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Engine Blew Up on 401...

J

Jo4nny

CEG'er
Joined
Oct 25, 2007
Messages
335
Location
GTA, ON
So my girlfriend and I get up early this morning and hit the road to Ottawa for my cousin's wedding/Thanksgiving. Hardly any traffic, smooth sailing on the QEW and 427 (it was 5:30am).

We get onto the 401 and I get this weird gut feeling that something wrong is going to happen, even said something to that effect to my girlfriend. Well, about 10km's down the road, the engine starts making this mad ticking sound...tick..tick..tick..tick -- sounds like a piston is hitting a valve somewhere -- then a loud clashing of metal and I can feel something shoot out from under the car. My dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree with warning lights and heavy smoke shoots out from the hood..the motor stops.

So I pulled her over to the shoulder of the Express lanes and check things out...the engine is toast, smoke everywhere, trail of oil all over the road...bummer.

Anyway, I called CAA and they flatbed'ed my SVT to my mechanic. They're not open until Tuesday so she's just sitting out back.

Looks like a 3L swap is in my immediate future, depending on how much that'd run me.
 
Take the car to Nima in Ottawa for your 3L Swap :). Seems far but well worth it. Sorry to hear about your car, but it will be back better than ever :). Look on the bright side at least it happend closer to home.

Aaron
 
I had that exact thing happen to my Saturn a couple of years ago. Luckily, my "incident" was only about a mile from my house, and Saturn engines are PLENTIFUL in junkyards.

The shrapnel was spectacular, as was the hole in both sides of the engine block...
 
214,000 clicks, just got a full tune-up (new wires, plugs, filters, everything) a few weeks ago, and topped up the oil the night before. It seems negligible, but I had also just filled up with 94 octane so there's $60 right there.

It was still dark out when it happened so I didn't get to fully check out the engine bay, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are giant holes in the block.

From the sounds of it, it sounds like a valve was sticking inside the combustion chamber, so the piston probably shattered the valve, sucked the valve into the combustion chamber and went kamikaze on all the internals. I'm 90% sure it blew off the oil pan (among other things).

My mechanic is taking a look at it this morning so I'll keep you in the loop.

Anybody know how easy/expensive it would be to get a new engine installed? Would I be better off looking for a new car?

EDIT: I'm disappointed in what happened, but it's true that it was probably the best place for it to happen a few KM's from my house....can't imagine what I'd do if I got stuck in the Canadian shield between here and Kingston.
 
Last edited:
Well, just got off the phone with the mechanic.

Engine spun a rod bearing which tore a hole through the block. I'll probably look to sell the car as-is but will spend the next few days weighing my options.
 
Another Contour succumbs to a spun bearing. Out of curiosity how much oil did you keep in the pan? I am paranoid of this happening so I always overfill with at least 6 quarts or about 5.75L.
 
SVTCANUK said:
Another Contour succumbs to a spun bearing. Out of curiosity how much oil did you keep in the pan? I am paranoid of this happening so I always overfill with at least 6 quarts or about 5.75L.
Click to expand...

I think that might have been the culprit, I was pretty lax in terms of checking oil on a regular basis. It did get regular oil changes (I've only owned it for 11 months) but every time I did check the oil it was mid-way and required a top-up.

I would always watch the revs on sweeping right hand turns, but it wasn't enough without the (over)full oil.
 
i can tell you from experience it can be done for under a grand.
I replaced the clutch, fluids, motor and other then needing the tools, food and beer to supply guys who helped me we had it up and running all inclusive 1100 i think was my final tally.
 
I'm happy to report that as of 9:30 last night, this car is again moving under it's own power. It's currenlty at my mechanics being safety'd so hopefully that goes well.

Some pics of the carnage:

3080025646_9eaf666d74.jpg

Possible contributing cause? Oversized Mopar filter installed
3078407573_35acace17e_b.jpg


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3297559404_3ed8d8ca00.jpg


New motor installed:
3332175652_282aa31758.jpg
 
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