2014 GT 500 Catastrophic Engine Failure: Next Steps? Thoughts?

[Mulholland Man]

Hi Everyone,

Well it happened. My engine went boom! I had recently done a compression check and I was more than 10% lower on compression on 3 of my driver side cylinders. I knew I had a problem and that I was going to need to rebuild. I also knew that my care was injured. Just wasn't expecting Catastrophic failure. Anyway. Engine's blown and I haven't had a chance to get it looked at yet to determine if the block is salvageable or not or how damaged it is. But the sound was NOT good and the engine just died and cut out and partially caught fire, smoked and then just fizzled out. Had it towed home.

I'm in California (Los Angeles). I have called Van to speak with him but I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that anyone might have. Don't know whether it might make sense to rebuild the stock engine or start fresh or even buy a used or rebuilt engine? I know guys on this forum have dealt with this issue and I know there's a lot of experience here so I thought I would put my problem out there. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Mulholland Man

 

[me32]

Im guessing it's modded?

 

[Blkblk13car]

^ yeah was this a stock engine? (I’m
Guessing no since you were comp. testing it before?)

 

[Mulholland Man]

Yes, it was modded. All bolt ons w/tune. 2.4" pulley and Metco Idler pulley. VMP Dual 68 TB, VMP Big Cold Air 123, SC Elbow hi flow, VMP Oil Sep both sides, MGW Short Shifter, Roush Axle Back Exhaust, Boost a Pump, Griggs Racing SS Suspension with Coil Overs, Watts Link, Torque Arm, Control Arms, Tuned and running 17 Max PSI Boost on 91 Octane. Dynoed at 650 RWHP on MUSTANG DYNO which converts roughly to 710 or so RWHP on Conventional Dyno.

I bought the car with 5,000 Miles and didn't do a compression check at purchase. Did one several months later when I started adding mods and noticed that I had some lower compression in the 3 driver side cylinders but was still within spec of 10% from other cylinders. Added boost and more mods. Over time I think those weaker cylinders lost compression and became more worn and damaged with increased boost. I should have rebuilt engine as soon as I knew I had issues with the driver bank but did not. Pushed it and then Boom.

 

[03cobra#694]

Bad tune, went lean?

 

[svt662]

That stinks! Contact Livernois Motorsports....

 

[Catmonkey]

I guess it depends on what your future plans are and/or how bad it's blown. If it's totally trashed and you're not looking to set the world on fire, you may be better off finding a complete used engine. Building one these engines is very expensive. First you need to tear it down and see what you have to work with.

 

[darksykal]

wow so sorry man those are just very basic mods and not overwhelming on power either.

who tuned your car?

 

[fearthesnake]

wow so sorry man those are just very basic mods and not overwhelming on power either.

who tuned your car?

Thats what I thought too but his motor may have already been hurt by previous owner it seems like.

 

[Mulholland Man]

Its my fault. Not my tuner. AFTER i had my latest set of mods and brought the boost up from 14 to 17 my tuner told me thats as far as I should go without rebuilding. After the mods and new tune I drove it HARD and bounced the rev limiter a couple times. I may have f'd up the timing by doing that only exacerbating the damage I knew was already there. When I was driving recently I noticed a few things: 1. It was drinking oil like a drunk bastard; 2. When I went WOT it was taking a long time for my RPMs to climb and it felt like the car was "choking" after which I "backed off completely". I knew I was limping. So i had been driving real easy. Then some guy pulls next to me on freeway last night. He hit it and I hit it, Boom. Car thudded, loud engine grumbling like things were going places. Car lost all power. Battery lite went on. I pulled over to side of road. I ****ing knew better. Sooo stupid. I'm an idiot. Anyway, I'm taking it to Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) and they are going to do a special compression test (where car doesn't turn on but turns over) to do a preliminary evaluation and advise. I spoke with Van, he said it sounds like I broke my block and he advised that Ford has discontinued making our Trinity Short block. Looks like if you need a new "Built" short block, you are looking at like 15k? That's the short block and fixins therein only. May need new valves, etc. Will need to have it looked at. Am considering selling the car as I don't have 20k to put into it. Don't know. Just really really depressed. I love this car like I know only you guys know. So easy to do stupid shit in these cars! Whoop, there goes the bank. So question is, if you were me, "What would you do?" I could sell it and buy a new or used car. My wife is PISSED and says that I brought it on myself by modding my car. She says if I do find a way to rebuild then I would need to bring it back to stock. I'm in hell.

