What you never want to see
 

Coming back from Catalina a few weeks ago I had a motor let go. Unfortunatly it happened at about 5pm and we were only about a mile away from the island....took us close to six hours to get back. The last three hours were at night which made it even more interesting. Bummer to say the least. So, here are some pics that you never want to see of a connecting rod. Threw the rod into the pan and made a few nice holes. The boat, hull, stringers etc are all fine, no damage at all. But the rod took out the block and lots of other stuff so a new motor is being put together now. Should be back up and running in a week or so. Sorry for the poor pic quality - Blackberry camera.

Few more :eek: Also took out the cam and the crank...Basically need a new rotating asembly. Anyone see anything strange about the rod bolts ?

Ouch! :(

Been there. It sucks. Once only the intake and carb were reusable.:mad:

Do a search on flushing your oil cooler (or not) in the General tech section.:rolleyes:

At least you are getting back up and running quicker than I ever could.:drink:


.

Damn Fords... :rolleyes::grinser010:

Yup, Everything is "custom".:drink:


.

Bummer Luke....just in time for the SCOPE poker run too.....:mad:

Ouch!!!!

Yeah- sometimes you get lucky and save the manifold ;)

One more reason why you shouldn't try to save a buck on rod bolts.

Fortunately, you only have to replace ONE rod bolt, the other looks to be in tact. IMO you may want to straighten' the one out a little in the bench-vice first, and take a thread-file to it.

:evilb: :grinser010:

Seriously though, sorry about your loss... you have my sympathy.

My current Carrillos have CARR bolts. You can reuse them after the rods are cycled out. They were spendy though.

Don't waste any time deciding on your oil cooler if you are trying to get up and running soon.

I saw that at Matt's shop. The hole in the pan was the first thing I noticed and of corse the silver paint. Good luck, Matt will have that thing working soon then you'll be spilling beers with the rest of us.

Carr's are definitely the way to go. Cheeeeeeap insurance.

OUCH! That sucks Luke! :(

yep, btdt. 5200rpm-0rpm-cylinder wall lying in the bilge in a big puddle of oil and water. My block was in 13 pieces. It fell apart when I unbolted the sheet metal parts. Snapped an ARP rod bolt clean and all hell broke loose for about 3 seconds.

3 seconds= 260 revolutions.:eek:

Mine was at over 6K and even though I thought I jerked the stick back "really really fast":rolleyes: I figured the broken rod swung around having sex with everything 300 plus times. :cool:

Of course the lake was quickly engulfed in white smoke too.

.

I've blown up 6 or 7 and never that bad, sorry to hear that Tank.

That's what happens when you pump the oil out of an engine due to a cracked oil cooler. It had absolutely nothing to due with rod bolts.

mr hp to the rescue!!!!!!!!

Look ath the color of the rod, spun bearing looks more like the problem

....sorry, didnt read the rest of the thread.

Yeah, it would seem that Dean is right (as usual ) :)
I'm having the oil cooler pressure tested so that will tell us for sure. But, not too long before the motor let go, I noticed a gasoline type film on the water where we anchored....so did someone else who was aboard. I didn't think anything of it, but apparently the oil was being pumped out the exhaust through the water system...UGH. Hey, welcome to high performance boating RIGHT?!?!?!?!

You need any help or advice , as you already know, please feel free to call anytime.

Much appreciated, Dean. :ernaehrung004:

Dean is KING!

Well I guess my string of bad luck didn't stop with one blown motor....
The second motor let go a few weeks ago. Luckily, it was not nearly as bad as the first one which totally grenaded. I caught this one pretty quick and was able to get'er shut down before any major damage could occur. Seems the #8 rod bearing (standard, not a 10 or 20) let loose. I noticed the revs on that motor drop right away, oil pressure fell off from 60 psi to 40psi and the oil temp skyrocketed.
We just got the motor torn down yesterday and noticed something very strange....Seems the first motor that blew (strbrd) had aftermarket wiseco flat top pistons. However, when we tore this motor (port) down we found some no name dome topped pistons. It was clear that the motors had both been recently rebuilt because they were bored 30 over...It's just strange that one motor had the standard flat top pistons and the other had dome tops.
The other thing that caught our attention was that the crappy stock graphite head gaskets were used on both motors. On this most recent motor (port) we noticed that the head gasket was getting ready to let go (between cylinders where it's the thinest) and showed major signs of wear and was already starting to burn....Just as a point of reference, both motors let go within 5 hrs of eachother.
Anyway.....both motors now have been upgraded to the stronger Scat H beam rods, upgraded rod bolts, new JE flat top pistons, better FelPro head gaskets and new upgraded springs. Both motors are now built to the EXACT same specs and the boat will be back in the water and ready for the Spring and Summer !!

Bad news....but at least they are both getting the same setup now and a fresh lease on life.:food-smiley-007:

Luke, sorry to hear about the motor. Glad it'll be ready for spring. Hope to see you out on the water this summer.

Thanks , Tank !! No worries man, at least I got this one shut down before it BOOM !!! Matt will have it buttoned up in no time. BTW, his work is awesome and his rigging is equally as good.

I am a huge mercury power guy because they are bullett proof. When you posted that you grenaded the first motor I figured someone had to of done something to the motors. Those type of issues sure can ruin a season.

Sorry to hear about your string of bad luck. The good thing is that at least you know what you have now.
How many hours did the motors have on them since they were rebuilt?

Motors were right at ~150hrs since last rebuild. Oil changed every 20hrs. Unacceptable in my opionion....

Glad it won't be too much longer before it's ready to go....
we're doing a lunch run next Sat, if the weather is ok, to Avalon...
SCOPE's kick-off party is March 21st....
and our Spring Fling run to Avalon is April 3-5....
Slap Matt around a little to get him going...
See you soon Luke,

T

HA !! Thanks, Tom !! I'm gonna sign up for this season now that I've got all the bugs worked out. Only took a year and a half !!!

I agree....especially when you are talking <600hp.

No kidding...I was under the impression these 500's were pretty bulletproof as long as they are not abused. Both motors letting go within 5 hours of each other is just too coincidental.