure about that? haha 3rd run of the day and away she went. Did sound good hitting 8000rpm limiter though

Hmmm thought i would fix some of your typos Marty, its late and im bored

Edited November 18, 2008 by drag-on silvia

[sykr33]

Engine/Car: 1989 R32 GTS t

Type of failure: smashed 2 rods into head and cracked the block

Factors influencing the failure: waste gate got stuck shut

State of tune of the engine: 330 rwkw's full forged RB25 ruinning a power fc

Suspension and tyres: coil overs, 245/ 18's

Oil used and service interval: royal purple, after every drift meet

General comments Basically never go cheap on the important parts...

[sykr33]

Engine/Car: 1989 R32 gts t

Type of failure: Spun bearings

Factors influencing the failure: rev limiter abuse at QR...

State of tune of the engine: engine was making 347rwkw's with a power fc

Suspension and tyres: coil overs, drift tecs with 245/18 tyres.

Oil used and service interval: after every meet

General comments: took one of my mates out for some laps at one of the friday night practice's at QR and between him having no idea how to drive and also trying to use the dog box for the first time the car was on the limiter alot...

[Angus Smart]

Finally able to report on the problem that killed my motor about a year ago.. shit i am lazy!

its a nice looking piston, i think it may be able to buff out!

i'd say the cause was too much powah on a standrad/n1 piston bottom end.

also running too rich for too long (upping boost does not fix this) 1.7bar on n1 turbos constantly run thru this bottom end.

bonus: found a jun pump and tomei baffle apon removal today..

[omega36]

Engine/Car: 1990 R32 GTR

Type of failure: Spun bearing

Factors influencing the failure: hot day, possible oil pump failure/too much oil in the head

State of tune of the engine: roughly stock. Mines ECU, exhaust and intake mods.

Suspension and tyres: stock suspension, Maxxis 255/40/17 R, 235/35/17 F

Oil used and service interval: < 5000km

General comments: being rebuilt with some better oil management

[KyussR32]

Engine/Car: 1990 R32 GTSt RB20DET with 240,000kms

Type of failure: Cracked Head

Factors influencing the failure: Old gunked up radiator, air con radiator also blocked up with crap. Engine overheated after FMIC installed.

State of tune of the engine: Mild, only exhaust and FMIC

Suspension and tyres: Bilstiens and Tein sprngs

Oil used and service interval: Castril Magnatec, every 5000

General comments: Overheated due to lack of airflow to already borderline cooling system. Was cheaper to replace engine than get a 240000 km RB20DEt rebuilt. Also got a new radiator and cleaned out the AC radiator and all runs sweet now.

[Rosco1234]

Engine/Car: RB25DET 1995 R33 GTS-T (auto)

Type of failure: Oil pressure rising very quickly then dropping extremely slowly, over 1/2 - 3/4 throttle the car will no longer accelerate, rpm stops climbing at 4000rpm in drive and starts to almost peak as if its at 7000rpm gearbox starts to smell like its burning, in neutral and park it will not rev over 5500rpm, high pitch buzzing noise coming from the rear of the car as well, buzzing noise started happening an hour before

Factors influencing the failure: was driving for about 2 - 3 hours straight, city driving, was giving it quite abit coming out onto main roads

State of tune of the engine: dead stock cept for a K&N pod filter

Suspension and tyres: lowered, 235/40 directional tyres, not sure of brand

Oil used and service interval: every 5000kms and its something exellium fully synthetic, 10w 50

General comments:put some kind of additive into it, il find out wat is was, specifically for turbo motors for injectors and fuel system etc this was about 30mins b4 the problem happened, just had the gearbox serviced, said its been driven hard at some point in its life and he has no clue what the problem is, Morepowa is also not sure wat it is, possible oil cooler shit itself, they want to dyno it and get some figures of air flow and pressures etc but think they might blow the gearbox in the process if it is the oil cooler. they are going to do a thorough inspection and tests in 2 weeks, will post outcome

[WHITEBEAST]

Engine/Car: RB26 DETT 1989 R32 GTR

Type of failure: Broken ring landing (scored the block)

State of tune of the engine: Stock apart from an K&N filter pod and 3 1/2" stainless steal exhuast system

Factors influencing the failure: Old motor that required tunning (common sense) to be able to remove 'restrictor valve' out of the stock boost control solenoid.

