Report that engine failure

[bren]

R33 GTST RB25DET

Head gasket failure on stock engine with GT35R, 1.7bar and 461rwhp

Fixed with metal head gasket and ARP head stud and nuts, then ran 460rwhp on pump fuel and 500.1rwhp on race fuel.

[bren]

Above engine suffered big end failure due to surge during track testing.

[r33_racer]

1st Rb30det blew from loss of oil on track due to sandwich plate fitting snapping off from vibrations.

2nd Rb30det blew from insufficient big end and main bearing clearances, which consequently blew the turbo from bearing metal clogging up the oil feed.

All done on the race track. Learnt my lesson with what clearances to run for a race engine.

[R33_Rob]

Engine/Car: S2 R33 GTST

Type of failure: Engine Failure

Factors influencing the failure: Worn Turbo inlet and exhaust manifold gasket.

State of tune of the engine: Stock but running 9.7 psi due to pod and turbo back exhaust

Suspension and tyres: Irrelevant

Oil used and service interval: Fully sinthetic 10W30

General comments: Engine failure due to atmospheric BOV venting tooo much air combined with broken gaskets.

Solution: Replaced gaskets and bov (just to be on the safe side)

[gt-ahhh!]

1993 R33 gts-t, RB25DET

bought in january 07, 70000km on the clock. 3 inch turbo back, pod, all else stock. serviced after 3000km with mobil synthetic.

that engine lasted 3 months (5000km), developed severe knock, oil spraying around engine bay. from memory had lost two cylinders. low compression. evidence of detonation on pistons. apparently had problems leaning out?

replaced with a fully reconditioned engine. dynoed at 180rwkw (with a misfire).

6 months later, (10000km on new engine). serviced twice, again with mobil full syn. under acceleration blew cloud of smoke and started making awful noises. still making boost however. pulled over and after a few min shut off. started again an hour later, no power, no boost developing, assuming turbo has blown when shut off. nursed it the 5km home, oil light came on momentarily. discovered it had burnt 3 litres of oil, none in the engine bay, all up the back of the car. now has slight knock, low compression and misfire. very upset owner. sprays liquid oil out the exhaust when revved slightly.

will be interested to see the diagnosis, 2 engines in 9 months! i havent been able to afford any mods yet because of this ridiculousness.

[booosta]

God have never seen so many rebuilt RB26's, was considering buying an R32GTR, but now I think I'll change my mind, coming from mainly toyota 3SGTE, 1JZ, 2JZ powered engines who's only failures is ceramic turbine wheels falling off, no big end or oil pump problems and can handle 500whp all day every day.

By the way my brothers immaculate stock as a rock R32GTR put a valve into number 1 piston taking off from the lights ( sedately) he only had the car for 3 months, turns out he had to rebuild the whole engine crank, pistons, head shavings went through the whole motor etc. The car was a direct import from japan and he only uses the best oils and is meticulous in every thing mechanical, but you never know what these jap fellows did with their oil changes.

They are amazing engines RB26's just not as reliable as 1jz or 2jz's.

[Duncan]

lol are you serious or trolling?

valves don't hit pistons on a running motor unless timing belt hasn't been changed as per the schedule.

there are at least 10x as many rb26s as xJZ in Oz so I'm not surprised there are more blow ups. But the difference is you can get local blocks and rods (rb30), pistons (ACL), rings (ACL), bearings (ACL). Lets not forget most of these motors are putting out twice the power nissan engineered them for, and are 120-150000klm old. And we better not mention head gaskets on the JZs right?

this thread is here to understand why these happen and what we can all do to prevent them and has identified important patterns (bearings spun due to oil issues, ceramic turbo failures, #6 ring lands etc). So the more posts/more examples, the better we can understand it.

[booosta]

No I'm not trolling whatever the hell that is, was just weighing up the pro's and cons of buying an RB26 powered skyline,( I thought they were on par with the 1jzgte) as for the 1 and 2jz engines headgasket popping is pretty much non existent, whoever told you this is incorrect, definitely for the 7mgte powered vehicles not 1 or 2jz's. The main gripe it seems is blocked oil pumps, bearing problems, air flow meter faults, turbo's all causing serious grief valves hitting pistons etc.

Also there are more 1jz or 2jz powered vehicles in australia than RB26 cars. And to answer your statement the timing belt, tensioner, was all changed before the engine self destructed ( it doesn't matter now as it has been completely rebuilt) R34 turbo's, new R33 crankshaft, N1 oil and waterpump etc.

I am not having a go at anybody's vehicle or their proud ownership in particular, as I love the cars albeit having never owned one and want to be sure to know all the pitfalls of ownership beforehand, to make a long story short it sounds like the best advice is to buy and R32 GTR and put a R34 GTR engine in the car that way you have no oil pump issues, steel wheel turbo's and less mechanical damage internally. I was just under the misapprehension that these engines were fairly bulletproof like the toyotas.

Edited November 3, 2007 by booosta

[tacker]

101,500 kms

.95 bar

garret 2860-5

stupid driver going from 5th to 2nd chasing even more stupid porsche at 240 odd kph big BIG mechanical over rev

result no oil pressure / spun bearing or oil pump collar

[Duncan]

well well well, here I am again

Engine/Car: rb26dett / r32 gtr

Type of failure: very low compression #6 - strip down smashed ring lands

Factors influencing the failure: 9 laps into a 10 lap race, nice and hot. Must have pinged itself to death. Testing the injectors and fuel pump this week to make sure they weren't the problem, but this was just after a new tune.

State of tune of the engine: Standard. 12psi boost.

Suspension and tyres: jap shocks, re55s.

