its a sad day for my motorsporting hobby

ive managed to lose my first ever engine today at the lookout stages in yorkshire. only managed to get 1/2 way round the first stage when i realised something was amiss.

i have all the relevant guages to tell me about the motor, but to be completely honoust, when the stages are slippy, you pay more attention to applying best part of 300 horses to the rear wheels and keeping it on the straight and narrow.

first thing i saw a whisp of something through the bonnet vent, car felt ok, nothing immediatly amiss, so carried on ................flat out. next thing car feels flat, and through the extremely effective peltor intercom system i could just here a very very faint rattling noise. then i knew something was amiss

slowed right down and glanssed at the oil pressure - ok, oil temp - just a touch warmer than i would have liked on a fookin freezing snowing yorkshire morning at 09.20hrs 150deg - but why

checked the water temp, off the fookin scale and touching the stop for a second lap

so , no compression ona few cylinders, a rattling crankshaft + the bits we cant see

now , with hind sight ( great thing really ) as with my oil pressure warning light ( large fook off amber lamp below 22psi) , i should have a large fook off what colour here lamp to early warn me of over temp

so a cheapo early warning system today has cost me , a cosworth engine, an entry fee, and travelling costs.

sponsor forms will be available direct from me via pm

moral of the story .......... dont rely on guages for fault prognosis

 

sorry to hear this mark

any idea what caused it?

tottally agree about the guage thing, i.e if you've got time to look at them whilst your driving, your not driving quick enough

 

yeh , was a heater pipe coolant hose by the looks of it, only leaks under max pressure, tested the car just before the stage start, fan come on at 96, go off at 82 deg, must of been spraying the water hence the wisp of smoke ( anti freeze prob)

onward and upwards tho, now ive no excuse for making it 4wd ( apart from the money) and maybe a little more power ( fook knows how tho-was too fookin fast as it was for 2wd)

 

 

you can get coolant waring light from burton

 

Sorry to hear that Mark. I know you really liked that engine as well.....

Ideally you need a coolant level and a coolant temp sensor warning sytem....

 

Sorry to read this Mark. I feel your pain mate.

Kenny and I will look after you with costs where humanly possible mate as i hope you know.

Wounder.

 

i have a red waring light on my SPA water temp gauge

if it rises about 90 it comes on

 

cheers pal

im going to get the lump out next week, and probably just rebuild it as it was, cause it was a fookin scorcher of a motor. just got to make it 4wd in the meantime !

 

Sorry mate , kicks you in the bollox when you least expect it . Just remember the smiles tho , only a small set back !

 

i cant really complain, tbh, 6 events and countless roadmiles plus a trackday, with no problems whatsoever.

but will be fitting a coolant light ! !

 

sorry to hear this mark.

a warning light sounds like a good idea, but couldn't something also be done in the ecu? for example, there is a modifier for the ignition based on coolant temp. couldn't that be used so that when coolant temp is higher than normal limits, ignition advance is changed to drastically reduce the power available? that would have the 2 fold effect that you feel it when driving, and if the power produced is less, less heat will be produced.

don't know if that's a good idea, maybe worth talking through with stu? at least a loss of power could allow you to limp to the end of the stage without suffering major damage.

 

gutting mate!

 

that does sound like a pukka i dea, its done with intake air temp, so why not with coolant temp

i will have a chat !!

cheers

 

gutted for you dude hope you get it sorted soon

 

Shit news

 

sorry to see this Mark

 

Sorry to read this Mark

Time for that sump change & 4wd i think mate. If there's anything i can do just let me no

 

cheers guys

 

I have a warning light on my water....100degree's it goes off at....

Fan switch failed and this what made me slow down...

If you can't rely on the gauges surely u could smell the heat of the water ?

 

its a rally car, we dont smell water heat, its always hot, and were on broken concrete with mud and cow shit, all i could smell is burning shit !!