Putting boost to over 12 psi maybe 14 psi on standard fuel management. NOT A GOOD IDEA. << is now learning how not to break a car!

General comments: Been rebuilt with some better stuff inc. N1 oil pump, baffel kit, something for oil pump on crank that took 3 weeks to get from Japan. Forged pistons (ARIAS),

strong rods (Eagle), bearings, rebuilt head. Good to rev to 9000 RPM now supposely. Please don't fellow in my foot steps.

[R34Liner]

Some of you guys probably saw this in the NSW section, didn't realize there was a thread specifically for our misfortunes!!

This isn't exactly engine failure, more driver failure i guess....

Engine/Car: R34 25GT RB25DE (no i didn't forget the T, yes its non turbo )

Type of failure: hydro-lock

Factors influencing the failure: water, lots and lots of water

State of tune of the engine: stock as a rock besides the CAI that lead to its ultimate doooooom

Suspension and tyres: lower then usual...once again leading to its doooom

Oil used and service interval: doesn't make a difference

General comments:

in a car park on the top floor, pissing down rain, visibility was about half a meter to a meter, made my way slowly to the ramp to go down to the next level which was (unknown to me) flooded at the very foot of the ramp, the front of my car was submerged momentarily in this flooded region.....then my engine decided to do a physics experiment and tried to compress water! YAY!

10mm bend in crank - 3 bent con rods - 2 bent valves and a crack in my head

after i had my engine re-built, i was cruising along at 70km/h when suddenly my revs started picking up by them selves, i took my foot right of the accelerator but the revs kept going up until it hit my rev limiter.....i put it in neutral and and turned the car off - now rolling at around 100km/h with no power steering and my breaks as hard as a rock - the reasons my intake valve was getting stuck was because when the water entered my throttle body it hit my intake valve like a wall of cement, and since the butterfly was in idle position (since i was only rolling down the ramp when my engine went swimming) it bent the valve rod into a slight U shape

and that's my story!

[FIXER5]

Engine/Car: R33 GTS-T Coupe

Type of failure: Occasional engine stall in conditions with lots of change in speed (e.g. city traffic jams)

Factors influencing the failure: Inspected by mechanic, suspected stuffed fuel pressure regulator.

State of tune of the engine: Stock

Suspension and tyres: Stock

Oil used and service interval: Last service May

General comments: Looking for a new or second hand fuel pressure regulator in good condition. To import from Japan would cost $300 for a part that would usually cost approx $80.

[Duncan]

This thread has been too quiet lately - Paul reminded me I owe a couple of updates:

engine #6

Engine/Car: rb26dett / r32 gtr

Type of failure: 2000 klm and 2 race meets, oil pump failed and badly damaged all bearings.

Factors influencing the failure: wasn't really clear at first, the oil pump was smashed but not sure why. Oil analysis said there was aluminium in the oil *before* the bearings spun. after re-assembly the clearance of the cams were checked and found to be way too tight which was the real issue.

State of tune of the engine: standard except for cam gears and computer.

Suspension and tyres: bilsteins, kumho v70A.

Oil used and service interval: really can't remember.....change it every race meet tho. Also, you get an amazing amount of bearing metal everywehere when an oil pump dies.

General comments: Brand new block, crank, it was pretty sad.

Strangest of all these cams had been fine in this head right back to motor #2 in this thread. They were sent to a shop for measuring and I think the wrong ones came back (and I should have checked). very expensive mistake but with quick rebuilds you only deal with what failed and don't 100% check everything.....

[Duncan]

engine #7

Engine/Car: rb26dett / r32 gtr

Type of failure: 67 klm, on its way to the dyno, exhaust cam snapped at the timing gear. bent valves.

Factors influencing the failure: well, good question. turned out there was insufficient oil flow to the front of the exhaust cam so it siezed. which in turn was caused by crap in the oil gallery which blocked it.

State of tune of the engine: standard except for cam gears and computer. approx 250kw

Suspension and tyres: bilsteins, kumho v70A.

