Blown engine tear down - Pentastar 3.6L that bought the farm

[Sandevino]

Interesting video to see what a completely trashed pentastar looks like inside.

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[legacy_etu]

Just a few extra parts in that pan!! Holy shiiit

 

[Sandevino]

Just a few extra parts in that pan!! Holy shiiit

Sounds like a cash register....LOL

 

[BourbonRunner]

In all of that carnage, the head and valves looked... okayish.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Pentastar tear down

Interesting video to see what a completely trashed pentastar looks like inside.

Yeah, pretty rare you ever get to see such a thing.

In all of that carnage, the head and valves looked... okayish.

I've worked on totally trashed engines where the bottom end was mush, busted block and busted crank, and put the heads over on a shortblock (after a thorough cleaning and inspection, of course)

I know of an older couple who drove their car with an I6 back from CA to IA and in NE, they felt a lurch, a funny feeling and sound, and the engine just didn't have the pep it used to have. Brought it into the shop where I worked to have it checked out. As I was prepping to check out why the misfire, I noticed oil running down the side of the block from about halfway down and a funny bulge in the side of the block.
Tossed #3 rod and kept on driving. Rod end split the side of the block. 5 cylinders, losing oil out the crack, a bit low on power, didn't run as smooth as it used to, but they drove it hundreds of miles to get home.
Amazing the stuff that can happen.

 

[Minty JL]

Yeah, pretty rare you ever get to see such a thing.



I've worked on totally trashed engines where the bottom end was mush, busted block and busted crank, and put the heads over on a shortblock (after a thorough cleaning and inspection, of course)

I know of an older couple who drove their car with an I6 back from CA to IA and in NE, they felt a lurch, a funny feeling and sound, and the engine just didn't have the pep it used to have. Brought it into the shop where I worked to have it checked out. As I was prepping to check out why the misfire, I noticed oil running down the side of the block from about halfway down and a funny bulge in the side of the block.
Tossed #3 rod and kept on driving. Rod end split the side of the block. 5 cylinders, losing oil out the crack, a bit low on power, didn't run as smooth as it used to, but they drove it hundreds of miles to get home.
Amazing the stuff that can happen.

They don't build them like that anymore.........beat you to it Bill LOL

 

[ChrisNLA]

Yeah, pretty rare you ever get to see such a thing.



I've worked on totally trashed engines where the bottom end was mush, busted block and busted crank, and put the heads over on a shortblock (after a thorough cleaning and inspection, of course)

I know of an older couple who drove their car with an I6 back from CA to IA and in NE, they felt a lurch, a funny feeling and sound, and the engine just didn't have the pep it used to have. Brought it into the shop where I worked to have it checked out. As I was prepping to check out why the misfire, I noticed oil running down the side of the block from about halfway down and a funny bulge in the side of the block.
Tossed #3 rod and kept on driving. Rod end split the side of the block. 5 cylinders, losing oil out the crack, a bit low on power, didn't run as smooth as it used to, but they drove it hundreds of miles to get home.
Amazing the stuff that can happen.

Reminds me of a video I once saw - a semi truck chucked a rod and windowed the block but it was still running. Rod slapping around and all.

Further reminds me of a different instance - a semi truck standing mile competition I watched on YouTube. Daily working trucks, some making well north of 1,500 HP. One of them tossed a rod and it knocked the starter smooth out of the truck. Fella gets it pulled back to the pits and is like 'Well we still gotta work on Monday so we just gonna get it home and we'll have a spare block in it by the end of the weekend...'

Keep in mine some of these trucks (18,000 pound, full kit sleeper trucks) were probably pushing 120-130 MPH on the top side. That had to be a hell of a ride.

That's serious hot rodding there

 

[Sandevino]

Reminds me of a video I once saw - a semi truck chucked a rod and windowed the block but it was still running. Rod slapping around and all.

Further reminds me of a different instance - a semi truck standing mile competition I watched on YouTube. Daily working trucks, some making well north of 1,500 HP. One of them tossed a rod and it knocked the starter smooth out of the truck. Fella gets it pulled back to the pits and is like 'Well we still gotta work on Monday so we just gonna get it home and we'll have a spare block in it by the end of the weekend...'

Keep in mine some of these trucks (18,000 pound, full kit sleeper trucks) were probably pushing 120-130 MPH on the top side. That had to be a hell of a ride.

That's serious hot rodding there

When Gliders were popular (legal) guys would have two or three engines on standby should the existing engine give it up.

The strangest call I got was a guy in the middle of nowhere that lost his engine. The call was to pick up the block at his shop, bring it to where he was (800 miles away) and field swap the blocks. If he moved an inch, USDOT would pull his permit for the glider as it didn't move under its own power.

