Hey guys, I bought a Z a little while ago with a procharger on it at 7psi. The car also has the procharger fuel pump and a conservative tune. I've been reading here for a while and usually I can do a search to find the info I want, however I think this time my issue is unique, so I finally registered. The supercharger has been on the car for around 10k miles and the car has 21k miles on it.

I took a friend out for a spin today on an open backroad and got on it hard in 3rd gear to redline until he yelled "COP". . I instantly got on the brakes HARD while still in gear and coasted by him at 35mph. He didn't take notice and I thought I was in the clear until the car started making a weird sound. It sounded like something was loose and tapping in the engine bay. So I go to pull over and the call stalls. I go look for a loose hose or something obvious and can't find anything. So I start the car and the motor is now making a tapping sound. Oil pressure is showing 20-30psi on the stock gauge at idle. It sounds like its running on 5 cylinders.

The dipstick shows no signs of metal, so I'm hoping I didn't spin a bearing, however there's a good possibility that may be the case...

I just wanted to see what you guys think.

Update:

I did a compression test on the motor:

cylinders 1-5 =185psi
cylinder 6 = 145psi

Also the spark plug for cylinder 6 had its side electrode smashed onto the end electrode, so it basically had 0 gap. This is why the car sounded like it was running on 5 cylinders. I started it again after gapping the plug back to .030 and it sounds much better but the tapping is still there which makes me feel like I at least bent a valve or two.



I'll get up actual pics of the plug tomorrow but so far the damage is looking like:

1-4 bent valves
1 spark plug
1 piston + piston rings for cylinder 6
1 possibly bent rod

Oil pressure was perfectly fine upon cold start up, it was 30psi+ for the 3 seconds that I let it run.

So does anyone have any ideas as to what could have happened?

 

Very hard to say bro. You could change your oil and see if there is anything in it, but even then, you might not be able to tell.

 

Engine go boom..most likely spun a rod bearing or bent a rod..How was the timing adjusted, and how often did you change or check your oil?

 

Oil is changed every 3000miles and I believe timing was not adjusted because the car was tuned using the procharger FMU.

How much am I looking at in damage if it is a spun rod bearing?

I assume I'll have to replace:

the rod
the bearing
maybe the crank

and then have everything balanced and blue printed?

 

EEEEK, say no more..Your motor is toast.

This term is widely mis understood, and mis used..Expect to spend between $4000-$12000 on a motor, depending on your needs, and goals.

 

I'm expecting the worst.

What quick things should I check first before deciding on a spun bearing?

Could it be a collapsed lifter or bent valve?

 

Either way,involves a full tear down..And the Z motor does not have lifters 99% its Rod or piston related.

 

Ouch.

So my options are:
- new factory shortblock (whats the going price?)
- used factory shortblock (1.5-2.5k)
- built block ranging from 4k-12k
- or rebuild with factory parts (not sure on price)
- or rebuild with forged crank, pistons and rods (probably around 2-4k)

 

Sounds to me like you blew it.. Sorry for your loss.. Also, if you keep pushing it with the constant tapping/broken rod youll soon find the block cracked and the car fully locked/blown. Take it to get looked at bro.. All we can do is speculate.. And if your still seeing 20-30psi at idle thats a good sign..

 

the Procharger kit doesn't pull timing and the FMU thing is junk. If you just bolted the kit on and drove around then your engine is done. Sounds like you need a new block, some fuel system upgrades and a UTEC or something to handle timing issues. Sorry about your loss and best of luck with the new rebuild.

 

It was dynotuned and has been running fine on the car for the past 10k miles which is why I was surprised.

 

man.. i had almost the same issue as you. I bought my 03 with a ATI Procharger on it.. like you, all it had was the Procharger FMU/fuel pump on it... the prior owner had the install done 11K miles before I bought it.. 1 week after having the car i let someone drive it and it came back with a CEL and a heavy "lope" to her. I still till this day don't know what happened. Mech said it was more than likely a bent valve. I immediately sold the SC and replaced the engine with a recently purchased spare i had and run it stock for now..

i made a stupid decision by buying the car already boosted without knowing too much about it... i plan on taking my time and researching and will eventually go back FI, but this time i am going to do it from ground up so I know what i have going into it..

good luck man... hopefully you will be back on the street in no time.

 

Thanks, that sounds like a pretty good strategy.

Where did you find your motor, how many miles were on it and how much was it?

 

i have a few friends locally that own body shops.. one of them had a wrecked 04 that had a good engine/tranny. I bought the engine for little to nothing (they owed me a favor already) only a few days after i bought my car. I was planning on building it or using it as a core for a built motor later down the road. My car at the time had 38K miles on it when the engine went poof.. the engine i bought had 6K miles on it.. it was a no brainer for me. i sold the procharger to cover the cost of the engine swap.. so in the end, i didn't have to come out of pocket too much.. my goal at the time was to just get the car back on the road.

For the short while I had it SC'd, people would ask me so many questions about "what I had under the hood" and I felt like a dumbass because I could only answer so many of them. If I were you, I would search around in the marketplace and the local ad's and see if you can find a second hand VQ. Get an estimate on what it would cost to get a proper diag on the condition of your engine now (labor, most likely what the problem is, and what it would cost to fix) and compare it to what it would cost to just buy another used engine. If in the end you get another engine and your current block is ok, you can use this as a core exchange (1k-2K last time i checked) towards a new built block. Take your time... research. I've had my car since Nov of last year and I spend anywhere from 2-3 hours a day during work (lol) on here and have learned a lot about the car.

i don't know what your current situation is regarding to how long you can afford to have your car down and how deep your pockets go... so that also is going to determine the best route to take..

hope this helps...

-will

 

http://www.car-part.com

 

Downtime is annoying because its so nice out, but I have a second car so there's no real rush.

I can pull the motor and strip it myself. I have a hoist and stand available.

I'm going to do a compression test first to see if the rings got fried. Then I think I'm going to pull the oil pan and wiggle some rods to see which one is loose and I'll go from there. If there's no metal in the oil and none of the rods want to move, I'll assume that its a valve issue and I'll just pull the motor and start taking it apart.

 

one thing u should check....take off the intake....at idle inside the intake the blower should be spinning...if not maybe u got lucky and its not ur motor....somethin to check into...

 

i pulled the supercharger belt off already and its not the SC

 

not the belt...when its idle....u take off the intake and make sure the compressor wheel is spinning..i had a clicking sound like that and it was the blower...but ok man

 

Well I pulled the belt of the supercharger to disable it entirely. If its not being driven by the belt, it won't spin at all. With the supercharger disabled, the sound is definitely coming from the motor somewhere.

I've found a motor at a local junkyard.

30k miles on an 04 motor, fully functional, they took the a/c compressor off it. They're asking $2000. Is this a good deal?

Will it work fine on my 03 without any modifications at all?