Oil used and service interval: mineral run in oil

General comments: I haven't seen another oil gallery blockage issue in this thread, but it does happen. since then the engine shop has been drilling and checking heads and has found at least some crap in more than half of them, also a random head that was put on my stagea had also had it's oil galleries drilled out for cleaning previously.....be warned....

[turbo_brian]

my Turn: (was only a matter of time)

Engine/Car: 1991 R32 GTR Skyline, RB26DETT

Type of Failure: 98,000kms on the clock, believed the previous owner when he said timing belt was done, but was not aware the tensioner pulleys where still the factory item. Failure on the inlet side tensioner, result was loosening of the timing belt, and jumping of teeth. Guys, these engines re intrusion engines, the valves DO interferre with the pistons. Result was strange. Every single EXHAUST valve was mashed and bent.

Factors influencing failure: Was driving perfect the day before, plenty of power, turned it off, started the next morning and drove it soft and gentle until warn, went to juice it, and still had no power (dropped it at the mechanics under it's own steam). Unless you know the timing belt and tensioners are good, spend the $500 and get them fitted yourself, dont leave anything to change.

State of tune: CAM gears, pods, massive HKS Exhaust, 13PSI boost, chipped ECU (Approx. 210kw at all 4 wheels).

Iol used at Service intervals: Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil every 4 - 6,000kms, always sightly darkened when changed, but never completely blackened, and never full of grit.

General comments: We changed the head for a Just Jap 2nd hand head, cams, valves, etc and found a snapped CAM shaft in the new head, my engine builder thinks the camshaft in the new head was snapped from impact damage, I am having this investigated, but we where lucky not to loose another set of valves when checking.Car is currently 'sort' of working, it's back together but blows plumes of white smoke the second you touch the throttle, we are looking at turbochargers, but they dont have much play in them, and they where not smokey prior to the top-end rebuild, so I am at a loss at this stage.

B.

[Ziller]

A lot of spun bearings, most seem to come from rebuilt engines, yet not a lot of info on these engines, bearing clearances, new or machined crank, etc.

To try and find a cause can be a bit hit and miss.

I suspect their are only a few really good engine builder around, Im up for my 3rd engine build in as many years, the car has been off the road for most

of that time and has been driven, not thrashed, I didnt fool around with the build, starting with a brand new N1 block, CP pistons, H beams, Tomei cams,

intercooler, Motec M800 you name it, after not being happy with the car I was handed back, with just over 2,000Ks on the clock I had the engine removed,

the sump was wipped off for a look and revealed a lot of crap in the oil pickup line, I had a big end bearing pulled out and found it to be half worn, you

can even see a copper color on the edges of the bearing were it has worn through and has small spots of metal on the bearings were the metal has rolled.

The engine is now in good hands and will be dismanteled shortly, and yes I do have an issue with the engine builder and tuner as this is the second rebuild

after the engine failed on his dyno the first time, Im very interested to see the results and what may have been the contributing factors, this has spoilt the

whole buzz of owning a GTR for me and has been a long drawn out process, I will keep you posted.

[Duncan]

A lot of spun bearings, most seem to come from rebuilt engines, yet not a lot of info on these engines, bearing clearances, new or machined crank, etc.

To try and find a cause can be a bit hit and miss.

absolutely.....having the right (or wrong) parts makes no differences unless the clearences are correct. And people are very happy to blame oil pumps or whatever else due to more basic things being incorrect.

I've used many engine shops over the years, and the only thing I am 100% sure about, is that after the machine shop measures everything, the engine assembler needs to double check all clearances....I've found problems in 20-50% of motors I've checked. And one I didn't check already holds its place in this thread where a clearance mistake wrecked a brand new n1 block.

So, my recommendation....if you get someone to assemble a motor for your...instruct them to note down the results of the measuring, tell them no payment without this information. And when it arrives make sure you see the hand-written, oil smeared version. No way would I pay a shop to assemble a motor if they are not willing to write down what they are charging you for anyway.

[Ziller]

With the first engine failure I was told the new N1 oil pump had failed, he told me he suspected a faulty casting from the manufacture which caused the number 6 big end bearing to seize due to a lack of oil, I was told he had sent the pump away for an independent report, so I purchased a tomei oil pump for its replacement and it was recommended an oil drain back line from the head to the sump be installed.

