[Mk2] [Turbo] Well...it was always going to happen

[Chr15py]

Not having a good month!

Few weeks ago, I had to get a new clutch asap...missed going to Le Mans but hey...I had my car back. Driving home from work today, pulled up at a roundabout and the car started to idle a bit weird. When driving the car was fine but the moment I got home and it started to idle, the car sounding a bit like a scooby - not a good sign. I opened the engine bay and immediately noticed the coating of oil on everything forward of the bov. "xxxx!" I thought but rang rogue to ask what I should check. Patrick said that I should get compression or leakdown test asap so, I did a compression test and found the following results:
Cylinder 1: 11.7bar
Cylinder 2: 11.8bar
Cylinder 3: 6bar
Cylinder 4: 11.7bar. Thought "ok, one more run on cylinder 3 just to check" and the pressure dropped to 4. Peered down the spark hole and there are definately bits down there.
The annoying thing is I have done all mods safely, colder grade plugs, decat, chargecooler, mapped to 1.1bar by rogue (thankyou by the way )....etc. I service the car whenever needed, change the oil every 3k miles and the car has never missed a beat. But this, didn't think it would just fail so abruptly! Yes, I know that as soon as you start to mod, it reduces the life of the engine but as I wasn't (I thought) stressing the engine near it's limits, didn't think this would happen.

I just don't know what to think at the moment, what else can go wrong.

Life sucks!!!
(a really upset) Chris

[phipck]

thats realy bad "car news" dude, feel bad for you. as with all car related things its just a case of time and money though, could be a lot worse, could be bad "health news".

[2barGee]

Really sorry 4 you mate!!!! Gutted.

Its just luck of the draw mate some people run high bhp and never get a problem and some go on standard power

Get some forge pistons chucked in and run some more boost

dan

[Munnsy]

as above really mate, feel for ya but hay gives you an opertunity to make the car perhaps that deep down you have always wanted.
Trouble is the financing of it all, head high buddy, as said could of been worse, look on the positive side of things, forgies and a few hundred horsepower more

[-:[KM]:-]

I know how you you feel... when it happened to me, my heart sank.

On a positive note, it's FORGE TIME!!!!




Next step, get the head off to see what damage there is.. hopefully none to the bores..

[Mikey P MR2]

Sorry to hear that I would consider just getting a second hand engine put in there probably cheaper than forged internals and will not require such regular rebuilds.
What boost control were you running as I have heard this sort of thing is sometimes caused by the boost spiking due to manual boost controllers not being as safe as dual stage electronics ones.

[Chr15py]

Well, boost was taken care of by the Link G3 that was installed 2 weeks back so don't think that would have been the problem - was mapped to 1.1bar so no massive boost to take care of. As for a different standard engine, as no engines would be guaranteed it would probably happen again so anothe £2k+ down the drain. Car has 68k on the clock - 47k when I bought it and I've always looked after it. Every rolling road I've taken it to has said the engine is strong - no knock/det on the cans at all and it made good power. Forged engine is the safer bet but prices are stupidly expensive too as everything else needs to be replaced I guess - oil pump, oil heater exchanger thingy, etc. Even with only pistons and work done, it'll come to over £2.5k anyhoo.

I just want to burn it. Might sell it and buy something sensible afterall, I can get money for everything on it.

Really really dissappointed!
Chris

[Mikey P MR2]

I have no idea who mapped your new ECU and it might be a coincidence but it does sound strange the engine went so soon after having a new ECU fitted to the car, as you say rest of the modifications are on the safe side of tuning a rev3 turbo. I would defiantly be factoring in a remap when installing the new or rebuilt engine to rule out this being the cause.

[Chr15py]

Just mulling over a quote already
Chris

[2barGee]

I have no idea who mapped your new ECU and it might be a coincidence but it does sound strange the engine went so soon after having a new ECU fitted to the car, as you say rest of the modifications are on the safe side of tuning a rev3 turbo. I would defiantly be factoring in a remap when installing the new or rebuilt engine to rule out this being the cause.

Mmmmm sounds a bit strange mate, how much driving have you done since the remap???

Have you go the af readouts before and after the map???

Not pointing any fingers, but like mikey said is does sound a bit suspect??

Dan

[Rogue]

I have no idea who mapped your new ECU and it might be a coincidence but it does sound strange the engine went so soon after having a new ECU fitted to the car, as you say rest of the modifications are on the safe side of tuning a rev3 turbo. I would defiantly be factoring in a remap when installing the new or rebuilt engine to rule out this being the cause.

Mmmmm sounds a bit strange mate, how much driving have you done since the remap???

Have you go the af readouts before and after the map???

Not pointing any fingers, but like mikey said is does sound a bit suspect??

Like Chris said in his first post, his ECU was supplied and mapped by us. And also like Chris said, modifying a car can reduce the life of it's engine. It is likely that failure will be in some way related to the increased duty on the engine which in turn creates the improved performance. In that respect, it's not "suspect" that the ECU caused the fault, but "likely" that the performance improvements as a result of installing the ECU were a contributory factor in the engine's failure. The internal combustion engine works on the principle of controlled explosion - more power = bigger bangs and ultimately something's got to give.

In this case though, Chris has been particularly unlucky as the level of modification is no more than dozens of similar cars that have passed through our doors with no problems - and like he said, within known "safe" limits. It sounds like a ringland's collapsed on the piston, so a forged build would be the way to go. Whatever Chris decides to do we'll look after him.

Best regards,

Patrick Mortell
Rogue Motorsport Ltd
01676 530222

[steve b]

Trouble with 2nd hand turbo cars you never know whats happened in the past, someone could previously run it at god knows what boost, may have cracked a ringland ages ago. Give it some more now and it causes total failure.

This is the reason I ignored everyone when I bought my Eunos "buy one already turbo'd you'll save thousands" everyone said. They were right cost about £5K more than just going out and getting a similar spec 2nd hand one, but I know every boosted minute of the cars life from it leaving mapping.

[-:[KM]:-]

Some sound comments in the posts above.

I, like Steve, decided to start with a standard motor. I know EVERY nut and bolt on this thing. It's piece of mind knowing what has been done. DAMN I've made some mistakes in the 7 years I've had my car! The point is for me now, it works well!! It's got 184,000 on the odometer and spanks almost all cars available in a straight line. I do a LOT of miles..

The point above is that 'modifications' will always involve a degree of deviation from the reliability of the vehicle. We know that, as we know the 3s-gte is a good engine for power..


Back on track...


No-one can put it in words how you feel when your car foops up. Loss of confidence is almost as bad as the embarrasment of being stood by the road..
Chris, entirely up to you what you do.. All I can say is... I went totally forged, Clevite bearings, MLS HG, etc. OK, it cost a bit, but it's a savage set-up.

You will love it all over again.. And for a lot less than a M3.

Don't go for the breaking option...

[HighwayStar]

Sorry to hear the news chap but head up..... it's just more money after all and thats what motoring is whether its a rebuild or depreciation on a newer car.
Hope you stay with it and get it sorted mate.

R.

[Razor04]

bad luck m8

[Whippett]

Mate, if you don't spend the money on your car, you'd only blow it on women and booze!

...so forged all the way! You know I've been there and I can vouch that once you start chucking money at it, it doesn't stop.

Besides, I need some competition...