Author Topic: Pop Goes The Engine... (Read 5321 times)

James Buchan · « **on:** June 03, 2007, 11:18:45 AM »

Cruising at roughly 3400rpm my engine went pop and I shut it down. Have ignition and fuel so we opened up the valve covers to find 3 rockers backed off..... Hmmm looks like I'm going in to see what my cam looks like.

Any ideas?

James Buchan · « **Reply #1 on:** June 03, 2007, 11:39:59 AM »

Forgot to mention I had called BCAA thanks to Shane and had some good Karma happen. Turns out the driver is Keith Winterbottom who runs the Super Shifter series with his son (who incidently won the last race). Well I have been looking after the series website for over a year or two now and we got to talking and he gave me a discount on the tow fee.... Goes to show that doing something for someone or something for free does come back to thank you in small but substantial ways.

Shane · « **Reply #2 on:** June 03, 2007, 01:02:03 PM »

Dont pull it apart yet James... Could be something simple..

Billyisgr8 · « **Reply #3 on:** June 03, 2007, 01:26:56 PM »

Did any pushrods come out of the cup? Was anything loose the last valve adjustment? Maybe you pulled a rocker shaft stud?
Hopefully it is something simple like a rocker shaft nut just being loose and allowing the pushrod to pop out.

Wish I was closer...I would come over to help see what it was.

Kevin

Chris · « **Reply #4 on:** June 03, 2007, 03:44:04 PM »

the last valve adjustment......

Swartz · « **Reply #5 on:** June 03, 2007, 03:55:40 PM »

Quote

Cruising at roughly 3400rpm my engine went pop and I shut it down. Have ignition and fuel so we opened up the valve covers to find 3 rockers backed off..... Hmmm looks like I'm going in to see what my cam looks like.

Any ideas?

sounds similar to what happened to mine!

James Buchan · « **Reply #6 on:** June 03, 2007, 04:27:26 PM »

Did the valves this year and have less than 100 kms since, maybe even closer to 50 kms....

Going to go out and see what I can see in a bit here and will take pics and report back.

RoadRunner · « **Reply #7 on:** June 03, 2007, 05:17:15 PM »

Sorry about the car James.

Even MORE sorry about the honk on my way by :blush: but I didn't think it would make your day any better to watch me crash at 80miles an hour trying to get over to the shoulder

Hope it is something small and simple,

James Buchan · « **Reply #8 on:** June 03, 2007, 05:18:54 PM »

80?!?!?!? Looked more like 100 to me!

AlanU · « **Reply #9 on:** June 03, 2007, 08:31:16 PM »

If your using scat rockers with their piece of shit hardened cup adjusters I'd look to see that the cups are not pounded. Ask Kroc what we did. I freaked out one year and we took it apart quickly in a couple of hours. Engine looked beautiful..............HUH?

Damn scat cup adjusters pounded and I had serious valve lash like .020+

Cam issues are not directly related to excessive lash a the rocker....well sorta

James!!!!!!!!!! base of the cam lobe theoreticaly shouldn't wear whatsoever. If you lifters concaved then you have a cam/lifter issue possibly. Look at the simple stuff first before you jump the gun.

cut open your filter to look for chunks.

RoadRunner · « **Reply #10 on:** June 03, 2007, 09:15:00 PM »

James, honey,
EVERYTHING looks fast when you are at a dead stop :lol:

James Buchan · « **Reply #11 on:** June 03, 2007, 09:20:16 PM »

Well I started with the simple stuff, I figured I would hope for the best and set my timing but none of my rockers move when I hand crank... kinda leads me to believe my cam gear bit the big one.

I just dropped the oil, once it finishes draining I am going to look for cam gear teeth...

Rockers are Scat but they look pristine as the have less that 200 KMS on them.

slammedbus · « **Reply #12 on:** June 03, 2007, 10:05:32 PM »

REally like to give ya a good ribbing about tightening bolts right now.....just don't know if the black eye and fat lip will look good on me for the showdown. Good luck brotha. LEt me know if you need anything...........help, beer, shoulder to cry on.....

red snapper · « **Reply #13 on:** June 04, 2007, 09:03:46 AM »

I guess there wont be any \"call-outs\" for a while. Good luck James, hope the problem isnt too serious. Good thing about this forum, there always good people on here to help you to figure out your problem. Unfortunately, Im not one of them. :blush:

James Buchan · « **Reply #14 on:** June 04, 2007, 09:59:25 AM »

Nearly got the engine down to longblock, will be out today to see what's up.

