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How Many Engines have you Broke?

How Many?

  • Total voters
    66
I think the first one I killed was a 305 in an '88 Caprice in high school. My friends mom had a '95 Caprice with the the baby lt1. He borrowed it one day and we raced. He took me off the line but the computer shuts off the lt at 106 or so. I blew past him doing whatever that 305 would do (only had 85 on the speedo). The catalytic converter was plugged and toasted the heads. Did head gaskets, lapped the valves with a drill motor and compound and drove it some more.

Same friend had a '90 gmc suburban with something like 600k miles on it (his dad bought it new). After the original motor popped, a local junkyard swapped in another TBI 350 with a "warranty." We popped that one a few days after we got it back. They stuck in a replacement, we popped it a few days later. After 3 or 4, they told him not to come back! Apparently the used, high mile, worn out TBI 350's they were sticking in didn't like long distance full throttle running in a heavy suburban loaded with high school kids!

In the high school auto shop we had one of the band directors frequently leave his vw sand rail for work (brakes, etc.) but he never left the key. I hotwired it for a test ride and the throttle cable broke and the throttle hung wide open. It really screamed until the #3 exhaust valve dropped... I got corporal punishment at school for that one.

I had a 79 c-10 that blew up on me when I was in college, it was just worn out.

I worked at a muffler shop with a mechanic shop and car lot rolled into one. Blew up a bunch of stuff there (started there when I was 18 or 19):

Had several Northstars let go (head gaskets) both cars we got at auction and customer cars on test drives. After 3 or 4 they wouldn't let me drive any more Cadillacs. Funny I never had any trouble with my personal '83 Fleetwood 4100 (also known for head troubles).

Blew the heads in a 90's 4 runner v6 my boss got at the auction too.

Also Blew the head in a 4 banger 88 ranger he had hauling scrap metal.

Bought a '90 Infiniti Q45 from him and the timing chain tensioner let go at 7000 rpms about 2 days later. A couple of the rods broke and dropped chunks of the aluminum block in the road.

There are many others not worthy of mention, especially if you start counting small and hobby engines, quads, bikes, etc...

Most recently popped the 351m in my 78 f150. Head gaskets strike again...
 
72_jimmy said:
I think the first one I killed was a 305 in an '88 Caprice in high school. My friends mom had a '95 Caprice with the the baby lt1. He borrowed it one day and we raced. He took me off the line but the computer shuts off the lt at 106 or so. I blew past him doing whatever that 305 would do (only had 85 on the speedo). The catalytic converter was plugged and toasted the heads. Did head gaskets, lapped the valves with a drill motor and compound and drove it some more.

Same friend had a '90 gmc suburban with something like 600k miles on it (his dad bought it new). After the original motor popped, a local junkyard swapped in another TBI 350 with a "warranty." We popped that one a few days after we got it back. They stuck in a replacement, we popped it a few days later. After 3 or 4, they told him not to come back! Apparently the used, high mile, worn out TBI 350's they were sticking in didn't like long distance full throttle running in a heavy suburban loaded with high school kids!

In the high school auto shop we had one of the band directors frequently leave his vw sand rail for work (brakes, etc.) but he never left the key. I hotwired it for a test ride and the throttle cable broke and the throttle hung wide open. It really screamed until the #3 exhaust valve dropped... I got corporal punishment at school for that one.

I had a 79 c-10 that blew up on me when I was in college, it was just worn out.

I worked at a muffler shop with a mechanic shop and car lot rolled into one. Blew up a bunch of stuff there (started there when I was 18 or 19):

Had several Northstars let go (head gaskets) both cars we got at auction and customer cars on test drives. After 3 or 4 they wouldn't let me drive any more Cadillacs. Funny I never had any trouble with my personal '83 Fleetwood 4100 (also known for head troubles).

Blew the heads in a 90's 4 runner v6 my boss got at the auction too.

Also Blew the head in a 4 banger 88 ranger he had hauling scrap metal.

Bought a '90 Infiniti Q45 from him and the timing chain tensioner let go at 7000 rpms about 2 days later. A couple of the rods broke and dropped chunks of the aluminum block in the road.

There are many others not worthy of mention, especially if you start counting small and hobby engines, quads, bikes, etc...

Most recently popped the 351m in my 78 f150. Head gaskets strike again...
Click to expand...
Thus reason there is a parts killer reference in that poll!
 
Lets see, I sank one 6.2 diesel in 4 feet of water. Bent and twisted a rod, still ran once the water was drained out. Still have the rod. Second one I don't remember how it died.
Third one broke the crankshaft, still ran. Fourth died due to bad cam bearings, lost all oil pressure.
These were all 6.2 and 6.5 diesels.

Killed one trans in the truck too.
 
Killed my first 4.3 the day my buddy and I got it running. It was in an 89 s10 blazer that dad had parked for a bad fuel line. It didn't want me to teach myself how to drive stick by winding it to 6 grand and dropping the clutch. Killed 2 other 4.3s ( one was dads). Killed a 6.5 when I sank the turbo in a river, although technically the 4l80e went first and the motor went on the ride home. Blew 3 motors in my 89 Sierra on 36s trying to run with my buddy's in 40s and tractor tires. And a few ford motors. Still trying to blow up the 3.3 in my wife's old van. 203xxx miles and it won't go.
 
Too many to count. No idea. I know I lost 2 871 blowers in the Colorado river. 12 engines in that boat alone. Until a lower end let go and tore the bottom of the boat out and it all went under in a crap load of pieces.

That one physically hurt.
 
ktmoutfront said:
Too many to count. No idea. I know I lost 2 871 blowers in the Colorado river. 12 engines in that boat alone. Until a lower end let go and tore the bottom of the boat out and it all went under in a crap load of pieces.

That one physically hurt.
Click to expand...


con rod thru the hull FTW...
 
Blower huffed for some reason and it blew the bottom of the block out. Crank and all. Engine builder spent 2 days trying to find the engine. He saw it let go and wanted to know why.
 
ktmoutfront said:
I sat on the beach watching him spend $500 a day for a salvage crew to find it.
Click to expand...
It's broke in the bottom of a lake, what exactly was he going to find?

Betting the crank broke to blow the lower end out, but still broke.
Love watching a good kablammy!
 
River is only 15 feet deep. Crank with most of the rods went through the bottom of the boat. Crank journals still attached. Massive block failure.
 
Hah ya, 4 of those automatics, the other 4 were manual transaxles and they broke good, one had a really nice window In the side of it, made fluid changes really easy. Hah
 
I'm probably cursing myself, but I've never killed a motor, or a tranny yet. It's not like I baby my stuff, or that I'm a paragon of maintenance...

I've broken a few diffs in my time, but I can only take credit for the 8 1/4" in my 72 Dart.
 
ive blown 2 ford 300s everybody says you cant kill them yea right overhauled the first one 3 months later it lost oil pressure at 80mph before could shut it down it made a loud bang oil pressure came up to about 20lbs pulled off looked at the block nothing hanging out still running barely, made it home shut it down wouldnt crank or even turn over. Got a reman from where i worked put it in myself when it seized 6 months later no warranty since i put it in sucked big time when 10 months no vehicle blew up atleast 5 350s 1 6.2 crank broke and 1 408 sb, and a case 970 tractor thru a rod while disking a field about 5 miles from house long walk and dad wasnt to happy about that
 
I was in high school. Late 70s. We raced. Did not stand around taking pictures.


And one of my pet peeves is in the title. Internal combustion ENGINES. Electric MOTORS.
 
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