oh no! Heard a bang...

[Chrisssssssss]

Hey all,

I was just pulling away from a friends house tonight and just as I was pulling away from the stop sign at the end of the street, I heard a bang sort of like a poof, then looked behind me and saw smoke billowing out the exhaust and the truck started sputtering and struggled to stay running, pulled over and then the truck stalled. Looking under the hood I noticed a bit of oil looking like it was coming out the turbo a bit, also there is a big pool of oil underneath the truck still dripping. I did not have a flashlight so I could not tell where it was coming from. The oil on the ground was milky and so was the dipstick real full of milky oil mixture. I am not sure yet other than that at this point as it was late and the truck sits there. I will check it out further tomorrow. There was also oil in the rad...

The truck was cold when this happened, as it was sitting idle for a couple of hours, so it was not warmed up at the time. For the few seconds that it was sputtering before I turned it off it seemed not to hear anything clanking around. or loose, but then I haven't really paid that much attention yet. Before that, the truck was running fine and strong. My timing was set on the T1 setting on the ultimate chip and I am running 91 octane with a can of booster. I hope that this is not total catastrophic failure indicating a rebuild or whatever. That would suck.

First thoughts?

Head gasket failure maybe? I will know better tomorrow when I can actually see where the oil is coming out of. It is definitely on the passenger side, though, which is the same side as the turbo. The puddle was more toward the rear of the engine, but... Anyways...

Chris
92 TY

 

[Quickstop [UK]]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

turbo bearings gone - oil mixing with turbo coolant = milky mixture.

you might just have lost a turbo rather than any other damage. One guy here had 3 turbos fail with the blades going into the engine and all he had to do was replace the turbo.

Sounds like turbo at least. Could be something else - more diagnostics needed!

 

[Chrisssssssss]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Hmmm, turbo? Well, I did see some oil on the turbo, but I am not sure where it came from. It could be from the bearing, but not sure. Like I said, i will know tomorrow and be able to better look at it in the afternoon. If a piece broke off the turbo, eish... That could really be a mess if it made it through the intake and into the... ??? Heavens that has the potential of being real ugly...

Chris

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

If you have enough water in your oil to cause a milky mixture along with a bang and a stall I can guarantee you your motor and probably turbo are toast!! Think about it, that water has been washing all your bearings away not providing proper lubrication, this means, metal to metal.

 

[Chrisssssssss]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

OK, I am not quite sure what to say about that, the truck was running fine until that exact moment. I just checked the oil the other day and it was fine. I haven't driven the truck hardly at all since that day. I have put maybe 100km since then and it just only had a problem right at that time. How quickly would you get a milky mixture if coolant mixes with the oil? If the headgasket blows, could this result happen?

Is the headgasket a complicated procedure on these trucks?

If the engine perhaps did not see much time with coolant in it, is it possible to flush and just do the headgasket? What about the turbo?

What would the headgasket to use be? Also since the truck was puking out oil from somewhere would leave me to believe that it blew out all at once ans instantly mixed fluids and then proceeded to shoot out whatever area it blew. Does this make any sense? Or am I right screwed? /After the pop, the truck ran for maybe 30 seconds before I coasted to shutdown.

I will try to inspect and look further into the source of where the oil was pouring out of and take some things apart to see what I can. By looking at the oil that I saw from the turbo, it was still black like normal oil looking, but the puddle on the floor was chocolate milk, as was the dipstick.

chris

 

[Tooky]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

How quickly would you get a milky mixture if coolant mixes with the oil? If the headgasket blows, could this result happen?

Very quickly I would say. If you blow a headgasket, yes it can result in this.

Is the headgasket a complicated procedure on these trucks?

Yes I just did a head gasket on mine and it requires a near total disassembly of the engine (minus the short block). It took me 2.5 months and I have never done a head gasket before. I posted pics and tons of info in the Engine Tech section under my topic "Blown Head Gasket w/large pics".

I couldnt figure out from your posts - is the truck still sitting on the side of the road? Or did this problem disappear somehow? Did you blow the motor? Did you hear metal on metal banging? I'll be honest - you are screwed. But, it is possible to fix with enough time, money, and dedication (depending on what your problem turns out to be.)

 

[fivetodrive]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

It could also be an intake manifold gasket leaking into the valley... But I wouldn't bet that you are that lucky.
It may also be like it was on my truck the first time it broke and you could have thrown a rod through the block... therefore the milky residue on the floor towards the back of the block... Mine happened 10 miles outside of Wyoming... 100 miles from home. So in that regards you are luckier than me!