 

lol....

its just normally you can smell it like fuck when its too hot but i guess burning cow shit must put put you off

 

Ecu can be set to retard the spark if water becomes too hot, but that just heats the water more due to less energy being transfered to the crank instead, thus the same fuel energy is wasted into the water jacket.
As you rally drivers will know, on a traction limited stage you may not feel a loss of say, 20% actual torque and thus the engine could be being damaged further by your not noticing.

Could always add far bigger injectors then we can do something with the fuel side of things instead, but at way over 9:1 and with 40psi, there isnt much fuel left to fooking add on the current setup....

A temperature related light on the dash is the way forward IMO.

 

gutted mate,,, i guess it just goes too show how well it was built in the first place too last so well

 

sorry to hear this.

what about a secs monitor.

fitted mine today and it has a light on it to show you of any faults.

the paramitors can be pre-set so if the alarm light ( or buzzere if fitted) it will go off.

 

bugger

 

sure mark has factored in limits into my ECU that retards if the oil or water gets too hot??

 

bigger injectors is not a problem

but i have to say that with the rebuild , im more than happy ( and will be ) with the compression being even higher, as we havent reached the pinnacle i dont think of the high boost high comp motor. in fact i know full well there is alot more scope in raised compression if i was to go to carless fuels. but even with optimax i feel a little more is still available.

 

i have already had a secs monitor in the rally car, but due to reliability in harsh conditions it was removed.

but the facsility would be a great advantage - and would have indded saved my motor


simon ................................. the challenge is set. i need a standalone adjustable temp warning device to trigger an early warning device !

 

Sorry to hear this. My worries are a little diff from urs. I'm stupid enough to put 2 bar through a CVH, and rely on it for every day use. I am screwed if i dont have a car. I have warning lights/buzzers for oil temp/pressure, water temp/pressure, boost and afr. Its no failsafe, but will go some way to saving an engine. The water temp has saved me a couple of times in the last 7 yrs of having the car

Good luck in getting it sorted

 

so the engine is now out, and the damage that is visible, is as follows,

headgasket blown between numbers 2 and 3, block cracked in number one, one exhaust valve bent in number 3

any ideas as to why the exhaust valve bent ??? and only one of them.

will be getting the head tested tomorrow. hopefully the valve didnt stay open due to a build up of water behind it

 

cant see why the valve bent

 

Sorry to here that Mark...talk about gutting.

Would it not be possible to have all your guages wired to an auxiliary lamp in the dash.

If the lamp lights you or your nav then know to check your guages to establish where the issue lies.

Whatever hopefully you'll get your engine sorted soonish.

 

Really sorry to hear this and for your information, the Defi's come with this facility built in. Not only does it have a warning light built into the gauge, it has a high pitched whistling "buzzer" to notify you. However, I doubt you would hear this on a rally stage (as it is just audible on a track day), but the extra thing it has is the ability to connect a remote warning light as well, which can be mounted anywhere you like.

http://www.defi-shop.com/product/op/op_ind2.html

It has two different coloured LEDs, so one could be oil temp or pressure and the other water temp .

 

as mike has said maybe a warning system indicator can be wired up.

to a large RED light

 

Really gutted to hear this.

The SPAs are the same with a negative earth tigger so you can trigger a waring light/buzzer cut the ignition, pump etc etc

 

cheers guys, i have to say looking at these guages they are quite expensive to buy, and alot of them look like fancy toys, but, there not quite as expensive as the engine ive just scrapped

a warning system is now being developed as we speak for the coolant overheat system.

cheers

mark

 

Mark,
They are very good gauges with stepper motors etc. I wouldn't use any other type - they have proved their worth on LOADS of occasions, and as you said, would have saved your engine (but hindsight is an exact science ) .

Onwards and upwards .

 

when one of mine did the same it bent a couple of valves, i reckoned as the engine heat increased the Hydraulic tappets " Hydraulic Locked " as the oil pressure dropped off causing the valves to stay open longer and hitting a piston , strange its only one tho

 

gutted Mark.

Had one eye on the results from over in Belgium and noticed you missing