With the engine being under his 12 months guarantee a new crankshaft and conrods was added to the list so I could keep the standard bearing size, after a night mare period of a wait and so many stories I think my ears are going to drop off, the engine was completed, I ran the engine in for a thousand ks and I was eager on getting the full tune out of the way with an expected 370kw@all4wheels, instead I got 330kw, With the excuses being the engine was detonating due to the now poorer fuel blends from the refineries and that I should wait until the summer for a different blend for a better result"Yer Right" after another 9 weeks spent in his workshop this was his final word, I have requested all reports, build sheets and receipts to be produced but he does not feel at liberty to show me, you would think that he would break his ass to show me to clear the air, I have since learned that the bearings are not of standard size, it is early days now but the question for me is was it poor tuning, poor engine building or both, as far as payment was concerned, most people want a healthy deposit when your are spending over forty grand, not including the cost of a PPG gear set, the money was paid before the first engine failure so it was a little late to stop payment, the engine will be stripped next week, but judging by the crap in the oil pick up line and the condition of the big end bearing which was removed, Im already in the shit! I will know more soon.

And to Duncan, I could not agree more with your advice, I like the oil smeared version, at the time it would not have meant much to me but it would have made him more accountable and less likely to be shifty, my request for the build sheets and all receipts and reports still stands.

Edited October 3, 2009 by Ziller

[FalahR33]

An awsome thing i discovered. My turbo when not pumping was making my engine run rightfully, but when boost was maxxed out.... there was no air catching into the engine and that leaded to blacksmoke from tail pipe. somehow i got myself a toolbox and with a 7 size bolt (adjuster, mover, twister or whatever its known as) i tightened the seals at the rubber joints at the intake pipes completely.

My rpm drops and rises on its own, whats wrong? check the airflow meter

My engine works like a pulse and not continuos whats wrong? switch on the car but dont start the engine if you hear a pulsing noise at the back the fuel pump is all right. but if you dont get a new one. one more thing buy a better fuel pump i have a rb25det wit a gtr fuel pump, much better now.

Get the air fuel ratio adjusted also

Lesson learnt? when turbo works its way to the max no air must leak from anywhere otherwise too much fuel will be added to the engine and it kills your engine slowly.

Now my question to all you guys, Disconnect the air filter in front of the airflow meter and with the engine running blow air at it with your mouth, does the engine reduce its speed? what happens if you block some air from entering it? what happens to the engine speed? I have a maxima airflow meter which is basically is a non turbo car, if all that happens to you guys my airflow meter is ok otherwise its f**ked up. Coz when i pump my turbo to the max my engine doesnt catch soo much air it needs to. Plz help me here I request you to try it and notify me the results.

Anything new?? sure i wanna learn!

Hey get yourself an expensive toolbox, I guarrantee it works!!!

[Dorifta]

A lot of spun bearings, most seem to come from rebuilt engines, yet not a lot of info on these engines, bearing clearances, new or machined crank, etc.

To try and find a cause can be a bit hit and miss.

I suspect their are only a few really good engine builder around, Im up for my 3rd engine build in as many years, the car has been off the road for most

of that time and has been driven, not thrashed, I didnt fool around with the build, starting with a brand new N1 block, CP pistons, H beams, Tomei cams,

intercooler, Motec M800 you name it, after not being happy with the car I was handed back, with just over 2,000Ks on the clock I had the engine removed,

the sump was wipped off for a look and revealed a lot of crap in the oil pickup line, I had a big end bearing pulled out and found it to be half worn, you

can even see a copper color on the edges of the bearing were it has worn through and has small spots of metal on the bearings were the metal has rolled.

The engine is now in good hands and will be dismanteled shortly, and yes I do have an issue with the engine builder and tuner as this is the second rebuild

after the engine failed on his dyno the first time, Im very interested to see the results and what may have been the contributing factors, this has spoilt the

whole buzz of owning a GTR for me and has been a long drawn out process, I will keep you posted.

who did the motor and tuning, pm me if u dont wana post

Edited October 7, 2009 by Dorifta