Report that engine failure

[Dorifta]

gtr oil pumps failing seem to be quite common, Ive seen a few and heard of many more, whether there are aftermarket of stock, I believe its all in the installation and clearances of the pump and collar, , seen it first hand, People rock up with a stock or, usuallly aftermarket pump and go fit this in the build, 3 months later pump cracked or smashed, Never supply a workshop with such a critical componet, whether it fails or not, they just cant provide warranty on it, New or not. Its seems to be the most critical part of the assembly,

[SilverECR33]

My engine died. RIP engine.

Type: OS 46 Maxxx

It went uP UP UP, then I lost control, then it went DOWn DOwn Down .. Splat...

The planes in 100 peices now. Snapped the rear end of the motor.. Good effort I thought.

.. Wrong Forum?

[cowie165]

My engine died. RIP engine.

Type: OS 46 Maxxx

It went uP UP UP, then I lost control, then it went DOWn DOwn Down .. Splat...

The planes in 100 peices now. Snapped the rear end of the motor.. Good effort I thought.

.. Wrong Forum?

The forum is right, but it's here for people to learn. If you added a few more details to your post it could still be helpful. More info is better.

[rtune]

I may as well dump my failure earlier in this year.

Very simple, really.

Engine was stock, well, stock from Omori factory. RB26 in R34

Failure: oil pump, leading to bottom end bearing failure

Reason: Fluid service with timing belt change. Shop did not torque harmonic balancer (damper) to spec, and it worked loose and started to wiggle on the crank at some stage. Car did another 2000km without issue then oil pump let go while on dyno at a second tuning shop.

Oil pressure went to zero. No piston, head, valve, cam or sleeve damage visible however bottom end bearing(s) worn.

[Ziller]

Hi moneypit, sorry to hear of your engine failure, it must have pissed you off, so what did you end up doing, rebuild?, was just wondering if you have any pic's of your bearings so I can compare them with my bearings, mine is a pic of a big end bearing with around 2000kms on the engine, I had a check done on the engine at another workshop and this is what was found, the mains are worse, the engine has now been pulled down and is being measured and inspected as we speak, so far things are not looking good, I will know more soon on how this came to be, I cant wait to get the car back on the road for the summer, good luck with your car.

[STATUS]

My engine died. RIP engine.

Type: OS 46 Maxxx

It went uP UP UP, then I lost control, then it went DOWn DOwn Down .. Splat...

The planes in 100 peices now. Snapped the rear end of the motor.. Good effort I thought.

.. Wrong Forum?

HAHA yeah wrong forum, i hang out over @ heli freak abit but i run OS 50's and 0.91's

[Fishpaste~]

Engine/Car:

R32 GTR V-Spec II

Type of failure:

Bearing lifted on number 6

Factors influencing the failure:

One of the ball bearings that help control oil where the oil filter screws onto the block got free, probably lead to starvation or might have caused the problem as it made its way threw the engine.. we eventually found it in the oil cooler!

State of tune of the engine:

Stock

Suspension and tyres:

irrelivant

Oil used and service interval:

Motul 300v Chrono, every 5000km

General comments:

none really, just hope this doesnt happen to anyone else!

[MLCrisis]

Woe is me. I did not think I would be making a post in this thread! R34 GTR N1 crate motor in a 2001 R34 GTR V Spec II. had the following fitted:

Extended oil sump and baffle kit

Oil cooler

Head drain (back to sump)

Two stage oil catch can draining back to sump

ATI Harmonic balancer

Also had Aluminium radiator and other bits and bobs intended to extend the life of the motor. About 12,000 km after installation of this motor, suffered failure of N1 oil pump. I was at a track day at the time, but was not thrashing it. I doubt that I even red-lined it. The motor was putting out about 430 hp atw.

Just pulled engine out. Pictures of oil pump gear follow: Note that the inner drive ring was broken into three pieces and the ohter gear was smashed into lots of pieces!

This was the drive gear - broken in three places.

This was the pump as we opened it up. The outer gear was in lots of pieces!

Boo hoo!

And please don't tell me that revving an N1 motor to the redline will cause this. You may be right - but any motor should be designed so that there is a safety margin beyond the red line, so that you can rev to the limit and even slightly beyond, without catastrophic failure. I have seen so much cr#p on forums around the world recently claiming that failures have happened because the unfortunate owner "did not know how to drive an RB26"!!! What a load of bolleaux. If the N1 oil pump cannot be taken safely to the end of the factory defined rev range, then it is a piece of cr#p and totally unsuited for the job it is supposed to do. Note that I had an ATI harmonic balancer on there too, so there should have been no problems with harmonics. There is clearly an inherent problem with the design and/or materials of these pumps, otherwise we would not be getting so many failures.

And before some keyboard warrior dismisses this as another cheap oil pump from ebay, this was a genuine Nissan N1 oil pump that came as part of a factory N1 crate engine!!

Looking at upgrade options from stock, to RB28 to RB30 - with a Tomei oil pump!!!

Bugger.

I hate you, N1 oil pumps!!

Edited January 15, 2010 by MLCrisis

[Duncan]

sorry to hear that mate - can I ask, when you say N1 crate motor, did you just buy a complete motor from nissan? did anyone pull it down to check the clearances?

Assuming it was an untouched crate motor and only lasted 12000klm, I think you would have a decent claim for warranty under fair trading laws. You would certainly expect that sort of motor/investment to last longer.

[MLCrisis]

[quote name='Duncan' date='15 Jan 2010, 08:15 PM' post='5037005'

Assuming it was an untouched crate motor and only lasted 12000klm, I think you would have a decent claim for warranty under fair trading laws. You would certainly expect that sort of motor/investment to last longer.

