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Hole in my engine block

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Location
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
#1
Just wow. So, where to begin. How about the recent mods i installed. Downpipe, 3" exhaust, air intake, oil catch can, bigger intercooler. Running a cobb off the shelf 93oct tune.
Drove the back roads to friends house, car feels great. Runs great. Couple days later picked them up at their house driving for the 1st time on the highway. I hear a vibration. Given the exhaust is much louder now i thought maybe i hung it wrong. Noise gets slightly more noticeable by the time we get to the super bowl party. Driving home 3 miles from my exit the noise is worse and its definitely coming from the engine bay. Mind you I'm doing 68-70 mph because i don't want to make things worse. I was thinking maybe my exhaust manifold heat shield is loose and vibrating against the metal coolant lines. Didn't want to stop but definitely should have. BANG!
Immediately pull over on the empty highway and shut the car down all within a 4 second timeframe. Towed home.
Just lifted her up today. The oil return line, above the oil pan, that mates to the engine block has blown off the block and took a jagged chunk of aluminum block with it.

So my question is what could've caused this? There is no way that crank case pressure was strong enough for that. What was the vibration/noise leading up to the bang? No check engine lights came on to warn me or indicate the bang was on it's way. I'd love to just think that this wasn't my fault and that i got a bad block from Ford.... but that seems pretty unrealistic. I don't know how yet, but it is FAR more likely to be an issue i created while modding :(

Thankfully i have an Uncle that can come fabricate a block off plate and weld it to the block. But that's only part 1 of this problem.
 


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JDG

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#2
Haven't seen that one before. What downpipe/exhaust are you running?
 


Rocketst

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#3
Whatever caused it, that outward pressure had to be intense... Is it possible you threw part of the internals through the oil line as it came out?

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OP
Fonz2613
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Location
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Thread Starter #4
Depo downpipe
MBRP Exhaust.
To be clear im not trying to fault any of the manufacturers of any mods I've done. Not yet at least.
 


OP
Fonz2613
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Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Thread Starter #5
Whatever caused it, that outward pressure had to be intense... Is it possible you threw part of the internals through the oil line as it came out?

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk
I suppose it could be possible. But our internals are running in guys cars with 400+ hp. Im putting down like 215 to the wheels at best. I understand your train of thought though.
 


JDG

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#6
Depo downpipe
MBRP Exhaust.
To be clear im not trying to fault any of the manufacturers of any mods I've done. Not yet at least.
Was more just curious. It's possible you plumbed the oil catch can incorrectly causing additional crankcase pressure. But probably unlikely.
 


OP
Fonz2613
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Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Thread Starter #7
Whatever caused it, that outward pressure had to be intense... Is it possible you threw part of the internals through the oil line as it came out?

Sent from my moto z4 using Tapatalk
Just drained the oil, even with the hole it looked to be about 3 to 3.5 qts left. Glad to see it didn't run for even a second without any oil. Ran a magnet they the drain pan looking for metallic clues, no metal to report. Not even fine shavings. I had just changed it 1 week ago.
 


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Location
Franklin, NC, USA
#8
You didnt hook catch can up wrong, or to boost did you? Or perhaps hit the return fitting with the downpipe or exhaust when installing it and crack it? Those only two scenarios I could imagine would have anything to do with the return line like that.
 


OP
Fonz2613
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Location
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Thread Starter #9
You didnt hook catch can up wrong, or to boost did you? Or perhaps hit the return fitting with the downpipe or exhaust when installing it and crack it? Those only two scenarios I could imagine would have anything to do with the return line like that.
No i don't think so. The oil catch can is very straight forward. No, the exhaust wouldn't come near it, and if i could take better pics for you guys you'd see the downpipe comes close to the end that hooks up to the turbo assembly but not the end that mates to the block.
 


OP
Fonz2613
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Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Thread Starter #10
Well i was fingering the hole in my block and felt a loose part inside. So got out the trusty magnet wand and fished it out. Ever wonder what your piston head pin looks like? (I think that's what this is...correct me if im wrong) So it was internals related. I don't understand how that could pop out and throw a rod and yet there was no metal in my drained oil. I probably won't have any more updates for it until i can pull the engine :( I'm going to try not to let this get me depressed, but this is my daily driver with less than 12k miles, and not even fully paid off. Having a bad day.
 


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JDG

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#11
Well i was fingering the hole in my block and felt a loose part inside. So got out the trusty magnet wand and fished it out. Ever wonder what your piston head pin looks like? (I think that's what this is...correct me if im wrong) So it was internals related. I don't understand how that could pop out and throw a rod and yet there was no metal in my drained oil. I probably won't have any more updates for it until i can pull the engine :( I'm going to try not to let this get me depressed, but this is my daily driver with less than 12k miles, and not even fully paid off. Having a bad day.
Yeah this makes more sense now.. Sorry to hear that. Is your oil feed to the turbo still installed? This is a weird failure given your modifications. Did you do any datalogs after installing the tune?
 


OP
Fonz2613
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Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Thread Starter #12
Yeah this makes more sense now.. Sorry to hear that. Is your oil feed to the turbo still installed? This is a weird failure given your modifications. Did you do any datalogs after installing the tune?
Yes the oil feed line is still in place and looks good at both ends from what i can tell.
No data logs, i was watching my acess port gauges in the day after the install like a hawk. I'm dumbfounded right now as to the "why" in all of this.
 


JDG

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#14
Honestly I would put it back to stock, and take it to Ford. If you had a Turbo modification or nitrous I would say that's on you, but you really didn't have any crazy modifications at all.

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Agreed. You weren't even running a custom tune either. I sort of forgot this was an option but it could potentially save you $5k. Make sure to flash back to the stock tune!
 


Rocketst

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#15
The worst Ford can say is go f yourself. Ford's scanner can read previous calibrations though. Just an fyi. Totally doesn't mean your dealership won't cover it. Plenty look the other way. Not saying yours will but it may.

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M-Sport fan

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#16
I'm going to try not to let this get me depressed, but this is my daily driver with less than 12k miles, and not even fully paid off. Having a bad day.
I can FULLY empathize with that, and it is why I am reluctant to even put a tune in this thing (let alone the BT/all out setups others MUCH wealthier than I are running) until it is completely paid off in the fall of 2022, or at least until the power train warranty is up.

I am paying 0% interest on that L-O-N-G term loan, so at least I don't have that pain to compound things.
 


HardBoiledEgg

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#17
THE FACT THAT YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO WELD THE BLOCK AND GO ON WITH YOUR DAY

I CALLED A BLOWN ENGINE BEFORE YOU DRAINED OIL. NOW THE CAUSE......THATS TOUGH

CAN I HAVE YOUR OLD ROD?
 


OP
Fonz2613
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Location
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Thread Starter #19
Pulled the plugs to look down into the hole. Im calling it cylinder 3 but i don't know the running order, is the culprit. Piston head is mangled looking. 2 and 4 look fine. Plug 3 has NO GAP like something (piston head) smacked it.
 




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