When is the last time you saw something like this??

[BMF42]

Has anyone had this happen to them? I just recently had my engine built within the last 10 months and thought that all was good. I live about 3 miles from work and when I started the car at work to come home it sounded a little weird, but nothing too bad. Well about half way home the car lost power and I knew something bad had happened. I opened the hood when I pulled over and this is what I saw.

Didn't look bad at first.

Then I saw this and I was shocked to say the least.

 

[Brutal DSG]

Post this in the terminator section. I just did a engine install for a customer and his fresh built motor snapped a secondary chain on the dyno on the 5th pull

 

[MassDSGsvt]

Wow man that sucks. Sorry to hear that.

 

[99COBRA2881]

The last time I saw it was Saturday June 30, 2012.

My issues turned out to be many. The driver side exhaust cam bolt backed out, broke off in the cam, ate the camshaft position sensor and then finally exited the valve cover in a big hurry. While tearing it down I found that the driver side secondary chain had broken and the exhaust cam sprocket had cracked into 3 pieces. I also found that the pass side primary chain tensioner dowel had snapped off and left the guide hanging there held in place by luck.

Ive since installed heavier dowels in my block.
follow the link to see what Im talking about, turns out this is an issue on a lot of built aluminum block mod motors.
Think I possibly found my motor issues

Thinking my issues were major, I pulled both heads off to inspect. Not a single valve touched in the entire engine.

I decided to remove the roller followers to inspect the camshafts and found that the pass side exhaust cam front journal had started to gall. I tried to fix the journal, took it to my engine builder and they couldnt fix it either. The head has been sent off to be repaired.

So thats the short and nasty of my engine failure. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Ive contacted a lot of folks after my engine failed trying to learn what went wrong and how I can avoid more broke 4v blues.

 

[01yellercobra]

Did you guys use stock replacement bolts or ARPs?

 

[99COBRA2881]

The bolts were the 10mm ford cam bolts, I have ARP 10mm cam bolts sitting in the garage. I will use loctite this time.

To credit the Ford 10mm bolt it didnt break until it backed out and hit the valve cover. Still though the max torque on a 10mm bolt is only about 56 ft lbs.

The cure for broken cam bolts is to take the cams to a machine shop and have them install 1/2" studs in the snout of the camshafts. Then a 12 point nut is used for securing the sprockets to the cams.
RoushYates did this on their Daytona Prototype 5.0l engines.

Ive thought about doing this but have been trying to get it back together for the last race of the season here in two weeks.

 

[na svt]

Post this in the terminator section. I just did a engine install for a customer and his fresh built motor snapped a secondary chain on the dyno on the 5th pull

This issue isn't "terminator" specific by any stretch and could have been caused by a broekn bolt or a broken primary and secondary chain. Oh, and there is a chance that a primary tensioner failed and caused the primary chain to slip which resulted in PTV and the resulting damage.

 

[99COBRA2881]

I ordered the Accufab reverse tensioner, it comes with a pair of heavier secondary chains. Accufab also offers heavier primary chains.

Theyll probably break too but nothing like throwing money at a problem right?

 

[BMF42]

This issue isn't "terminator" specific by any stretch and could have been caused by a broekn bolt or a broken primary and secondary chain. Oh, and there is a chance that a primary tensioner failed and caused the primary chain to slip which resulted in PTV and the resulting damage.

Not for NA but for the original comment . The reason I posted it here was because it's a 99 with an eaton blower.

Nothing like spending a lot of money then having to turn the car back in for this.

 

[shurur]

This raises questions for me.

Q: When someone degrees/replaces the cams (with timing cover off)..what should be replaced/checked?

I see that this happened on a built engine...

I know there is probably a thread on this..somewhere..

It makes me think that when I degree my cams "someday" I should just shotgun the entire "supporting cast" of component$$$.

 

[na svt]

This raises questions for me.

Q: When someone degrees/replaces the cams (with timing cover off)..what should be replaced/checked?

I see that this happened on a built engine...

I know there is probably a thread on this..somewhere..

It makes me think that when I degree my cams "someday" I should just shotgun the entire "supporting cast" of component$$$.

10mm cam bolts break far more often than the 12mm bolts used in earlier (93-01) 4Vs. Stock longblocks rarely experience broken bolts as this issue is usually a function of reusing the bolts or over torquing; using the 12mm tq spec on the 10mm bolt.

As for what to replace when the cover is off, I always recommend swapping out the plastic secondary tensioners for the metal ones used in earlier 4Vs. The two-piece crank gears should be replaced by the one peice gear and when doing so the old cast trigger wheel also has to be replaced with the newer, more reliable stamped wheel.

When putting it all back together ensure the damper bolt is properly tq'd so that it holds the lower crank gear, trigger wheel and damper securely.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Even with every timing component new, a billet crank trigger, accusump, billet oil pump gears, I still managed to find the next weak spot in the valvetrain.

 

[cobrakidz]

Yikes--not looking good.

 

[99COBRA2881]

Im interested to know what the issue was? Have you gotten it torn apart yet?