 

[Mulholland Man]

 

[Handlebar Moustache]

I’d look for a used short block. I think BiminiLX had one for sale... you might try asking him.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

 

[Mulholland Man]

I’d look for a used short block. I think BiminiLX had one for sale... you might try asking him.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

I've seen his posts and am familiar with him. How do I contact individual forum members?

 

[darksykal]

Its my fault. Not my tuner. AFTER i had my latest set of mods and brought the boost up from 14 to 17 my tuner told me thats as far as I should go without rebuilding. After the mods and new tune I drove it HARD and bounced the rev limiter a couple times. I may have f'd up the timing by doing that only exacerbating the damage I knew was already there. When I was driving recently I noticed a few things: 1. It was drinking oil like a drunk bastard; 2. When I went WOT it was taking a long time for my RPMs to climb and it felt like the car was "choking" after which I "backed off completely". I knew I was limping. So i had been driving real easy. Then some guy pulls next to me on freeway last night. He hit it and I hit it, Boom. Car thudded, loud engine grumbling like things were going places. Car lost all power. Battery lite went on. I pulled over to side of road. I ****ing knew better. Sooo stupid. I'm an idiot. Anyway, I'm taking it to Galpin Auto Sports (GAS) and they are going to do a special compression test (where car doesn't turn on but turns over) to do a preliminary evaluation and advise. I spoke with Van, he said it sounds like I broke my block and he advised that Ford has discontinued making our Trinity Short block. Looks like if you need a new "Built" short block, you are looking at like 15k? That's the short block and fixins therein only. May need new valves, etc. Will need to have it looked at. Am considering selling the car as I don't have 20k to put into it. Don't know. Just really really depressed. I love this car like I know only you guys know. So easy to do stupid shit in these cars! Whoop, there goes the bank. So question is, if you were me, "What would you do?" I could sell it and buy a new or used car. My wife is PISSED and says that I brought it on myself by modding my car. She says if I do find a way to rebuild then I would need to bring it back to stock. I'm in hell.

so sorry again dude
for what its worth 17psi is not really that close to the limit of these engines. its pretty run of the mil as far as mods go.

I'm not really trying to blame your tuner, but there's a lot of suspect there if thats what hes hes telling you.

these engines def don't like hitting limiters so can't say if that contributed but the mods themselves that you had were far from the limitations of these engines and i hope you tear it apart to get a real answer why it blew.

 

[darksykal]

I've seen his posts and am familiar with him. How do I contact individual forum members?

the envelope icon on the top of the page should allow you to private message him

 

[RBB]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Hitting the limiter on a stock 5.8 is a bad idea, there's just no point. Bad for the timing components, OPGs. You should have left well enough alone and had that motor inspected when you noticed it was drinking oil. That's a clear sign that something is wrong. Even if you had to pull the motor and rebuild, at that point it would've been much cheaper as you could've reused the block, etc. That said, we live and learn....unfortunately sometimes it costs us.

Hoping the damage isn't as catastrophic as you fear....building these motors is an expensive endeavor. Since you promised the wife you'd return the car to stock if repaired, I'd start looking for a used 5.8 short block. That's definitely the cheapest option. Interested to see what you're working with when you tear down.

 

[72MachOne99GT]

Look for a used 5.8, or find a low mileage 5.4 donor.

Good luck.

 

[Mulholland Man]

Thanks Everyone for your thoughts and advice. I'm having it looked at and probably won't know what happened until early next week. I did PM BiminiX on the short block. Thanks Stache. I will update you and let you know how it goes when I know more. BTW, Catmonkey, SICK ride you got. Beautiful! Thanks Again everyone.

 

[Corbic]

LS Swap it.

 

[SteveWK]

Sorry to hear about your engine failure. It worries me because I have basically the same mods plus an off road exhaust which probably adds 20 rwhp. Did you by chance record the compression test readings? The reason I ask is because I had a misfire and it turned out to be the crank bolt coming loose, but during my diagnostic work I did a compression check, and on the passengers side all of the cylinders were roughly 10 psi lower than any of the cylinders on the drivers side. Could be a valve timing problem, but who knows. Again, sorry to hear your engine failed and thanks for reporting it here.