At first It would not seem related, but could a lean Left 02 (Code 44) condition be lean enough for the engine to run lean enough to break a rod, crank or piston while crusing at 35 mph. Or does anybody have any idea if a MAP sensor too high (code 33), would have any correlation to an engine "breaking"? Not saying they do, just looking for answers.


The car is a daily driver 95 Trans Am 6 spd, and has not had this problem until last week (codes). It started running funny (power loss and barely would idle) while I was driving home , but I made it home I never saw the service engine light until I got home and let it idle to see if it would die. I guess the computer has to see a problem for a certain number of seconds to set the Light, and when i was driving, I would press the gas and breaks when I cam to a stop , so the car would not die. But when i got home , I let it idle, and the idle dropped to below about 500 , the went back up to normal 800 or 900 rpm (6spd) but would not die, and the service engine
light came on. Throttle response was bad , and power was down. The car also seemed to "cam" or lope more than normal. (The car has a cam in it already, 224/230, but as soon as the problem started, the cam became more noticeable. I doubt the cam is the problem , because it has been in the car for over 3 years. And the new engine (~352) bored 20 over) has been in the car for 11 months with no problems. I swapped the cam into the new block, about 11 months ago, with new springs, . The car also has pro magnums. The lifters are old however, over 90,000 miles on them.

I started the car a few times since last week, and drove it down the street less than 1/2 mile and put it back in the garage. The car seemed to hold the idle better, and the SES light did not come back but power and driveability was still down. This all started LAST THURSDAY.

So yesterday (tHIS THURSDAY) I got the DTC 44 and 33. They say 33 MAF/MAP sensor too high. I think this is a MAP code not MAF code. I think Injuneer fred or shoebox said that "generic" scanners would give that code.

Also DTC 44 which is Left Oxygen sensor lean.


Again, The problem started for the first time last Thursday, and I read the stored codes yesterday (Thursday) . They were Stored, and Not active, and again, the SES never came back on since last week, but the car still ran terrible. So, the day after I read those codes, which would be TODAY, Friday. I went for a drive and about 15 minutes from my house the car started running worse and worse , but I never saw the SES light , well then the car turned off while I was driving , and I felt a strange feeling . It was like vibration, and engine reving , that I felt throught the shifter, the car was in 3rd gear when it turned off. I was crusing , and it kinda felt like the car was FREE REVING before it turned of so i thought maybe it was in neutral, but it was in 3rd. No lound noise YET though. Anways I tried to start it again, and it would not start.

Before I could get out of the car to see what the problem was, I heard a LOUD POP and then smoke cam up throught the hood on the Right side. This happend while the CAR WAS OFF. I got out, and popped the hood, and off course there was alot of smoke on the right side, and oil was under the car. And the dipstick was blown a few inches out, and it was smoking from the dipstick tube also. Most of the smoke seems to be on the right side as well as the oil. There is also loud clanking noise when you try to start it, so I imagine it's probably the rod , crank, pistons, or all.

Anybody got any guess as to what the problem is.......???? detonation from being lean?, bad lifter , .... My ears(eyes) are open. From what i described, does anybody have a guess. Could the vibration from the bad stumbling be that bad or could the car be that lean at 35 mph crusing to detonate that bad???????? Any guess?

 

Damn dude, you had a rough couple of days. I dont see how the two codes coralate with the your motor throwing a rod?. Only way to actually find out what happend is to go through the block and see what happened.

 

DTC
No , I'm not saying what happened correlates to the engine breaking , I am just askin for suggestions as to whether or not the conditions that caused the codes could have led to something like this.


I have been around cars for years (the last 13 or so) and I have seen post, where people ask people ask strange questions , so I know it seems strange to to ask if the given conditions could lead to engine damage, but I was just looking for suggestions or seeing if anyone had previous experiences, because of the fact that it just seems too strange that I have never had this kind of driveability problem until last week, and then the engine goes. I know sometimes things just happen, but again , I was just looking for some answers , or opinions, but NOT saying that the codes are related.

To me It would seem strange that they could be, but who knows what conditions were going on to set the codes, and I did not have a scanner, just a code reader. It's just that when something happens together like this you wonder. I have had the car for around 6 years, and have never had a service engine light except for once years ago when the valves were to tight when we put the cam in. We set the valves, and it went off. That was the only code in 6 plus years. I doubt the engine was THAT lean to where it could detonate hard enough to break something in the bottom end at part throttle cruise at about 35 mph. (If it was lean at all, because I THINK a rich conditon might also read lean because the O2's read all the unburned oxygen.)

So when it started running funny this time and the engine goes soon after , I wonder is it just a coincidence or something related.