3.3TT So, I broke my engine

[STINGER]

Thanks.
I just want to show what happened to my car, not talk about warranty stuff (different country, it wouldn't even matter).
This engine is not immune to failures, and some people have run and will run into trouble. Often people don't openly tell their stories, they are mostly shared in private. I myself heard many cases of people breaking their engine and even if I think they should not hide it, I don't have the right to expose them or talk about their cars in their back. However since here it is my own car, I just wanted to tell what happened, instead of becoming quiet and suddenly parting out, like some.

The question is, what changes to your setup will you make going forward?

 

[Aquineas]

The question is, what changes to your setup will you make going forward?

I got the impression from an earlier post that he was undecided if he was going to keep the car.

 

[Flameangel]

It happened three weeks ago.

I wanted to get some data before installing my new intercooler and do a before/after, but that night during the second test pull, I suddenly had a throttle closure on the shift followed by a CEL and protection mode. While slowing down engine felt super weird, a lot of vibrations and very unusual exhaust noises. I thought restarting the engine would do the trick but it did not. The car was undriveable so I had to tow it home.

Looking at the JB4 log, just before being thrown to map0, boost spiked abnormally high, ECU pulled timings and AFR skyrocketed lean (over 18:1) in one bank. For the record, I was using the same settings I was always using without any trouble so far, just the weather was a bit cooler, if any difference.

After inspection of the engine, I've blown a spark plug tip and an exhaust valve, causing irreversible damage to the cylinder.

The failure scenario would be either a strong knock event or too high EGTs, but these are just assumptions.

Here is what the log looked like:

View attachment 51835

I had to replace the engine and now all seem good (still in break in period).

Just sharing my unfortunate experience.

Sorry to hear what happened, were your spark plugs stock ?

 

[xot1]

Apparenly there is a guy who thought it would be a good idea to post about my car on Facebook. The reason why I posted here and not on FB is because I didn't want to. If someone has something to say, they can come and discuss it here.
I find it completely wrong to have someone else start a discussion about my car without my consent.(a friend told me about it)
It makes me want to just delete this thread.

 

[Flameangel]

Apparenly there is a m**** who thought it would be a good idea to post about my car on Facebook. The reason why I posted here and not on FB is because I didn't want to. If someone has something to say, they can come and discuss it here.
I find it completely wrong to have someone else start a discussion about my car without my consent.(a friend told me about it)
It makes me want to just delete this thread.

I apologise, I thought it would be ok for others that are modding to hear what happened . Yes I should have asked you first , I will take the posts down .

 

[Slow jams]

So do you feel it was the mods or the tune?

 

[xot1]

I apologise, I thought it would be ok for others that are modding to hear what happened . Yes I should have asked you first , I will take the posts down .

Thanks. I don't mind discussing the matter, but I prefer that it stays here. I don't want to be answering questions here and there.

 

[xot1]

So do you feel it was the mods or the tune?

I think it is a mix of :
- Weather change
- Aggressive tune (custom)
- 100% meth mixture
- Maybe a weak plug
- Maybe bad fuel (quite unlikely but not impossible)

 

[Flameangel]

Thanks. I don't mind discussing the matter, but I prefer that it stays here. I don't want to be answering questions here and there.

I understand, it was my mistake, your experience wasn't mine to share, I won't be making the same mistake again.

 

[xot1]

I understand, it was my mistake, your experience wasn't mine to share, I won't be making he same mistake again.

Its ok no hard feelings. I also apologize for being a bit harsh in my reaction.

 

[Flameangel]

Its ok no hard feelings. I also apologize for being a bit harsh in my reaction.

No, you had every right to be, I'd probably be slightly pissed off too

 

[Oryan]

The mention of other failures has me curious. No need to delve into who or any specifics.. but since you guys are overall pushing the platform more than we are here at this point...are there any common modes of failure you're seeing? Any trends we ought to be aware of? This engine has limits and it may be good to know if you're seeing what may end up being a sign of one.

 

[Sanjay R]

So I read through most of this and honestly I think the spark plugs is a complete non issue, the broken tip is a direct result of going lean, as is all the damage.

What you should be asking yourself is why you leaned out. Have you looked at your fuel pressure logs during the pull?

Also I disagree with some that said you have to pour massive amounts of meth in to alter afrs. I used to run windshield washer fluid ( about 10% meth) back in the day on my 240sx and would go from 11.5 afr to 11.....granted nozzle size and volumetric efficiency comes into play there. Now here's where safety with wmi can be an issue. You will naturally take out fuel from your tune to compensate for the richness of the added meth....however if you get a clogged nozzle or failure to spray guess what....you're going to go lean because of the fuel you removed....possibly dangerously lean esp with you running 100% meth....which in itself is a bit dangerous on a street driven car since the #1 reason not to run more than 50/50 water and meth is because the mixture becomes flammable.

