I also thought of this the morning the motor was going. After I first heard the loud knock/whur (most likely bearing) I stopped at a gas station. Oil level was right where it should be, drain plug and filter were attatched properly and not leaking. I take alot of care when I change the oil as its the EASIEST way to blow up your own motor. I've built a few motors and swapped a few transmissions in my day, oil changes happen monthly for me as I drive so much.

 

I'll post all of my info there after the dealer takes a look at it

 

Here is a picture of the base of the connecting rod from Cyl #1. Notice the heat discoloration.

 

I had a factory first service on a new Volvo once. Checked the oil when I picked it up. Looked under the car, everything looked fine. Drove it 80 miles before the rear end locked up solid on the freeway at 60 mph towing a light trailer with my road race motocycle on it. Things were very dramatic for the next minute. I ended up off the side half in the dirt. I looked under the car. No drain plug in the differential.
The point is...anyone can make a mistake, even the factory mechanic. The last time I had major work done under the hood the factory Mitsubishi mechanic installed the BOV backward. It works differently that way.

 

Stew how many miles did you actually drive the EVO with the MBC and flash. I remember putting the MBC in a couple of weeks ago. It's not like he was driving around for close to a year with all of these mods, hell for most of the EVO's life it only had a TBE. The air intake wasn't even on the car that long.

I recently had an overboost problem that I didn't notice because I was too busy messing around. The short of it is I hit 28PSI on 93 octane fuel. The result is every time my BOV vents it now pukes oil, I figure the rings are history. I have had a lot of mods on my car since 2004 and had no trouble, until now, with the light mods similiar to the ones stew had on his EVO even in the coldest weather.

His very lean, for a Subaru atleast, 12 to 1 A/F Ratio from 6800RPM on is only a problem when he is up in that RPM range. Driving at 80mph he would probably be around 3200RPM, total guess here, so the lean a/f ratio shouldn't have had any affect on the engine considering that Stew was driving at lower RPM's. The EVO should have been able to keep the A/F ratios in check by using it's MAF and O2 sensors to adjust fuel because he wasn't at WOT when the motor blew.

Basic mods can change the way an engine takes in and releases air which is why at WOT you need to be tuned for the increase in air taken in by the engine. Closed loop mapping, which I think is WOT but I could have these two mixed up, relies on the hard mapping for fuel and timing. Open loop, which I think takes input from the MAF and the O2 sensors to determine fueling to maintain a proper A/F ratio, should be able to control the A/F ratio so the car doesn't run lean even if the car has an intake and a TBE because you haven't really increased boost or changed the volume of air moved by the turbo.

I think that this was a problem that Stew has had for some time and it just let itself be know now and went bang in a hurry. If Stew had all of the parts on for a good period of time and not a short couple of weeks I would support the "You messed it up crowd", BUT given the short period of time and the highway driving I just can't see any of the mods generating this much damage.

I looked inside the huge hole in the front of Stew's block and could see the bottom of the number 1 piston, it looked like it had the rod ripped out of it. The entire lower section of the piston was missing and little chunks of aluminium were all over the belly splash pan under the engine. The number 2 piston looked fine except for the top half of the connecting rod dangleing from it. We removed the spark plugs to take a look at the top of the pistons, I know that you really can't see much but I little peak is better than none at all. The number 1 piston was much cleaner than the number 2 piston and I couldn't see any visible damage to the piston tops.

I still think is was an oil pressure related problem and not the result of the flash or any of the mods on the car.

 

I understand your line of thinking but I feel it is wrong. Your chances of that kinda messup by a Car guy working on his own car that gives a thousand more ****s than most mechanics at most dealerships- especially ones regulated to oil change monkey on new expensive fun cars that he cant afford to drive. Ive been around these guys and the level of satisfaction is nil. Resentment is high especially when they have to settle on driving the trade ins at their own workplace.

 

O_o
Be careful and get everything checked out. You both have similar mods and tuning. Or you might end up with the same blown engine.

 

definately caused by excessive wear on the bearings...

someone earlier in this thread said something to the effect

1) run lean by those crazy high AFR's and high boost levels @ 7000+

2) the situation stated in #1 (which you clearly admit too) caused detonation, or caused many small detonations over time stretching the rod bolts.

3) rod bolts stretched, causing premature wear on the bearings.

4) bearings fail, bottom end goes boom...

I really think that the cold weather contributed to the failure. With the boost levels you were running combined with that wonderful winter crap gas you get in CT during the winter months (it's like the CA crap gas we get out here) probably lead to an unsafe condition. I am not saying it caused the problem, but it definately contributed to the failure.

I don't see how warrentee could even possibly apply, not even covered by magnus-moss because you modded the motor and other systems required to make if function properly within specs..

good luck.

 

Its about time mitsu finally did cough up an engine or something... Ive never had as many problems with warranty work on any other car like the problems i have now with my evo! I say make em pay for it, its about time they paid for something!

 

The "over time" is 1 week of tame driving.

 

^ Agreed! Like I said if not for the short period of time that Stew was driving the car with the MBC and the flash I would blame long term abuse as the cause too.

Fact is that the car has only 15K on it and most of that time it only had a TBE!

Look at your own cars and tell me how long you have had an exhaust on it for.

Just to clear something up, the intake, MBC and the flash were all recent additions to his car.

 

This thread contains two remarks having equal lacking of truth

1)2)

 

ah, it's so refreshing...

...to see how Al is bashing yet another person...even though he always says "I AM NOT saying anything negative."

 

Did stock FP start to go causing leaness at 7k?

 

First of all I'm not sticking up or bashing any of these tuners because I feel there all nerds in the first place.
But read from beginning and you'll see something, as soon as the person with the blown engine mentions his car was flashed by a particular vendor, the vendors competition (nemisis) suddenly has interest to the thread remarking friendly suggestions and stating 12.1 is way too lean, etc.etc - as if his tuning sales will start to improve.

All I can say is that mail-ins are so week in the first place and the car would have made the same AF tuned or not? Maybe the FP is overheating

I just thought the suggestive tuner's (coughshivcough)opportunistic behavior was hillarious.