The saga continues! "New" engine blew up!
 

The car was running great after I installed the replacement flywheel that Aasco sent me. I had also installed the Accusump and drove the car 40 or 50 miles around town last weekend. Everything seemed perfect. Loaded the car up for the DE at Barber this weekend. Teched out ok and I drove 4 or 5 "parade" laps to get re-familiarized with the track. Everything seemed fine. Went out with my run group and did 2 pace laps....first green flag lap and I let a couple of cars go by as I wanted to bring it up to speed slowly. Got up to about 90mph on the first straight away, through the first turn and up the hill into the next straight, pressed the clutch for the hairpin, down shifted to 2nd and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree. The engine was dead, popped the clutch to restart, powered through the next straight.....kept it running through the next turns, but noticed a rattle on the subsequent straights. Backed out of it and pointed everyone by. Gave it a little more gas to get off the track and now it is a definite clatter. Limped it off the track...coasted into pits. Started it one more time with my helmet off....sounded like a sack full of wrenches! Pushed it onto the trailer and drove home! FUN!

Anyone know of any good basket weaving classes?

sorry! i had a similar experience. trying to save $10k to get "Helga" back on the road.

Oh no! What might it be???? Clutch related?

Sorry to hear that!

Have you spoken with Jake Raby? He might be of some help.

There seems to be every indication that installing a lightweight flywheel and clutch assembly on these vehicles is like tempting fate . Virtually everyone I know who has gone this route has regretted it . I've done all sorts of mods to my vehicle, however, based on what I've read and been told by others, I've chosen to stay clear of this application !

+1, I have read the same thing, are cars do not have harmonic dampeners. The O.M.E fly wheel has dual weight that works as a harmonic dampener, when people install lightweight fly wheels the lovely P.O.S crank shafts breaks.

Sorry and good luck dude.

i know PLENTY of people w/ the LWFW who have no issues at all. on GT3's, people have trouble with the front pulley coming loose & there is suspicion with that car of some weird harmonic issues.

with most boxsters & 911's, it's a non issue. just ask anyone who runs a spec boxster.

any chance of a type II over-rev here?

With all due respect, I've spoken with many who have the LWFW assembly. And the ones who like it are clearly in the minority. Especially those who run their boxsters on the street .

no worries. i personally really enjoy mine, but i could see how someone might not like it. you are forced to shift very quickly in order to be smooth. it's also a little noisy & more difficult to launch smoothly.

as for actual problems resulting from the LWFW? i don't really think they're that common. pretty much the entire spec boxster community & the entire spec 996 community run the Aasco.

+ 1...

Also the crank seems to be in one piece because the engine does run... unfortunately, with a clanking noise :(

I am sorry to hear this

.

my guess is that a rod broke & the motor just hasn't siezed yet.



wonder if we can piece together one working motor from the two dead ones in your garage? ;-)

I believe that I may know what has happened here and I am not willing to discuss it online. We have recently uncovered some revealing information that could be applicable to your situation.

I definitely want to see this engine.

The LWFW is more than likely not a problem, that takes time to occur with these engines generally. Like I said, I believe I know what happened.

nothing, really. done it thousands of times. react how, out of curiosity?

i've read (ie, no ral expereince) that sometimes vehicles will stall with a lwfw, as the ecu anticipates a certain lag in rpm drop when the clutch is depressed. they way i read the initial description, it read like the stall happened when the clutch was depressed, not re-engaged ...

ah; i hear what you're saying now. the revs do drop very fast. in the older cars, if the idle valve is the least bit sticky, it won't always react in time to keep the engine from stalling. i think the e-gas cars don't have this problem so much as the early ones. byron's was e-gas.

i was working under the assumption that the engine died after the downshift was completed. byron?

WOW! That REALLY sucks!

I'd love to hear the cause of the problem if you ever figure it out. I figured you had covered all the bases with what you've done to your engine. Now that my car is running again, I was thinking about putting an Accusump in it and tracking it again. After hearing this, I'm thinking maybe I'll sell it and buy a used Camaro or Vette.

Well I hope Jake is willing to spread the word.

I'm in the midst of building my Boxster S track car and would
hate to put all that time and effort into it to turn it into a
box of marbles my first time out.

thx,

Mike

seningen,
I think you already have your answer...

I'm sure this, as you called it, 'box of marbles' is a particularly sensitive subject since it has the "engine saving IMS retrofit/upgrade" . . .

This is getting interesting!

Which at best saves an engine from one of 21
 

known failure modes even according to its proponents. This statement is like commenting that the radiator cap didn't save the engine.

I'll be interested in the symptoms of what happened and then we can all theorize on what went wrong and perhaps learn something from someone else's sad experience.

The car was just worked on and had more than the IMSR done to it IIRC.

No Box of marbles is not IMS --

When the IMS goes -- you most likely have bent valves.

Things can get worse -- but on my limited watch -- this is what I have seen.

You can also loose one of the chains, but I wouldn't expect that to be sudden.

Box of marbles -- I'm talking chunks of metal in the oil pan from
connecting rods, cracked pistons, cylinder wall debris.

I missed the original discussion.....

What year/model is the new engine. What is the history of this engine and
what if any rebuild info do we have? --- Ok I found the old thread --- an 02 S
that appears to have spun a bearing or some such and sent the connecting rod
through the block (ouch!)

But I can related -- we just lost #2 rod bearing on our 924S LeMons/Chumps
car. Time for some rebuild and oil mods!

Without tearing it down your new engine -- it's only speculation.

But if its something I haven't seen -- I'd sure like to know about it.
I can't prevent everything -- but I'd sure like to try with in a reasonable budget :-)

Mike

engine was an '02S with unknown mileage. it had an LN IMS and a 2qt accusump system.

it has been used on track in the past. the engine was pulled from its original car following an AOS failure that was misdiagnosed as a blown motor.

Most likely something was missed in re-assembly and came apart as soon as the engine was run up to speed.

Was the engine disassembled after the AOS misdiagnosis or just the AOS fixed?

Maybe there was a bent con rod (or stressed con rod, bolts, cap, nuts?) from
a hydrolock situation.

Not evident when running at moderate RPMs.

Mike

No, it died while the clutch was depressed. I actually coasted the car for a second. Considered pulling to the side, but I didn't want to stop the whole event just cause the car died. So I popped the clutch and engine picked right up. I suspect that the engine died because what was happening had already happened. I never ran a full lap under speed, so I really doubt it was an oiling problem and I didn't over rev. As I said, I was trying to take it easy and bring it up slowly. I had already had it up to speed on the interstate, so I suspect it was a pre-existing issue with the used engine? Obviously, there is no way of knowing if there are internal issues in a used engine without a complete rebuild and Porsche has done a great job of limiting the availability of those.

Guide or tensioner failure

My idea of what has occurred here is NOT related to the IMS Retrofit.. We have NO issues with ANY IMSR to date of the units that have been sold or tested, a true 100% success.

What I am thinking happened to this engine was gathered when I thought this engine may have been an older reman that was just recently put into service. I have learned a lot about that as of late.

Who knows what happened to it, I'd be happy to help figure out what mode of failure generated this death certificate.

Any updates? Kindly let us know!

TIA
Andy