 

[Chrisssssssss]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Well, no the problem hasn't disappeared, the truck got pulled back my friends place (about 50km's from mine...) and it is still in front of his house. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to go out there yet... the ride that I had lined up couldn't make it so I have no way there as of right now, but I am working on it. I would really like to head out there to have a look in the daylight to see what I can see. It was very hard to determine where the oil was coming out of. If I were to speculate, I would really say that it would be the head gasket, but who knows. I am going to at least see if I can get a hold of the friend that it is parked in front of could pop the hood and have a look to see what he can see. My hood has hood pins and can be opened from the outside.

As for the rod, I really cannot see that being the case. I did not hear anything metal on metal, or whatever no knocking, or pinging or marbles, just the poof, and then it started sputtering with a very low idle, and then stalled. Steam was coming out the engine bay a bit and also the tail pipes, then also the milky puddle on the ground.

I just got a hold of another friend right now and am going to be on the way in a few minutes. I should be at the truck within an hour or so. I will have my computer with me also my IPhone, so I will post an update as soon as I can see something. If it is worthy of pics, then I will do what I can to post.

I hope that it isn't serious, I work on all my own vehicles to the best I can and have most tools and common sense to be able to do most work. If it were the rod, or piston, that may be a bit out of my realm, but a head gasket should be no problem, provided I have some guidance. I will let you know my findings. Fingers crossed...

BTW, IF it is only the head gasket and it is just failed catastrophically like this (or one of the other gaskets or seals) with the antifreeze milky mixture like found in the engine, would it still be a total rebuild, or can the engine be flushed well enough and still be ok? Prior to this, the truck ran fine, no major issues to report, pulled hard, idled fine, started fine right then. Engine still cold, got to end of the street fine, stop sign, started to accelerate, just started to build mild boost, nothing major, and poof. Just thought I would also give the situation that could help the paint the picture.

Stay tuned folks.... more to come.

Also, just to post any known information about what the mods to the engine are as follows:

*Ultimate V9 chip w/Gauge sized display/control
*Autometer boost gauge
*Walbro high flow fuel pump
*GReddy Profec B (Blue) Spec 2 boost controller
*Custom display (Scan tool hard mounted into glove box and display mounted above stereo, can be used to display four different sensors)
*Stock block bored .030 over & all oil passages/drain ports were debured and smoothed out.
*Stock crank turned down .010 on the mains and .020 on the rods & micro polished.
*New L35 rods shot peened (sp?) for stress relief & machined to accept the Speed Pro floating pins.
*L35 heads slightly worked on the intake side and machined for larger springs.
*Ported stock intake
*Comp Cams springs
*GMPP billet steel 2 bolt main caps
*Z28 oil pump with welded pick-up
*Comp Cams double roller timing chain
*Speed Pro .030 over pistons with coated skirts
*Speed Pro rings
*GMPP 1.6 self align roller rockers
*ARP head studs
*ARP main studs
*GM head gaskets
*Stock cam
*Comp Cams push rods
*Edlbrock aluminum water pump
*Custom alternator bracket tensioner for a/c bracket removal
*Custom 3" down pipe with external wastegate
*B&M flex plate
*Turbo is a T3/T4 hybrid, 57 trim compressor wheel w/.60 a/r housing and a Turbonetics Stage V compressor wheel with a 5 bolt Turbonetics .63 a/r housing.
*MSD 6A
*MSD Blaster GM coil
*Taylor plug wires
*50# injectors
*Adjustable fuel pressure regulator
*TiAL external wastegate
*200amp alternator
*Air to water intercooler 86'd for custom Air to Air
*Razor progressive alky injection - not functional at this time - needs re-wiring
*Taurus (6,000cfm) Electric can w/Factory shroud
*GReddy Type R BOV (mounted at lower IC pipe facing down to avoid alky in engine bay
*A/C removed w/non-A/C heater box and custom bracket
*PermaCool power steering cooler mounted under the radiator
*Permacool tranny cooler w/10" SPAL high flow fan
*HUGE front mount intercool mounted behind factory grill
*Heat wrap on 3" downpipe
*Heat covers on plug boots
*Billet overflow catch can
*K&N cone filter
*AEM Wideband O2 sensor

I hope that this list helps, as it is the only info that I have on the motor at this time. The truck has about 123K mi on it, and was rebuilt with these mods at about 100K.

