So what happened to my old 4G63...

[tharaka]

As the story goes...

End of 2006
Standard engine, too much boost, cracked 3 pistons.
Rebuilt it with Wiseco pistons, and the other usual shit.

2007
Got the car back, did the usual 1000km run in.
bazeng installed my Wolf3D V4
Dan from Springy Motors tuned it.
2000km later, cruising on the highway, melted 3 spark plugs.
Took the car back to Springy Motors, and asked Dan to look at it.
Did a compression test, 0 compression in cylinder 4.
I asked him to take the head off and tell me what was wrong, 3 months later, he had done nothing.

Fast forward to today, finally got the head taken off by a reputable mechanic...

This is what the valves look like.

There's also a hole in the cylinder 4 piston, I'll try get a picture of it soon.


From my rides thread, the two reasons given were:
- Tuned on 98RON BP, the engine blew up on Mobil Synergy 8000
- Not enough oil in the motor. (funnily enough, when I got the car back, the oil level was perfect)


Here's the AFR vs. Power graph

So, from that, feel free to draw your own conclusions.

 

[steve]

Quite possibly not enough fuel into it coming onto boost. What was your timing map like?

You'd generally hear pinging that cause those sorts of problems.

 

[tharaka]

Quite possibly not enough fuel into it coming onto boost. What was your timing map like?

You'd generally hear pinging that cause those sorts of problems.

Wouldn't have a clue about the timing map.

I just paid someone to tune the car, and I expect them to know what they are doing...

 

[steve]

Yeah, that's fair enough mate. Unfortunately there are too many variables involved to be able to point the finger without a doubt

 

[tharaka]

Yeah, that's fair enough mate. Unfortunately there are too many variables involved to be able to point the finger without a doubt

Yep, which I completely understand.

I just made this thread so everyone could make up their own minds.

 

[rob323]

Is that a a piece of the valve that is missing? (Calling GVR40)

What valves were they and what valve springs?

 

[tharaka]

Is that a a piece of the valve that is missing? (Calling GVR40)

What valves were they and what valve springs?

Yep a piece of the valve, not sure if it was smashed off by a bit of melted spark plug, or if it melted off.

But there was a hole in the piston directly under the spark plug

Standard valves, and Crower springs

 

[rob323]

Having seen GVR40 do that in a fairly stock motor, I think it could just have been age related. How many kms on the clock Tharaka?

 

[GVR40]

stock valves from factory, mine went exactly the same, at about 240k, i don't think it would have anything to do with fuel, i put mine down to spark plugs as the previous owner ran bosch super 4 plugs in it which i think have burnt to hot/strong and melted it. looks like the same thing happened to you...

rob i should start rebuilding heads on an exchange basis...lol

 

[iluszn]

DOH

thats tough going. But if the car isn't tuned well. Then.. its going to happen.

Only one person I take my cars to and never had any issues with service and you get what you pay for

 

[rob323]

DOH

thats tough going. But if the car isn't tuned well. Then.. its going to happen.

Only one person I take my cars to and never had any issues with service and you get what you pay for

I'm curious, why do you say it's the "tune" that caused it?

 

[iluszn]

generally if tune is out. or if it just leaned a little will melt things

If it melted the plugs, could it have been running to lean?

But yes, could have been something else. I would get maps checked though as i would be suspicious of tuning..

And yes, AFAS. But that is just me, each to there own, i have never had any issues at all with 6 cars he has looked after.

 

[rob323]

Tharaka, can I be a pain and ask for more info and photos please?
Is the valve an exhaust valve or intake valve?
Is the valve from cylinder No. 4?
What brand/ type and heat range were the plugs?
Do you have any photos of the melted plugs?
Which cylinders had the melted plugs?
How many kms have the valves done?

Cheers,
Rob.

 

[EVO-00X]

Geez, not good man. Did the particle follow through and cause damage to the turbine wheel?

 

[EVO85]

Sorry to hear Tharaka....

I am currently in a similar situation. I melted a spark plug whilst giving the car a hammering on a freeway; the mechanics verdict: Bad batch of fuel, faulty leads or spark plugs that weren't up to the task. Fortunately, at the time, the motor survived; 1000km's later, the motor developed an occasional misfire and two weeks later, it decided to let go. The engine was only 20,000km's old....

Anyway, it is due to be stripped next week, so it'll be interesting to discover the reason for my engine failure....whether it's a tuning related issue or not....

Hope it all works out for you mate.

 

[JSTYLE]

whats with all mechanics blaming bad batch of fuel? like hello....

Jon

 

[WRCVR4]

This is why we run STOCK ecu's mmmm knock sensor

 

[Richard]

There is a lot of "bad" fuel around, my car is stock and can (and has been a lot lately) run like shit with bad fuel, you guys that have aftermarket ECU's tuned for the fuel that was in the tank at the time, if given "bad" fuel will most likely have issues, perhaps the computer cannot compensate enough and shit happens as we have seen here..

 

[matress]

I melted a spark plug ages ago too, it was due to the car leaning out when the vacuum hose to the map sensor blew off.

It hasn't cause any problems apart from a stressful drive home after it happened.

So where do you go from here now? I'd be pissed off aswell but it seems pretty hard to point the finger with so many variables.

 

[tharaka]

So where do you go from here now? I'd be pissed off aswell but it seems pretty hard to point the finger with so many variables.

Variables like low oil and bad fuel?

I pulled the car apart myself

The ONLY thing that wasn't right was my MAC Valve was missing because Dan from Spring Motors decided to take it without asking me :roll:



Where do I go from here now?
To reputable mechanics, I guess.