Billyisgr8 · « **Reply #15 on:** June 04, 2007, 10:54:34 AM »

Ok since you are taking it out anyway...when my engine went POP!! the crank was no longer a 1 piece. Hope fully it is just the cam gear. I have seen postings of cam gears grenading, they were the aftermarket straight cuts that are held together by 5 or so webs..

Kevin

James Buchan · « **Reply #16 on:** June 04, 2007, 11:46:28 AM »

That's what I am hoping for... Will know tonight or tmrw depending on how things go...

Gives me a chance to check out my clutch and redo some wiring that I did half assed as well.

The cam gear that is in there is a knock off straight cut so... but I bought it around 3-4 years ago prior to the latest bad batch that went around so who knows...

Might upgrade to a TC20 while I am at it as well...

Billyisgr8 · « **Reply #17 on:** June 04, 2007, 12:04:15 PM »

The last broken one I saw posted was about 3 years ago. I think Geoff had also posted a picture of one a few years ago.

What brand of waste gate are you using? I'm thinking of using a knock off one since I'm cheap.

Kevin

James Buchan · « **Reply #18 on:** June 04, 2007, 03:34:57 PM »

TIAL - don't cheap out on something that can blow your engine up if it fails!

Matt · « **Reply #19 on:** June 04, 2007, 03:42:16 PM »

Quote

TIAL -

WTF is that acronym for?

Russ · « **Reply #20 on:** June 04, 2007, 03:50:55 PM »

Quote

WTF is that acronym for?

glad i'm not the only one

hope it's not too bad James

James Buchan · « **Reply #21 on:** June 04, 2007, 05:32:56 PM »

No Acronym there... name brand of one of the best wastegates on the market:

Billyisgr8 · « **Reply #22 on:** June 04, 2007, 06:36:51 PM »

Here is something for you. My air pressure pod on my sander which works on 100psi of air and looks the same as your wastegate developed a crack on the rubber diaphram inside, I had to order a new diaphram that was going to take 3 days to get to my door, so in the mean time we needed to use our sander and all I could think of for a quick fix was to stretch a blue colored nitrile glove over the cracked diaphram and hope it would get us through ........It has been in there for over 6 months now and going strong. I'm not going to replace it with my new diaphram until it breaks.....

Thought I would say this cause I have read the older turbonetics wastegates have developed cracks in there diaphrams, this could save you in a pinch, and works at 100 psi with a 1/2\" of travel.

Kevin

josh · « **Reply #23 on:** June 04, 2007, 08:23:03 PM »

shit that sucks man, hope it's just the gear, i'll keep some fingies crossed for ya

James Buchan · « **Reply #24 on:** June 04, 2007, 08:38:44 PM »

engine is now out - going to tear it down tmrw and find the rest of the thing that made all the bits in my sump

Shane · « **Reply #25 on:** June 05, 2007, 07:59:49 PM »

and........
Guess you now know what its like to be turbo...

James Buchan · « **Reply #26 on:** June 05, 2007, 09:25:39 PM »

wasn't the turbo's fault - it was a crappy ass cam gear that was to blame!!!

I was lucky on this one - the case took some hits but nothing major PLUS I found something before it becamed a problem - on of my rod bearings was a bit scored and sticky... a quick polish of the crank and she'll be good as new

Billyisgr8 · « **Reply #27 on:** June 05, 2007, 10:09:12 PM »

Yup that is that kind of cam gear...Is that 6 rib going into your car? Is it for sale? Hope you get it all back together soon so yo can see what the new engine can do....and test out the wide band. So when I get my car done, can I hire you out to be a passenger and tune my carb the next time I bring it down?

Is that really stock vw bolts hanging on the rods? What kind of rpms were you turning? If they were, well then that puts that theory out the window of needing ARP's on high reving engines with a 69 stroke. I was paranoid of reving mine past 6400 rpm.

Kevin

James Buchan · « **Reply #28 on:** June 06, 2007, 07:13:29 AM »

yup stock rods/bolt and when the engine was N/A she saw 7500 a number of times before I found the sweet spot at 6600. Those rods won't be going back in this time around...

6 rib?!?!?! what 6 rib..... B)

egspot · « **Reply #29 on:** June 06, 2007, 07:39:35 AM »

Quote

wasn't the turbo's fault - it was a crappy ass cam gear that was to blame!!!

What would cause that cam gear to break up like that?

Author Topic: Pop Goes The Engine... (Read 5321 times)

Billyisgr8

Billyisgr8

Billyisgr8

Matt

Russ

Billyisgr8

Billyisgr8