Chris

 

[SYO237]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Prior to this, the truck ran fine, no major issues to report, pulled hard, idled fine, started fine right then. Engine still cold, got to end of the street fine, stop sign, started to accelerate, just started to build mild boost, nothing major, and poof.

Where you running any scan tool to know it was running fine with 0 knock? Might have hurt the motor before hand unknowingly and when you started it up and started to accerlate was its final point of holding together. Typically, when you blow a headgasket on these trucks, very few come out with only just a blown headgasket and find major destruction.

 

[Chrisssssssss]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Custom scan tool and the ultimate chip were doing the monitoring. However I was not really monitoring the scan tool at the time of poof.

91 octane in tank added octane booster, T1 setting on Ultimate.

see list above edited for mods on engine.

Chris

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Which "custom" scan tool? Seriously, your motor is toast brudda. You would be a complete moron to swap head gaskets and not tear the motor down and check all your bearings.

 

[Ty 1885]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

I think its to early to guess. Wait till he has a chance to check it out.

 

[MotorMouth]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

What was the boost pressure set at?

Not accurately measuring the fuel octane and guessing with a can of octane boost and not letting it warm up may have cost you a motor. I never ran anything less than 105 octane in that truck. That motor was built very well (by me) so something catostrophic must have happened. Judging by what you are describing, there is a high probability of alot of internal damage.

Just info, the scan tool is a basic OTC scan tool that has been dissassembled and mounted in a project box to give it a more decorative and user friendly appearence.

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

What was the boost pressure set at?

Not accurately measuring the fuel octane and guessing with a can of octane boost and not letting it warm up may have cost you a motor. I never ran anything less than 105 octane in that truck. That motor was built very well (by me) so something catostrophic must have happened. Judging by what you are describing, there is a high probability of alot of internal damage.

Just info, the scan tool is a basic OTC scan tool that has been dissassembled and mounted in a project box to give it a more decorative and user friendly appearence.

Wait a second here, are we talking about your old truck you sold to JER?

 

[MotorMouth]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Wait a second here, are we talking about your old truck you sold to JER?

Afermative.

 

[Chrisssssssss]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Well, I had a chance to look at the unit, it is looking very sad.

I found a piece of what looks to be the rod collar sticking out of the bottom of the oil pan. It looks like it snapped and let go. I had the ultimate set at the T1 setting when I was driving that day. Keep in mind that I only had that truck for just over a week when this happened. I haven't even had much of an opportunity to really even open the truck up that much before this. I wanted to make sure that everything was fully functional and set up right before I got a chance to jump on it. I was just pulling away from a stop sign and poof.

I am not sure the reason why, or what internal damage was done beyond that, or what can be re-used. As for the time being, I do not have the finances available to do a complete rebuild, so that would be out of the question at this time. I would not have a problem working on the truck myself, as I do most of my mechanical work myself. If for some reason it does not need any major internal re-doing, like just the parts destroyed replaced, maybe a head gasket, then it may be salvageable and it may see the road again in the near future. If it needs a complete rebuild/replacement due to any other damage, then I am afraid the truck will be cocooned for at least a little while until I can figure out what to do.

Motormouth I understand that you are the builder behind the engine. If you could pm me anything you can about what was done to the engine and what parts were used, etc that would be great. I will talk to you further then. Maybe you can help me understand what needs to be done to get her up and going again if it is not too much involved, replacing parts. We will take this further on the pm side.

Sorry guys at least for now, the truck is a hurtin unit. I have no idea what the truck went through over the last little while as far as abuse or whatever. All I know is that I was half way through my second full tank of gas when this happened.

I will post any other progress reports as they come up, but it may not be for a while. I will at least see if I can open it up to see what the damages are and assess the situation before I go any further.

Well... I guess that's that.

Chris

 

[Chrisssssssss]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Hey, at least I made it to "Junior Member" instead of the "Hi! I'm new here!!!"

Chris

 

[mildtowild]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Had it for less than a week, That sucks. :tdown:

 

[syclone0209]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

i have yet to see any trucks using the L35 rods last more than a year. especially if the turbo and motor is upgraded. they just break and dont bend like the stock rods.

 

[TYTILIDIE]

Re: oh no! Heard a bang...

Hey, at least I made it to "Junior Member" instead of the "Hi! I'm new here!!!"

Chris

:rotf: I feel for ya man, thats a nice truck to just have sitting around. At least you got it cheap right?