Oil used and service interval: new royal purple every race meet. oil cooler, large sump.

General comments: motor was abou 3000klm old, apart from the smashed ring lands the rest of the motor looked perfect. Replacing the dead piston and bolting it all back together.

[jeffworld2]

ENGINE/CAR: 33 gtst, rb25det

FAILURE: still running, clunking powerless pos tho. pull apart shows very badly scored main bearings. 5 out of 6 lol

FACTORS INFLUENCING FAILURE: found what was left of an exhaust manifold bolt that had been drilled out of the head up in there. I assume it was some smaller shavings etc. that caused the damage to the bearings tho. Not sure how it got from the head to the sump??

STATE OF TUNE: just finished turbo swap, previously stock turbo well tuned. just started making noise after 5 min turned back on.

COMMENTS: dont lose bolts i guess. can be fixed with just new set of bearings and a good clean, hopefully i will do something else while its out. not a great experience financially but i am learning a lot

[pgh89]

Engine/Car: 1995 R33 GTSt RB25DET

Type of failure: it ended up me having 2 replace bearings, rings ,hone the block,re sit all valves etc. etc. etc. all beacuse when it shot off the joiner it sucked up a heap of dirt and shit off the road.

Factors influencing the failure: hose clamp lose shot off fmic plumbing

State of tune of the engine: Power fc 280hp at 12psi

Suspension and tyres: height adjust coilovers all round - black ones!

Oil used and service interval: 5,000km not a k over - synthethic

General comments:

make sure your plumbing on your fmic is tight as so u dont have to have the trouble i had!

[PHATR32]

ENGINE/CAR: 32GTR - RB26 from a 95 R33GTR

FAILURE: Valve Guide Snapped, Piston mashed piece of guide into head, screwed piston and head.

FACTORS INFLUENCING FAILURE: no idea, engine was in mint condition, didn’t smoke/burn oil, didn’t use up coolant, didn’t leak oil, compression was great, spark plugs were mint too, no signs of detonation, the fuel mixture was real rich.

STATE OF TUNE: Stock everything except for pods/CAI

COMMENTS: ODO showed 110,000k's when imported, no head work done by me, oil changed every 5000-6000k's with Castrol EDGE. Daily driven (about 250k's per week), occasional thrash, the day before failure the engine was thrashed though.

Edited January 9, 2008 by PHATR32

[Duncan]

had you rebuilt the head at any stage? know how many klm it had done?

[PHATR32]

fyi - update the above info.

anything else i can add?

[GTScotT]

not realy sure if this counts yet as its still going and im still going to be using it for around a month before i put my other motor and manual trans in

Engine/Car: RB20DET / Auto R32 GTST (early 1991)

Type of failure: rings and head gasket

Factors influencing the failure: broken fuel pressure reg so no pressure, so badly leaned out on boost (all by previous owner)

State of tune of the engine: stock, now running a bar of boost though until i change it soon

Suspension and tyres: stock at the time, now stock with gtr 32 rims and bridgestone grid 2's

Oil used and service interval: unsure

General comments: comp test showed up 120, 120, 120, 120, 0, 30, then a wet test showed up, 150,150,150,150,145,30 not good lol yet will be swaping it for a spare i have, found out about the compression as soon as i got the car, suspect it to be the stuffed fpr as it would do a thing similar to cut even on stock boost if i floored it and wouldnt like going about 5500 rpm, saw air fuel ratios on my turbo timer to be stupid (said like 16's and 17:1 on boost, like starting normalish them climing as the boost went up, suspected oxygen sensor, changed it, same, changed pump, then kinked the fuel line to test the reg and suddenly it says 11's and 12:1 on boost even when i turned it up to a bar, so now has a sr20det reg on it

[Angus Smart]

Engine/Car: Rb26dett r32 gtr

Type of failure: Piston 6, 0 compresstion and leaky failure not yet 100% known but piston or ring failuer most likely

Factors influencing the failure: lots of smoke, and dead sounding cylinder. possibly could have caused problems with vibrating loose crank main bolt and keyway on harmonic balancer a month or so before. and also car sitting without starting for over a month while on holidays..

State of tune of the engine: jap rich tune 11-10 and below

Suspension and tyres: aragosta coil overs, 17x9 volks with advan neova

Oil used and service interval: usually on formula r @ 5000 sometimes less!

General comments: noticed sounds when starting up what i know know as a dead cylinder, i'm pretty sure the engine was built in japan with n1 pistons

compression test a few months before showed up 130ish across all cylinders with only a 5psi drop between them

Driven like a grandma for many weeks before, as i suspected it to be a little sick, then loads of smoke apon acceleration on m5 after toll booths.

Edited January 24, 2008 by Angus Smart

[N1GTR]

Dont know the exact reason yet?

[Bumblebee]

Engine/Car: 93' GTR R32

Type of failure: Turbo Failure

Factors influencing the failure: possibly high boost along with aged turbos

State of tune of the engine: Perfect.

Suspension and tyres: Irrelevant

Oil used and service interval: Full Syn 10W/30

General comments: Turbo exploded and killed my engine.. now im up for a rebuild.. Great

Not enough i build motors everyday i gotta do mine too...

[Angus Smart]

Dont know the exact reason yet?

Well to tell you the truth. nope, still havn't pulled the motor out yet.

but after i got back from holidays not start car for over a month,

also after having crank bolt replaced as keyway got worn when bolt came loose just before i went away. could have caused problems there with the engine harmonics been out a bit as there was a fair amount of vibration before. unknown if this can cause problems to the actual piston/rings tho..

will found out the exact failure soon. and some investigation can be done after that..