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8.1L Carnage!

sled_dog

sled_dog

1 ton status
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Sep 3, 2002
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Austin, TX
Had a truck come into work, customer's complaint? Transmission inoperative. Wouldn't start... long story short, discovered it through a rod through the oil pan and was siezed in place...

So here it is...

engine.jpg


and here is the offending party:
rod.jpg


BY the way, that little "rock"... is what is left of the #1 cylinder piston... Oh and back behind my plug socket and next to the plug boot plyers is what is the shards from the oil pan. I removed the rod and piston chunk before I pulled the engine. Just smacked the oil pan with a huge prybar and pulled it through the oil pan. You can't tell by the picture but it is twisted as well as bent, haha.

As far as I can tell, it popped a headgasket, and hydrolocked, through the rod through the oil pan and crumbled up the piston at the sametime. I guess even Dex-Cool doesn't compress, haha. Now here is what I don't get, wouldn't a person notice this when driving the truck? He said he was just driving along and it stopped... couldn't get it to restart. Since he had one issue previouslly with the trans(range selector issue that Allison's have) he figured it was the trans, I guess...

Whatever, I'm 8.5 hours into the job that is only paying 16.8 to do. I work in a Ford/Mitsubishi dealership and am puting an 8.1L in a 02 GMC 2500HD. The guy bought it from us used. Oh and his grandfather is some former Eagles player, so our company feels some insane need to cater to him. He is going to be pissed when the bill comes down. The longblock they got me didn't include valve covers or an oil pan, so I had to order a new oil pan, plugs, oil cooler(voids the warranty of the engine if not replaced), and one or two other things.
 
:eek1: that guy is retarded. there is no way you do that to a piston in a few strokes.
 
damnit .... yea at my work we never saw that but the chevy workhorse chassis in rv's have a recall on some of them cause the piston was getting excessive slap due to faulty wrist pins ... we did 2 so far
 
My 350 hydro locked. Constant 90mph for ages, let of the gas to slow for an off ramp.........silence! Number 5 sucked in some coolant on letting off the gas and wrapped the rod around the crank stopping the motor instantly (auto...manual probably would have done a job more like your customers).
I still have the piston and rod polished up sitting in a cabinet.
 
My 350 hydro locked. Constant 90mph for ages, let of the gas to slow for an off ramp.........silence! Number 5 sucked in some coolant on letting off the gas and wrapped the rod around the crank stopping the motor instantly (auto...manual probably would have done a job more like your customers).
I still have the piston and rod polished up sitting in a cabinet.
 
But it only happened once. What's up with this site today???!!!
 
I had a 345 Binder engine lock up while driving.:eek1: The head of #6 exhaust valve just popped off, then the stem came loose and punched right into the piston. I was doing about 40mph at the time. No warning, just INSTANT stop (4 speed).
 
basing110 said:
damnit .... yea at my work we never saw that but the chevy workhorse chassis in rv's have a recall on some of them cause the piston was getting excessive slap due to faulty wrist pins ... we did 2 so far
Click to expand...

The wrist pin issue wasn't a recall by Workhorse or GM. A batch of 8.1's built through a period of time in 2005 had the issue. Didn't need to recall them as they would start knocking within 1000 miles or less. They came to us, we didn't have to find them! Once you heard the noise it's done and there was nothing to do to prevent it. It's a pretty obvious knock that most can hear.

16 hours is decent in a truck. Wait till you have to spend 24-30 doing it in a class A motorhome. It's a $10,000 warranty bill once the labor and parts are added up.
 
305 died a similar death. Carnage was pretty similar too, big bump in the side of the oil pan, and a totally locked up engine.

I blew the headgasket when I slowed down for a stop sign. I was less than 2 minutes away from my destination, and figured I might be able to make it. Got her up to speed with some difficultly, and a lot of knocking, when the transmission suddenly decided to downshift, and kaboom! Big cloud of white smoke out of my left tailpipe, and my engine stopped dead on the spot. White smoke was pouring out of the PCV valve beather, and filled the cab of the truck up through the holes in the firewall.

Quite a spectacular death, really, lol
 
SierraClassic said:
305 died a similar death. Carnage was pretty similar too, big bump in the side of the oil pan, and a totally locked up engine.

I blew the headgasket when I slowed down for a stop sign. I was less than 2 minutes away from my destination, and figured I might be able to make it. Got her up to speed with some difficultly, and a lot of knocking, when the transmission suddenly decided to downshift, and kaboom! Big cloud of white smoke out of my left tailpipe, and my engine stopped dead on the spot. White smoke was pouring out of the PCV valve beather, and filled the cab of the truck up through the holes in the firewall.

Quite a spectacular death, really, lol
Click to expand...
makes me realize lucky I was. I made a 280 mile drive with a blown intake gasket that was leaking into the ports a bit, but mostly into the valley. Had to keep stopping to throw some oil in so I could keep oil pressure... Oh and I was cruising like 70 the whole way across the state, in a burb with a 4 speed, that could have been fun.
 
Last month I hade a customer come in with an engine knock. turned out he had not changed the oil in 36,000 miles. The engine was toast. after discounting it generously it was 14,000$ for a Range Rover engine. the husbands dont realize wifes dont take care of the cars and since they dont drive them they neglect to service them.

We used to get 4.0 jeeps into the dealer all the time with the rods hanging out the side of the block. we would just start them up and drive them in the back. hearty little things.
 
had a F150 like that before. Have had a few of those need engines in the nott o recent past, one drove into the sho;. Came in for a check engine light. Totally ignoring the horrible misfire, vibration, and lack of power. Went to restart it after it had been parked in the service bay, BANG. It had already snapped a rod, but it came around just right that last time and siezed the engine with the rod jammed against the block.
 
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