Also just because the log shows that the signal was sent to the pump to spray, how do you really know that it actually sprayed?

Just my 2 cents

 

[STINGER]

So I read through most of this and honestly I think the spark plugs is a complete non issue, the broken tip is a direct result of going lean, as is all the damage.

What you should be asking yourself is why you leaned out. Have you looked at your fuel pressure logs during the pull?

Also I disagree with some that said you have to pour massive amounts of meth in to alter afrs. I used to run windshield washer fluid ( about 10% meth) back in the day on my 240sx and would go from 11.5 afr to 11.....granted nozzle size and volumetric efficiency comes into play there. Now here's where safety with wmi can be an issue. You will naturally take out fuel from your tune to compensate for the richness of the added meth....however if you get a clogged nozzle or failure to spray guess what....you're going to go lean because of the fuel you removed....possibly dangerously lean esp with you running 100% meth....which in itself is a bit dangerous on a street driven car since the #1 reason not to run more than 50/50 water and meth is because the mixture becomes flammable.

Also just because the log shows that the signal was sent to the pump to spray, how do you really know that it actually sprayed?

Just my 2 cents

A few things to note, it takes less water than meth to make a change in AFR cause meth burns and water evaporates. Also, to clarify and add to what I was saying, when running pure meth you will need to add a lot of meth to reach a point were the ECU will not be able to compensate to manage the AFR and keep it on target. In his case the AFR was fine, I would draw it down to either sudden loss of meth (clogging, line air etc etc) which resulted in a quick lean scenario or just too much being burned down their and on the limit of things for a long time which resulted in failure.

 

[cncBilly]

Apparenly there is a guy who thought it would be a good idea to post about my car on Facebook. The reason why I posted here and not on FB is because I didn't want to. If someone has something to say, they can come and discuss it here.
I find it completely wrong to have someone else start a discussion about my car without my consent.(a friend told me about it)
It makes me want to just delete this thread.

Some people’s thought process just lacks simple common sense. Daft f*ck I’d say. Hope we don’t loss the tread because of one idiot.

 

[ecko04]

Some people’s thought process just lacks simple common sense. Daft f*ck I’d say. Hope we don’t loss the tread because of one idiot.

This was a bit uncalled for since they’ve already cleared the air (e.g., apologies, removing the FB post, etc.) in prior posts.

 

[cncBilly]

This was a bit uncalled for since they’ve already cleared the air (e.g., apologies, removing the FB post, etc.) in prior posts.

Nonetheless the deed was done and stupid is stupid. Coddling it won’t help. It will however enable it. You have heard “you can’t fix stupid” right. They would likely have a vaccine by now if you could. Maybe history will be wrong and we have an exception here. I will leave it to you to hold your breath. But please don’t. HND

 

[ecko04]

Nonetheless the deed was done and stupid is stupid. Coddling it won’t help. It will however enable it. You have heard “you can’t fix stupid” right. They would likely have a vaccine by now if you could. Maybe history will be wrong and we have an exception here. I will leave it to you to hold your breath. But please don’t. HND

Because name-calling is the solution? That always works, right?

It’s one thing to call an action idiotic, which the action was; it’s something altogether different to label a person based on one unwise move. Let alone an activity that the person has learned from and corrected and that the primary person who should be most offended has let slide.

It’s not coddling. It’s being an adult and understanding that we’re trying to build a sense of community here. That also means cutting people some slack and holding the line on disparaging behavior such as unnecessary name-calling.

 

[xot1]

Lets not go off topic guys. All is good.

 

[Slow jams]

Lets not go off topic guys. All is good.

Sorry to hear...So I’m looking at my basic upgrades cold air intake ram air ducts catback exhaust And intercooler with no tune or meth should be fine. I’m thinking the meth and tune was more at fault. I keep on hearing from so many people the stingers are learning vehicle after driving it for a few hours it compensates...So just by adding a cold air intake in the past the vehicle would run lean My mechanic told me. Newer vehicles don’t have that problem alsNewer vehicles don’t have that problem. He said he likes the Kia Ecu Because after a certain amount of miles you can see if there’s an issue it tries to correct itself. Also my mechanic stated if you get new spark plugs And one is not torqued properly that one spark plug could Cause a serious misfire which is what I think you have maybe