Connecting rod through the oil pan

[finnstanger]

Last day of driving season before winter break: On way back from grocery I heard one big bang and the engine stopped there. Oil and coolant spread on the road. I got towed home and disassembled the engine next day.
Huge hole in the pan and piston no.6 was not following crankshaft.
Bulletproof six banger died with one shot without any warning at speed of 30 mph. Well at least I have something to do during the long and cold winter nights...

 

[PutPut6]

That sucks, I kinda had the same thing happen to me. Out of nowhere, BANG. Open up the engine and I find this

 

[DaGr8Tim]

That sucks, I kinda had the same thing happen to me. Out of nowhere, BANG. Open up the engine and I find this

Looks like you ended up with a very expensive ashtray.

That just sucks, both of you guys.

 

[PutPut6]

Actually the engine block has been real useful as a anvil, and I used the old head to cut up and experiment on and practice welding cast iron. Wasn't cheap replacing it though :roll: Enough hijacking

 

[Anonymous]

OMG thats a broken piston.,..

wish detroit was that broken last payoffs....

 

[hasa68mustang]

I for some reason can see that happening to me... I hope you get it all fixed and working better than ever!

 

[JackFish]

I for some reason can see that happening to me...

Yah, well did you get those valve spring retainers from Mike?

 

[Anonymous]

Apparently.......

You guys need to turbo charge your engines to 20 psi so the pistons won't break on you

I am surprised mine did not!


.

 

[simon]

Bulletproof six banger died with one shot without any warning at speed of 30 mph.

I bet it got nothing to do with the "bulletproof" bottom end at all.

rods breaking free from pistons at moderate RPM without any obvious reason usually comes from jammed pistons (didn´t we all just guessed it), either by broken top rings, broken ring land, lack of lubrication between piston and cylinder walls due to incorrect piston-to bore clearance, excessive wear or improper overhaul, eventually leading to piston slap. The rod, being far superior in strentgh and forced by the ever rotating crank, just rips out of the piston by all means.

I have seen this happening before on American motors rebuilt by European builders who don´t know how to convert SAE to metric numbers and not paying attention the clearances.

Does your engine show any signs of a previous rebuild?

 

[PutPut6]

Does your engine show any signs of a previous rebuild?

I know after I tore my engine down, there were several signs that someone had half-@$$ cobbled this engine together. I think this says it all. Every piston was like this :roll:

 

[finnstanger]

....I have seen this happening before on American motors rebuilt by European builders who don´t know how to convert SAE to metric numbers and not paying attention the clearances.

Does your engine show any signs of a previous rebuild?

Well, lack of knowledge about clearances and such has nothing to do with American or European builders. Anyone can do mistakes. If one can't convert SAE/metric, he is out of business soon...

My engine was rebuilt 20 yrs ago. It has been running >100K mls ever since without problems. Oil change regurlaly, good oil pressure, no
significant sholder in cylinder wall etc. I will post some pictures once the engine has been totally disassembled.

 

[Anonymous]

OMG thats a broken piston.,..

wish detroit was that broken last payoffs....

Kind of like shaqs ankle last night? Ouch

(sorry to hijack, as a Piston fan I had to respond)

 

[finnstanger]

Picture tells more than thousand words

http://photobucket.com/albums/b171/finn ... %20damage/

 

[wallaka]

Well, could've been worse. I've seen them come out of the side of the block before. That happened with a 1990 Cavalier my cousin owned. It was knocking and my dad bent over the engine to hear better. He revved it and BLAM a rod went through the block, right next to where the dipstick goes in. A couple pieces of it hit Dad in the head hard enough to start bleeding. He's lucky it didn't put an eye out. The hole in the block was bigger than a baseball, but it still ran . Poorly, yes, but it ran enough to get it on a trailer and to the shop.

 

[simon]

Picture tells more than thousand words

classical rod bolt failure, opposed to putput6´s picture showing the sad result of a revolving crank and a piston jammed at tdc.

IIRC it was Jack who compared the stock ford rod bolt´s strength to "frozen butter"...

too bad the cylinder wall got fubar´d... are you gonna have it sleeved or rather opt for a new block?

 

[MustangSix]

Does your engine show any signs of a previous rebuild?

I know after I tore my engine down, there were several signs that someone had half-@$$ cobbled this engine together. I think this says it all. Every piston was like this :roll:

Looks like galling from lack of lubrication on the hrust side. Some (but not all) rods will have an oiling hole that squirts oil at the thrust (left) side fo the cylinder wall.

 

[xctasy]

In the past, I was mistaken in thinking no Ford Sixes had it. Some may not, but all the ones I've checked have the holes drilled.


The early C1 rods found in 144/170/200's have rod splash oil holes, like the x-flow Aussie 250's and all the Pinto 2.0 rods.


You can add a drop of epoxy on the rod at the spot where the dimple should be, and drill a 1.5 mm hole and it will work fine. Yours looks like it has one or it may just be the mold raker.

 

[finnstanger]

too bad the cylinder wall got fubar´d... are you gonna have it sleeved or rather opt for a new block?

There's also a crack in outer wall of block which means that it would require too much work to rebuilt it

I already got rebuilt C8 block from 80Stang and maybe I'll get ARP rod bolts also. I wasn't prepaired to replace the whole power/driveline but this is what's gonna happen now.

 

[XFlow_Fairlane]

that was my slug in my TC that let go in 2000...had over revved/boosted a couple times the week before and had a slight knock.....was coming down a hill and downshifted at the bottom and BAM.....smoke and oil EVERYWHERE (hole in block and rod came out bottom of pan)

 

[xctasy]

He he he. Must be something about Ford guys. What sort of sick beggar enjoys showing everyone his broken con-rods.


Dough!