I Blew up my Engine, please help!!!

[mlambrecht82]

I was driving down a country road steping into the boost and I heard a loud bang and the vaccum gauge went going back and forth between -10 and -5 psi. There is usually over 20 lbs of vaccum pressure. I pulled over to the side of the road and turned my car off. I looked under the hood and couldn't see anything wrong with it. I tried to start it again and I heard a knocking from the right back passenger side of the engine. The Boost gauge did the same thing as before and the car wouldn't start. So I called a tow truck and while I was waiting I thought I would try it again. This time it started up and was makeing 20lbs of vaccum pressure for a couple seconds then started knocking again and the gauge danced back and forth then I killed it right away. I'm hoping that it is a head gasket or something to do with the valvetrain, so I can just fix it myself. But I'm afraid that I blew a piston or bent a rod or something. The big problem is that I live in California and I will be starting school next week in wyoming. So I need to get the car fixed in a week. I don't know of any shops that will rip a motor out and rebuild it in a week. If you guys know what could be wrong please let me know, I really need to get this fixed. Thanks a lot for your help.

[The Deuce]

Are you going to be living within walking distance of school?

To get a motor built that fast is going to have 1 of 2 results.

1. Cost you out the ear over what it should.
2. Be done fast and sloppy and you'll have to do it again.

I'd start by calling the local tracks and asking for speed shops. They'll be the best bet to get a high end machine shop to take care of you. But again, its going to cost. If you can ship the car to WY, and get it fixed there, you may actually be better off.

Of course, I have zero idea what's wrong with it. I'm just thinking worst possible case.

Drain your oil, and see how that is, if you have any left. You'd notice if there was a hole in the block for sure.

[stangt00]

Sorry to hear of your problems I feel your pain. Things like this are the reason why I am waiting to pay off my car before I put a P/A on. Atleast then I am not paying a car payment for something I cant drive for 2 weeks, and have to pay for myslef. Anyways, how was the engine running? If it was idling rough, I am thinking that maybe one of your coils went bad, and you had no or intermittent spark and maybe had detonation. I say this cause 3 weeks ago my car was running like crap, and a coil pack had gone bad. Only question is, what would that do to the motor if the S/C was still forcing air into the cylinder, if that was the case. Maybe you can get a gauge from Pep Boys and check each cylinders compression so that you can rule out a compression problem one cylinder at a time. If your compression is good, then it may be electrical, fuel delivery or the S/C itself. I saw a B&M S/C from a 5.0 at the local speed shop yesterday. It was the twin screw Kenny Bell type. It got SO hot that the 2 screws fused together while the motor was running, and ripped a hole through them. Not a pretty sight. Keep us posted as to your progress. I am interested to see what it is for future reference. Good Luck!

[Badass_yellowGT]

it sounds like you had a valeve crash these are systoms of that do a compression test it will verify this theary or at least rule it out if you want a quick fix buy a new short block made for boost cost you about 3,000.00

[mlambrecht82]

Well I just finished taking the supercharger off and everything that came with it, including the 42# injectors and the colder spark plugs. When I pulled out the front passenger side spark plug I noticed that the electrode had been smashed together. I'm thinking that maybe I blew a bearing and that is making the piston go up too far and hit the spark plug. Or maybe it doesn't have anything to do with it. Thanks for all your guys' help, I'll take it to a mechanic tomarrow and have it checked out.

[mlambrecht82]

I'm sorry I haven't updated this, I doubt anyone cares anymore. But I took the car to a ford dealer, they looked at it, revved it a few times untill the ratelling stopped, and the car runs fine. I'm up in Wyoming right now, and I drive the car all over every day. I did a compression test on the engine and I had 150 psi in all the cylinders, which is pretty impressive for over 7,000 feet above sea level. I took a bore scope and looked into a couple of cylinders and noticed a lot of carbon. I think a piece got hot, broke loose and ratteled around for a while. The car runs perfect though, like new. (I haven't put the blower back on, but I am really itching to do it.) I think that I got a bad tune with the Custom Diablo chip and had a lot of carbon build up. I can't stress this enough get a good tune!!! It's worth the extra $400 or what ever you pay. I'm going to buy new pistons and rods soon, to lower my compression ratio, and crank up the boost, then I hope I won't see any problems anymore.

[stangt00]

Well, I havent posted here in a while, but I still check in from time to time. Glad it's working for ya. Just out of curiosity, and correct me if I'm wrong, you lower your compression so you can increse your boost so you dont blow up the engine Just wondering how that works. Also, I hear Steeda has one of the best tuned chips without a Dyno for superchargers. This true?

[mlambrecht82]

Yeah, when you lower the compression you are allowing for more boost. The boost is more efficent than the piston having to suck the air in. There is a formula for figuring the actual compression of an engine with boost, for example, say I'm 9:1 stock and running 12 lbs of boost, my actual compression may be somewhere around 18:1, but my car would run better than a car that actually has NA 18:1 compression because my blower is more efficent than a NA engine. So by lowering my compression and raising my boost my actual compression will stay near the same, but I will have better performance because it is a more efficent compression.
I would trust chips burned from Steeda or SHM more than a Diablo Sport. Because Steeda and SHM have their own line of supercharged GT Mustangs with almost the exact same set up as me, where as Diablo is more of a Generic brand that deals with all sorts of makes and models, wich makes it impossible to be as accurate as Steeda or SHM. But believe it or not, every identical car is different, and a dyno tune is the only way to be 100% sure you have the best tune.