Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Crank Whip

I wanted to mention something that I skipped over when I was reading this topic over. Dan Nixon made a post about what cars have the DMD and what cars don't. I belive that a mfg. will add the DMD if they think that they need it to take care of NVH issues in a certan chassis. Maybe Ford was unhappy with the way the motor felt in the new Mondeo, or they couldn't add the level of refinement the X-type has, so they added the DMD. Where as the new X-Type may use a different hardness rubber in the motormount if not a different design. You have a slightly different design. The X-Type is a much more expensive car so the quality of the materials may be different to. There are alot of variables there. I think that is one clue to why the DMD is there mainly for NVH. If it was there to save the motor from shaking it's self to pieces then why isn't it there on every duratech motor? Why take the chance if you are the manufacturer? You're playing russian roulette with every motor you place in a car without this damper. What about the rental companys who buy thousands of Tauruses? those cars get hammered non stop. Everyone plays the rental car game. How about the Soccer mom who stomps on the gas to pass someone on a 2 lane road with a load of kids? It may not happen often, but it does. These motors have to stand up to alot more abuse then they are intended to see if they are maintained properly. With preventing 'crank whip' the maintaince of the motor seems to be irrelevent(other then maybe changing the weight of the oil?). 'Crank whip' may be why the redline is lower on the non SVT duratech motors. Ford just took a gamble with the SVT. That would mean 'whip' was a problem mainly past 6000 rpm. That means you wouldn't see standard duratech motors failing, just SVT's like Terry said. But Dan Nixon says he has polled the fourms and found that the SVT cars seem to fail earlier. I believe the SVT cars may get driven harder, but everyone on this fourm is an enthusiast. They all bought contours because of how well they go, stop and handle. I'm sure the majority get driven hard at one point or another. What seems strange to me is how Dan Nixons (I'm not questioning the results of the poll or attacking Dan) poll results say roughly 40% of the enginge failures were similar to mine(Oil starvation), and roughly 40%+ there were "no turns prior, good oil level, no signs of oil starvation found". It sounds to me like bearings may have been damaged by oil starvation previously and after a little time they let go. I believe that you can hurt a bearing and have it go for a time before it causes a 'rod knock'. It depends on how badly it is hurt. I'm pretty sure that once it smacks, grazes, taps, etc. the journal it's done for. It is just a matter of time before it spins if it doesn't happen immedately. A spun bearing is exactly that, spun. The bearing comes in contact with the journal, the tabs that hold it in place pop out and it spins freely inside the rod or main journal. I am curious about how someone can tell how this happened. I know when a gearbox lets go there is almost no way to tell what happened first. It is possible get to the root of the problem (I.E. a gear pair). You just can't say gear A failed before gear B. You can make an educated GUESS, but you can really never know unless you witness the the event happen. It's just to destructive. I have my 3.0L apart in containers on the floor of my garage. I'll take some pictures and post them tonight and show everyone what I'm talking about.I'm not sure if there are any good parts in that. Another thing is woudn't a tougher bearing not wear as much? Why would it prevent you from spinning a bearing? As far as I know when a bearing hits the journal that bearings life is over. A harder bearing would LAST LONGER so it wouldn't get the loose tolerances at higher mileages that a softer bearing would. I could be wrong. I'm looking to learn just like everyone else. thanks for listening again

Roger