Well, that didn't go as planned (Part II)...
Anyone remember this post from last October?
Replace Entire Engine as Preventative Maintenance.html
To quote myself:
Quote:
Originally Posted by thstone
Yes, you read it right: Should I replace my entire engine as preventative maintenance?
Racing experience suggests that 2.5L engines last about 60-80 hours on the track (which is a lot of time at 5000-7000 rpm). This rough estimate of engine life is highly variable with some engines failing earlier and some lasting much longer. Its impossible to know how long any individual engine will last. So there is no way to know if I have 2 hours left or 25 hours left.
My current engine has 75 hours of racing time and I already have a replacement engine sitting in my workshop.
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Looks like I had about 11 hours of engine life left after I made that post.
In this morning's first practice at AutoClub Speedway, the engine suddenly lost power coming out of the Turn 9 hairpin. Erin Vogel and I had been working our way through the field when she passed me without any effort while I had the pedal to the floor. The engine coughed a bit and then regained power. I got through the next two turns ok and then the engine cut out. I tried re-starting while coasting but no joy.
Luckily, I was right at track exit so I pulled in and coasted to a stop in the paddock. I was able to get the car re-started and it sounded fine, but the low oil pressure light was now on. Uh oh. That's not good.
At this point, I concluded that the engine was probably starting to fail so racing anymore this weekend was out of the question.
I figured that I had nothing to lose (and yes, I know what the owners manual says about not running the engine with the low oil pressure light on) but I decided to take a chance and see if it would still get me home.
So I packed up and headed out for the 40 mile freeway drive. At about the halfway point, the engine started sounding like marbles in a tin can. I pushed in the clutch and it died. I coasted to the next exit and parked it. Tried starting it again and it would turn over but not catch. Called a tow truck and got a nice, air conditioned ride to House Automotive in Pasadena.
House did a quick compression and leak down test. Looks like cyls 4-5 aren't too happy.
This afternoon I made arrangements to have the spare engine trucked over to House on Tuesday. Then they'll swap in Engine #5.
Racing is life.
