What are my options after a rod bearing failure

**ViperSRT** · 03-07-2023

Originally Posted by Lawineer

All? No. I guess there could be some horrible manufacturing defect that he couldn't see/detect, but damn near all of the time, if a part comes loose, flying off the engine and smashes into the oil pan in 500 miles, yea... pretty much.

Guess we agree to disagree on that. Most failures I have seen are operational (engine overspeed like a missed shift), detonation or preignition (piston failure) and bearing failure. With many bearing failures resulting in bearing seizure which ends up breaking the rod. All of the above have parts flying around with no misassembly.

**Mikey** · 03-07-2023

Originally Posted by ViperSRT

Guess we agree to disagree on that. Most failures I have seen are operational (engine overspeed like a missed shift), detonation or preignition (piston failure) and bearing failure. With many bearing failures resulting in bearing seizure which ends up breaking the rod. All of the above have parts flying around with no misassembly.

Went over my head, but I'm 100% certain I didn't overrev

**C5Longhorn** · 03-07-2023

Originally Posted by Mikey

With no motor and a steep incline that would be ambitious. The motor should be getting to Kevin tomorrow morning, depending on what shows during the tear down I'll probably just send the entire car to either Kevin or calvo

Consider renting a storage unit for a month and keep the car there. It may be worth $150 - $200 for piece of mind. I stored a car in one for a couple of months while in between houses and it worked out well.

**13COBRA** · 03-07-2023

I would just want it out of the shop that you don't trust.

**Martin** · 03-07-2023

Originally Posted by C5Longhorn

Consider renting a storage unit for a month and keep the car there. It may be worth $150 - $200 for piece of mind. I stored a car in one for a couple of months while in between houses and it worked out well.

If you have AAA, they'll flatbed it to your home - or if that doesn't make sense, I agree that putting it in a drive-in storage unit would be a good plan. I've stored cars in them, and they're great - not too expensive, often have an electrical outlet for a tender, and they have an industrial strength door and lock.

**Jack B** · 03-07-2023

at 70 mph, that hides lot of noise, but, not vibration

Originally Posted by Mikey

The first failure made wayyyyyy more noise. No noise until I got off the toll road this go around

**Jack B** · 03-07-2023

I had a new marine engine where the rod fractured near the piston. it was a totally clean break, The engine ran for about 30 seconds. The rod acted like a cutting tool, it nearly severed the crankcase part of the block into two pieces. It cut deep enough to slice through the water jackets. The crank also broke in two, but, the pan was not damaged.

The above failure has nothing to do with this thread. The amount of damage to this viper's oil pan is amazing. The viper's oil pan is a structural member

**Martin** · 03-08-2023

Hopefully they take a shit ton of photos, in high resolution, of everything. It's clear that Mikey trusts the builder, and trusts that he'll do the right thing. But as I paraphrase a saying, "Trust But Verify."

**Mikey** · 03-08-2023

Motor was just delivered, lets see what happens

Still no refund.

**ACRSNK** · 03-08-2023

Keeping fingers crossed for you. Hope you can get this sorted and put this whole fiasco behind you. Hope they do the right thing. Definitely not enough of that happening these days. Everyone just wants to blame everybody else without taking responsibility for anything. Very sad state of affairs.

**Mikey** · 03-08-2023

Originally Posted by ACRSNK

Keeping fingers crossed for you. Hope you can get this sorted and put this whole fiasco behind you. Hope they do the right thing. Definitely not enough of that happening these days. Everyone just wants to blame everybody else without taking responsibility for anything. Very sad state of affairs.

Thanks man, I don't trust this shop AT ALL. I'm starting to wonder if this is why he no longer works for Dallas Performance

**quickster2** · 03-09-2023

What a bummer for you. Hope it works out. You may want to consider going to a 3rd party unless you have some confidence that the builder will make it right. A third party would be able to document the failure(s) and potentially ascertain root cause. Just a thought. Only you can determine the path forward. Best of luck.

**Mikey** · 03-09-2023

Haven't heard back from him yet, hoping foe the best, preparing for the worst. Best case scenario, it's fixed and just needs a reinstall, I'm hoping Dallas Performance will take the job

Edit:motor goes on the stand tomorrow

**ViperC** · 03-10-2023

Originally Posted by Mikey

Haven't heard back from him yet, hoping foe the best, preparing for the worst. Best case scenario, it's fixed and just needs a reinstall, I'm hoping Dallas Performance will take the job

Edit:motor goes on the stand tomorrow

Looking forward to updates.

**Mikey** · 03-10-2023

Still no refund and he hasn't told me where that "flush" for the oil cooler was done.

**Mikey** · 03-13-2023

Just got off the phone with Kevin, the entire block is cracked in half. He said it looks like they started the motor with no oil in it before hand, everything is covered in debris.

**Lawineer** · 03-13-2023

The block is cracked in half? How the hell is that possible?

It sounds like a bunch of debris left over in an old engine oil cooler got into the new engine is what it sounds like.

**Mikey** · 03-13-2023

Originally Posted by Lawineer

The block is cracked in half? How the hell is that possible?

It sounds like a bunch of debris left over in an old engine oil cooler got into the new engine is what it sounds like.

That's pretty much what he said, he said everything was contaminated
He gave me the details, but went over my head

**efnfast** · 03-13-2023

wow, that sucks - I'm surprised you could have catastrophic damage like that yet make it 500 miles without any signs.

**Voice of Reason** · 03-13-2023

The engine builder just blamed the installer 100% for the failure. The installer is about to do the reverse. You may as well call your lawyer now.

**Space Truckin** · 03-13-2023

Originally Posted by Mikey

"the entire block is cracked in half. He said it looks like they started the motor with no oil in it before hand"

I am just a backyard mechanic (I know my skill level, maybe 3/5 wrenches dependent upon task), I need someone to explain how this even happens...cannot even wrap my head around this statement...wtf

**Mikey** · 03-13-2023

Originally Posted by Space Truckin

I am just a backyard mechanic (I know my skill level, maybe 3/5 wrenches dependent upon task), I need someone to explain how this even happens...cannot even wrap my head around this statement...wtf

Maybe I misheard, but the block is definitely cracked, I heard "in half" but he could have been referring to some other component. Needless to say, the entire motor is toast. He's still trying to pull the cam out

**Dan Cragin** · 03-13-2023

I've worked with Kevin at Exotic Engine for over 20 years. He does the job right and when there is a problem, he takes care of it.
In regards to Gen 4-5 engines, he has done many for me since 2008. Iv'e never had a failure. They get run in and qualified before they go
out.

It seems this is a installer issue, but that's just my opinion, yours could differ.