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What would cause this much damage?

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Old May 6, 2014 | 10:15 AM
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Default What would cause this much damage?

2001 LS1 forged rod/piston, studded 241 heads, 11lbs D1 procharger, approximately 5k miles since rebuild. Looking for any likely scenarios that could possibly cause this.





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Old May 6, 2014 | 11:21 AM
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Damn, that block almost split in two!

What does the thrust bearing look like?
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Old May 6, 2014 | 11:53 AM
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Looks like crank walk to me, but ive never heard of that with an LS1. Something wasnt right with the rebuild....was the rotating assembly balanced?
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Old May 6, 2014 | 12:19 PM
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What do the rods look like?
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Old May 6, 2014 | 02:34 PM
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All the bearings were either spun or gaulded like it got pretty hot. Yes the assembly was balanced. Could the torque converter have balooned?
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Old May 6, 2014 | 02:36 PM
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I also thought it could have been an issue with the rebuild but after 5k miles?
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Old May 6, 2014 | 02:50 PM
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Id like to see the thrust bearing, I would think that is the culprit.
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Old May 6, 2014 | 02:56 PM
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Maybe so but why is the big question. Long story short I was overseas, trying to sell the car, let a buddy drive it to a few people to look at and came home to this mess. Of course he claims it ran fine before he parked it.

Last edited by blake2kz71; May 9, 2014 at 06:28 AM.
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Old May 6, 2014 | 03:17 PM
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Holly crap man! That thing is split all the way up to the cam. Did it even have a thrust bearing installed? Sorry for your troubles.
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Old May 6, 2014 | 03:43 PM
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Bad rebuild
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Old May 7, 2014 | 07:06 AM
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Youch!

Looks like the crank had some severe fore/aft movement.

Assuming the engine ran fine for the 5,000 miles, and the fact that you were running 11 pounds of boost, I'd say the build was good but there was some extreme abuse of the engine.

Originally Posted by blake2kz71
...let a buddy drive it to a few people to look at and came home to this mess. Of course he claims it ran fine before he parked it.
Without a doubt, this is the cause of your busted engine.
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Old May 7, 2014 | 08:40 AM
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Originally Posted by blake2kz71
All the bearings were either spun or gaulded like it got pretty hot. Yes the assembly was balanced. Could the torque converter have balooned?
No oil or no oil pressure. You can tell how hot it got, because the steel caps are blued.
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Old May 7, 2014 | 09:23 AM
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Good catch there, I didn't see it. Can't say I've ever seen main caps blued like that from heat. Some good friend, eh? It's one thing to beat an engine like that but way worse when he says ''it was fine when I parked it''.

OP, I'm curious, what was the oil's condition when you opened this up?
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Old May 7, 2014 | 09:46 AM
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The thrust bearing completely went out it looks like as you just can't have the counterweights hitting the main webbing any other way. The cracked block is also pretty weird. Who built this? An abusive driver can't really make something like this happen in general it had something wrong that ate the thrust bearing away completely. Must have had a trans or converter issue forcing the crank forward like people are saying. Could have been installation errors with the transmission side of things or something weird with the thrust bearing too.

FWIW I have seen that happen three times and of the people all three had had converter issues and one had an engine assembly issue too.
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Old May 7, 2014 | 12:59 PM
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We have seen stuff like this before. Most of the time it is transmission related. It looks like something from the back side of the crank was pushing the crank forward. I am with the other people saying its tq converter related.
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Old May 7, 2014 | 05:46 PM
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I'd agree with all that^.

But that engine certainly made a lot of noise and smoke (from the oil burning on them mains) for the "friend" driving it to not at least know something was amiss.
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Old May 7, 2014 | 06:22 PM
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Yeah, I would think the counterweights rubbing the main caps would make a ton of noise.
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Old May 7, 2014 | 07:19 PM
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so this is an auto trans car? In a manual this is easy to cause by putting in the wrong pilot bearing....
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Old May 7, 2014 | 08:31 PM
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Any telltale signs on previous oil changes. The thrust wouldn't fail in one fell swoop.

I'd be more inclined to think it lost oil pressure and was continued to be driven like that.

BTW, you can see the thrust bearing. It's in the middle of the crank, not on the rear main.

Got more pics?
Ron

Last edited by RonSSNova; May 7, 2014 at 08:40 PM.
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Old May 7, 2014 | 10:45 PM
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Only one thing killed this engine..EXTREME ABUSE CAUSING THE TQ to balloon and fail.


Almost reminds me of the time I took my car to the trans shop and when I went to pick it up number 7 piston was in the exhaust.........BUT NO BODY KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT IT...........
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