Unforshunnudly, Inshpector, it was a shecond hand motor. Bought in Japan in another car. The motor was not pulled down before it was installed in mine, but there was some record of it in the previous car.

So I cannot claim that from Nissan. Everything that could be checked without pulling it apart was checked and it all looked good.

Cheers.

[Duncan]

how very unfortunate. I was aksing because I was looking into this but am not happy to pay $12k for something that may not come with warranty that it is OK.

In particular - if there is no warranty expected I think it is important to tear the motor down and check all clearances even though it is brand new and from nissan. I trust no-one.

[Simonster]

Engine/Car: RB26 R32 GTR

Type of failure: big end number 1 cylinder. caught it quickly only bearing has damage crank etc v good.

Factors influencing the failure: stupidly human error, low fuel level, with new car, moderate cornering 3rd gear. engine coughed a few times- note to self: fit surge tank, remember how low fuel gauge showed, don't do it again d*ckhead

State of tune of the engine:PowerFC, forged pistons, cams, 34N1 turbo's, 700cc inj 044 pump, splitfires etc 333kW

Suspension and tyres: no factor

Oil used and service interval: Motul, I'd just bought it, according to owner apparently well, but after seeing motor apart, probably only had 1 oil change in 2.5 years and 7000km's

General comments: expensive lesson, however got to build my 26/30

[RoVer™]

Engine/Car: R33 GTS25T S2

First time

Type of failure: New Exedy clutch with less than 3000kms died, and clutch fork.

Factors influencing the failure: Pushrod at the clutch pedal was adjusted too far in, clutch was constantly slightly dis-engaged (like keeping your foot slightly on the clutch 24/7)

State of tune of the engine: Unknown Jap tune, but stock boost and motor. 3" catback, apexi pod.

Suspension and tyres: Tein coilovers, 18"s.

Oil used and service interval: Castrol Magnatec every 5000kms or earlier + filter.

Second time

Engine/Car:

Type of failure: Turbo.

Factors influencing the failure: Intercooler hose came off a week earlier causing the car to turn off, coke cap placed to block off a hose for a flutter. lol.

State of tune of the engine: Unknown Jap tune, stock boost and motor. 3" catback, apexi pod.

Suspension and tyres: Tein coilovers, 18"s.

Oil used and service interval: Castrol Magnatec every 5000kms or earlier + filter.

General comments:

Coke cap had been put in the night before the turbo failed.

Edited January 24, 2010 by RoVer™

[Hanif85]

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to technical stuff but here's what happened:

Engine/Car: RB26DETT / R32 GTR (1990)

Type of failure: Spun oil drive collar on crankshaft = no oil pressure @ 8000rpm, saw the light and backed off and shut the car down. Crankshaft snout, oil pump and harmonic balancer stuffed. Everything else was just really old and dirty.

Factors influencing the failure: Age and design flaw of the R32 GTR Crank??? Oil flow issues???

State of tune of the engine: Stock - Cat back exhaust, Intake

Suspension and tyres: Nismo shocks and dampers, 18x9.5" work emotion cr kai (265/35), Falken

Oil used and service interval: Oil + Filter + Maintenance every 5000km

General comments: Wasn't happy at all when it happened - especially the financial side. Decided upon ground up rebuild with lots of new parts (pistons, rods, 33 crank, n1 pump, turbos, valves etc etc)... car is a neat streeter, no high power figures here. Figured on not changing the original recipe of the standard gtr too much - after all it lasted 20 years before catastrophic failure right?

[Deano 1]

this thread is scary

[Duncan]

I owe another update or 2....

engine #8

Engine/Car: rb26dett / r32 gtr

Type of failure: under 300klm....badly spun big end bearings......caused by leaving out the sleeve between the block and oil cooler/adapter when assmbling the motor. small part, easy to miss, ouch.

Factors influencing the failure: silly mistake!

State of tune of the engine: standard except for cam gears and computer. approx 250kw

Suspension and tyres: bilsteins, kumho v70A.

Oil used and service interval: mineral run in oil

General comments: Nice to have something different! Classic 20c part wrecking a motor

engine #9

Engine/Car: rb26dett / r32 gtr

Type of failure: head gasket. probably warped head and/or block

Factors influencing the failure: my unwillinginess to stop when the water temp went over 125o...it was the last race meet at Oran Park, and I was winning.

State of tune of the engine: standard except for cam gears and computer. approx 250kw

Suspension and tyres: bilsteins, falken sp700 slicks

Oil used and service interval: honestly can't remember....I run whatever synthetic stuff I have around in 10w40 or 20w50. change every 2 race meets

General comments: this was a funny one, the car has always run hot when being pushed hard, up to 110o. I run straight distilled water + redline water wetter which makes a big difference. Also twin pass pwr radiator, oversized fan pulley, n1 water pump, standard intercooler and nothing else in front of the radiator. But since I changed the turbos late last year it has had a huge overheating problem - 10 minutes at full throttle and the temps go 120-130. I had been lucky for about 5 race meets, ran out of luck this time. Will be interested to see what is wrong when I tear the motor down, will also xray block if nothing else obvious

Looks like I'm on track to finally hit double figures this year!

[N1GTR]

Duncan have you put air guides in yet to channel all the air through the intercooler/radiator instead of around them yet?

[N1GTR]

Duncan have you put air guides in yet to channel all the air through the intercooler/radiator instead of around them yet?

[N1GTR]

Duncan have you put air guides in yet to channel all the air through the intercooler/radiator instead of around them yet?

[Duncan]

you can ask that again!

actually your 3 questions make we want to take a pic of the genuine nissan carboard guides I was running (you can tell they are factory because they have "NISSAN™" written on them. But I am too drunk to bother getting up

not factory, can't offically run them