The bill - $24k - he happily paid it as the cost to replace the truck would have easily been 5 times that.

 

[Rusty PW]

Years old. Had a old guy come in for a tune up in his straight 6 Ford Falcon. Did the usual plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, cap, rotor, pcv, set timing, adjust carb. Still didn't feel right. Did a compression test. #5 cylinder was zero. Pulled the head. #5 was sitting at TDC, with another piston. Turn the engine over by hand. #5 didn't move. Everything looked fine on top. Drop the oil pan. Turn the engine over by hand. Couldn't see anything broken. Decided to unbolt the rod from the crank and push the rod and piston up. Found that the piston broke right at the top ring. Didn't hurt anything. Ended up putting a new piston and rings in. That's it. The car ran like a champ after that.

 

[ChrisNLA]

When Gliders were popular (legal) guys would have two or three engines on standby should the existing engine give it up.

The strangest call I got was a guy in the middle of nowhere that lost his engine. The call was to pick up the block at his shop, bring it to where he was (800 miles away) and field swap the blocks. If he moved an inch, USDOT would pull his permit for the glider as it didn't move under its own power.

The bill - $24k - he happily paid it as the cost to replace the truck would have easily been 5 times that.

It's a shame gliders went away. My ex girlfriend - her dad was a truck driver and his company rig was a brand Fitzgerald Glider (389) with a 60 Series Detroit. Said it was the best truck he ever had. New comfort with an engine that cost pennies on the dollar to repair (I think the D60 is/was cheaper than an N14 or a 6NZ...)

A fella I knew is a driver and had a mid 90's 379 he started out with. Had a CAT engine. The engine started running pretty rough in Missouri and so he had to get it brought home to Louisiana and borrow another truck to finish his trip. Long story short they found it still (sort of) ran with a crankshaft that was split in half at one of the main journals. They rebuilt it and eventually used that truck to haul home his 'new' truck (an '05 379) from Florida.

Now if you buy a used glider they cost big money.

Anyway. My big truck nerd is showing

 

[Charles 236]

Years old. Had a old guy come in for a tune up in his straight 6 Ford Falcon. Did the usual plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, cap, rotor, pcv, set timing, adjust carb. Still didn't feel right. Did a compression test. #5 cylinder was zero. Pulled the head. #5 was sitting at TDC, with another piston. Turn the engine over by hand. #5 didn't move. Everything looked fine on top. Drop the oil pan. Turn the engine over by hand. Couldn't see anything broken. Decided to unbolt the rod from the crank and push the rod and piston up. Found that the piston broke right at the top ring. Didn't hurt anything. Ended up putting a new piston and rings in. That's it. The car ran like a champ after that.

Sounds familiar. Many years ago my brother had a Pontiac Trans Am. He drove it pretty hard, and I was usually around to fix whatever he broke. One day he complained about a "strange, odd knocking sound". I listened to it and had him drive it to my shop. I determined which cylinder was the problem and pulled the head. Sure enough, same thing you found, except the piston broke at the oil ring land. The piston skirt still rode up and down in the cylinder, tapping the piston crown when it was bumped down a little by the valves opening. He decided to buy another 400 since that one had been beaten on so many times. After the transplant, he went on hotrodding the Pontiac. I stuck with my Mopars.

 

[Cburd61]

Yeah, my daughter called me one night, saying her Crown Vic was making noise, and the check engine light was on. She said it was driving fine, just sounded funny. She drove it about 60 miles home, and this is what I found in the morning……..

 

[Rusty PW]

Sounds familiar. Many years ago my brother had a Pontiac Trans Am. He drove it pretty hard, and I was usually around to fix whatever he broke. One day he complained about a "strange, odd knocking sound". I listened to it and had him drive it to my shop. I determined which cylinder was the problem and pulled the head. Sure enough, same thing you found, except the piston broke at the oil ring land. The piston skirt still rode up and down in the cylinder, tapping the piston crown when it was bumped doy a little by the valves opening. He decided to buy another 400 since that one had been beaten on so many times. After the transplant, he went on hotrodding the Pontiac. I stuck with my Mopars.

I had 2, '78 TransAms. Loved those cars. But......big block Indian motors don't like to spin at 6,000 rpm. Went through 3 of them before installing a big block Chevy motor in to it.

Had a 572 ci big block Mopar stuffed into a Dart.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I never did find the other piece but there were some odd marks on number 2 piston across the valley. I figure it got crushed into small pieces and blown out the exhaust.
It's what happened with a weak piston design and a bit of detonation.
It was a 1 year only block design so had to be saved.

Sleeves - .040" over, and a set of hyper tight quench pistons with a thicker head area resolved the issue.

 

[Gren71]

Very cool video

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