Engine locked up at 4500 miles

Status
Not open for further replies.

Blazer707@TBR

Master Ford Tech
Authorized Vendor
Joined
Aug 19, 2012
Messages
4,313
Location
Bay Area
A hot restart would lead me more to coolant. 16 psi trying to push coolant into a cyl after key off.
Most all the cars I've worked on over the last 15 years have been classics. Not driven much the coolant consumption is hard to see. Idk, I just don't think because it was in there possession last makes them responsible without proof.


No offense because you do have a shop and do great work from what ive seen and heard about you. But I really think you are reaching on the coolant issue.

Enough coolant in the cylinder I would imagine would be noticeable in the oil when draining if looking for it.

There is no doubt from the facts and story from the OP that the vehicle was driven to the dyno no problem, injectors swapped then vehicle locked. Ive seen people swap fuel injectors and hydrolock an engine before. Not bad enough to bend a rod and lock the motor. But its very possible.

-Thomas
 

Scuba-Matt

Boost Freak!!!!!!!!
Established Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2005
Messages
8,542
Location
South East Florida
That's pretty much what happen. Car drove fine to the shop. It was parked for a couple of days. They started it up fine drove it out of the shop drove it onto the dyno turned it off. They strapped it to the dyno and was switching out the injectors for the e85 tune. Once they finished that they try to start it up I believe it turned over twice then clunk. Would never start again.

Thats a different story then, It does sound like some leaked down into the cylinder and hydro locked the piston. The way the rod is bent looks just like one we replaced on a 5.4 that hydro locked.
 

me32

BEASTLY SHELBY GT500 TVS
Moderator
Premium Member
Joined
Sep 6, 2005
Messages
18,457
Location
CA,NorCal

Fun4me

New Member
Established Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2012
Messages
946
Location
chicago
Is ford making these rods in China? If the OP feels ok w/ the deal they are giving him, thats all that matters. But, it does seem a bit suspect. Because the car wasn't even driven.
 

awful knawful

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Jul 15, 2008
Messages
1,043
Location
Canada
what I read is
#1 car was fine
#2 changed injectors
#3 tried to start up, turned over twice, rod bent

sounds like hydro lock from fuel to me.
 

87hatchy

Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
771
Location
Earth
You need to re-read the thread. That is not what happened. Try coming up with some adult venacular of your own rather than the usual internet jargon of that a teenager on Facebook. Swing on that.

dawww look at you using big boy words, how cute. You're the main person I was talking about in my previous post by the way.... Ok so it wasn't the cam install, it was the injector install which resulted in hydrolock? Is that correct? If that's the case, who installed the injectors? The shop? If so and the injectors were not proven faulty, then shops fault due to letting fuel leak into the cylinder while swapping injectors :kaboom:
 
Last edited:

Deranged2013

New Member
Established Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Messages
631
Location
Roanoke VA
They said the pistons were dry when they did their investigations. Well, is it possible that when they tried to restart and the engine turned twice, that excess fuel on the piston was burnt, creating excess combustion? This could result in a bent rod. Set spark to fuel and it will burn till it is gone. I would expect the piston to be dry after combustion. Anyway, if the OP is satisfied with the deal he worked out with the shop, then all this speculation, including mine, is meaningless. If the OP is happy with the end results, thats all that matters. At this point, I'm very interested in hearing about how this bad a** engine turns out after the rebuild.
 
Last edited:

JerryC

New Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
652
Location
Memphis
They said the pistons were dry when they did there investigations. Well, it is possible that when they tried to restart and the engine turned twice, that excess fuel on the piston was burnt, creating excess combustion, which could result in a bent rod. Set spark to fuel and it will burn till it is gone. I would expect the piston to be dry after combustion.

Hydrolocked like that, it wouldnt burn, too high of a gas to air ratio.

Gas does evaporate and it would also leak down past the rings. How long were the plugs out before the engine was torn down?

It takes a surpsingly small amount of liquid to hydrolock a motor.
 

magyar86

MDR Performance
Established Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2012
Messages
12
Location
League City, TX
If there was no combustion event in any of the cylinders (i.e. didnt try to start) then I do not see how the starter alone could have done this. Hell I had to go buy the highest torque 16v starter on the market and run a 16v battery to starter to turn over a sbc methanol motor with 15:1 compression with a 871 blower and i know it would take far more force to bend that rod than that. I know anything can happen but i dont see the starter being able to do this. Now if there was in fact some combustion (in the other cylinders) then yes the force of the other cylinders would most def have the ability to bend the rod. If anyone has seen first hand the starter alone do this then please let us know. anyway good luck on the new build, bottom line is your gonna have a BA setup now so even if the shop flat out messed up they did you a favor...forced mod is a good mod, lol.
 

