What should I do?
How could this happen?

97SS with 8K (bought new)
1.6RRs, small cam. Heads and headers just 400 miles ago.

Never abused.

Sunday, something went wrong.

Had it towed to mech. He told me last nite that the bearings were shot.

Said he would try to get a short block and use all my stuff to rebuild.

1. Is this the way to go?

2. How could this happen?

This may not seem advanced tech, but I will have put 40+ grand in this thing and never even got a chance to take it to the track.

Please, at least give me your experience or knowledge that this is not as unusual as I believe it is.

Move this if you don't think it belongs here, but I really need advice from those who know.

Thanks

 

I think this can stay.... probably some valuable lessons for all to be learned.

Clarify... was the cam done 400 miles ago? Or just the heads and headers?

When they pulled the engine apart.... Was the oil pump drive intact? Was the oil pump intact?

Was the filter checked? Have you had an analysis done on the oil?

Was oil pressure "normal" after cam install? Any subtle changes?

Any other evidence from the teardown?

 

One thing comes to mind. When cleaning the deck surfaces before reinstalling the heads, did you/they use the little handy "3M" abrasive disks on a drill or air grinder? Those things have been know to wreak havoc on engines. If I remember correctly, GM sent out a bulletin to their techs so they wouldn't use the disks any more. They work great but the abrasives will wear out an engine in no time.

Sorry about the bad luck

 

Thanks for letting me stay. Just heads and headers done recently. Don't know what they did. The heads were done by another reputable outfit and installed by my mech.

Ran really strong, although I never got on it hard.

Just started knocking Sunday right from the start even though I put about 50 miles on it the weekend before, with no evidence of problems.

Mech. had not done pan removal or tear down when he announced the demise of my engine.

Have you ever heard of an engine going south with so few miles and no abuse? Even had full synthetics from SLP.

Thanks for any help or advice, esp. re the rebuid with a short block. I am at a complete loss re short blocks and rebuilds. Just afraid it will happen again.

 

Also, the engine came with oil cooler from SLP, if that might have anything to do with it.

Did notice small liquid stain in garage where front of engine sits. Just thought it was the usual old stains you find on parking surfaces.

I thought engine should just be broken in at 8K, not broken down.

 

So the bearings are shot, but he didn't pull the pan. My first guess would be that too, but I would pull the pan to look at the bearing to see what caused it. Knowing what you have on a bearing can be very beneficial.

Bret

 

Excellent brief tutorial on bearing failure can be found at http://www.engineparts.com/motorhead...gfailures.htm#

Of course, you do need to look at them!

Rich Krause

 

Well, I still don't know what went wrong with the car. Apparently they didn't get into it yet.

When my mech. said I would need a short block, I immediately went to the I-net and ordered one.
Lt1, 4-bolt mains, $1650.00 plus $100.00 drop shipped to my mech. Should be there tomorrow.

I informed my mech. before I ordered it. I was told to get it, because it was a good price.

I guess all I can do now is hope like hell that it wasn't the mech's fault to begin with and that the new engine goes together like it should and I live happily.....

 

Is it possible that the optional oil cooler system that SLP offered with the SS could be the culprit regarding loss of oil pressure and subsequent bearing failure?

I realize I'm grasping here, but I plan on having the Oil cooler reinstalled on my new short block, and I'd sure hate to think that it was the cooler that did the damage.

Doing research on the subject, but empty handed so far.

Thanks

 

there are lots of things that can make bearings go....a few that come to my mind are:

1)not enough oil in the engine (running it low all the time)
2)clearances are too loose/tight
3)insufficient oil pressure

hard to tell without looking into it.....just some guesses and some questions you can ask

 

Thanks. Don't know which went first, the bearing or the oil pressure.

Should have had plenty of Synthetic oil in the Crank Case. Just had the heads done about 300 miles ago.

Probably will never know what happened. Too bad, because I'd like to be able to pass some good info on to everyone else.

Hopefully with the new short block everything should work the way its supposed to and I will get a hell of a lot more thann 8K miles out of the bottom end.

If I don't, I might as well jump off cliff, before my wife pushes me.

 

a good mechanic should be able to get a really good idea what happened while he is disassembling the motor. Usually there are tell tale signs of what was going on.....just have to look for them

 

No news from mech. about picking up car yet. Still don't know what caused bearing failure.

Hope it wasn't oil cooler. Was told by SLP that I could reuse oil cooler if all cleaned up, since they are no longer available.

Also heard somewhere that the "dreaded intake manifold leak" which requires slapping on a generous portion of RTV for the fix might cause oil pick up to get fouled should excess RTV get sucked into engine???

Realizie I'm reaching, but I'm really afraid that my new Short block will go to hell early on if the initial problem isn't found. Will keep you posted.

 

Well, I guess if there is anything to be learned from this thread it is "shi. happens". Without doing an analysis of the bottom end (and sans an analysis by the mech) the catastrophe remains a mystery.

Of course, one doesn't know whether one is being purposely kept in the dark or not.

But assuming the mech's didn't do anything wrong when installing heads, etc. I will have to assume that one possiblity might be factory defect. Hard to believe that engine would last 8K though and then just go to hell.

I am not going to have the oil cooler reinstalled, since it is obviously contaminmated. Futhermore, can't find a new one.

I feel better though that it won't be the source of wrecking my new short block.

According to Mech. "No crap in pan" "no water in oil", i.e, nothing obvious. The block will not be meticuloulsly disected because that would be costly. So I guess you can put this one to bed.

Too bad that we couldn't learn something that would be helpful.

Thanks.

 

your getting screwed! why arn't you just getting new bearrings? you shouldn't need a short block!