CPRsm

Active Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
4,400
Location
San Diego, Ca
No offense because you do have a shop and do great work from what ive seen and heard about you. But I really think you are reaching on the coolant issue.
-Thomas
None taken. But I try to think of everything it could be or you could over look something. If coolant never crossed my mind and I drain the pan I could miss seeing the coolant come out before the oil. I should start a thread with some of the stuff I have seen come thru here. You'll pull your hair out because it doesn't make sense. Sometimes you gotta stretch to get it figured. "It was JUST RUNNNING. WTF?!" LOL Then trying to explain to the customer he got another problem on top of what they dropped it off for, and it's expensive Fun fun :nonono:
 

Deranged2013

New Member
Established Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2012
Messages
631
Location
Roanoke VA
Hydrolocked like that, it wouldnt burn, too high of a gas to air ratio.

Gas does evaporate and it would also leak down past the rings. How long were the plugs out before the engine was torn down?

It takes a surpsingly small amount of liquid to hydrolock a motor.



I'm not an expert at all. Just stating a possibility. Could spark and excess fuel cause to much combustion and result in a bent rod? I only stated this as a possibility because no fuel was found on the pistons during the investigations. They said the pistons were dry. I'm just reaching here for an alternate cause. These rods are pretty strong and there has to be a good reason the rod bent. Even though the OP and shop have come to an agreement, we would still like to know why. I'm just reading and learning. Finding out how and why the rod got bent may save someone else from future headaches.
 

clinton2003

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Dec 3, 2012
Messages
366
Location
Colorado
They said the pistons were dry when they did there investigations. Well, it is possible that when they tried to restart and the engine turned twice, that excess fuel on the piston was burnt, creating excess combustion, which could result in a bent rod. Set spark to fuel and it will burn till it is gone. I would expect the piston to be dry after combustion. Anyway, if the OP is satisfied with the deal he worked out with the shop, then all this speculation, including mine, is meaningless. If the OP is happy with the end results, thats all that matters. At this point, I'm very interested in hearing about how this bad a** engine turns out after the rebuild.

Well Said. OP has stated he's happy so thats all that matters. And I also am interested to see the outcome of the build :rockon:
 

CPRsm

Active Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
4,400
Location
San Diego, Ca
Hell yeah they're strong enough. Got one in my garage bent in three places from my own car. Internal carb leak with an electric fuel pump. Go to start it and the sound you hear makes your stomach drop lol. See if I can find it and take a pic
 

JerryC

New Member
Established Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2011
Messages
652
Location
Memphis
If there was no combustion event in any of the cylinders (i.e. didnt try to start) then I do not see how the starter alone could have done this. Hell I had to go buy the highest torque 16v starter on the market and run a 16v battery to starter to turn over a sbc methanol motor with 15:1 compression with a 871 blower and i know it would take far more force to bend that rod than that. I know anything can happen but i dont see the starter being able to do this. Now if there was in fact some combustion (in the other cylinders) then yes the force of the other cylinders would most def have the ability to bend the rod. If anyone has seen first hand the starter alone do this then please let us know. anyway good luck on the new build, bottom line is your gonna have a BA setup now so even if the shop flat out messed up they did you a favor...forced mod is a good mod, lol.

I didnt mean to imply that none of the cylinders could have fired, sorry about that.

As for the starter bending a rod, it depends, but yes it can be done. I don't know for sure that it can be done on the 5.0 . The starter does have a lot of mechanical advantage, small number of teeth on the starter and large number of teeth on the flywheel.

With regard to your experience, there's a lot of variables. You've got static resistance by the components (add in the blower as well) CR, accessory drag, valve timing, the mechanical advantage of the starter/flywheel combination etc... . In other words, your mileage may vary :)
 

slagburn

SVT Crazy Poster
Established Member
Joined
May 20, 2011
Messages
1,952
Location
Colorado
There was a guy on another forum that hydro locked his 5.0 changing injectors. He got lucky, it only blew up the starter but I wouldn't be surprised at all if his engine has issues down the road.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread



Top