Any guesses why it left me stranded?

JARblue

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cv129

x 1000

Do the Galley Gasket while engine is out. It's a labor intensive job if engine is still in the car. Do it while engine is already out. Small extra cost but it's a big insurance, well worth it.

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Setrab | RE-71 | SPL | JRZ | Nismo | ARK | Whiteline | RacingBrake | CJM Oil Pan | Ti shield

victorofhavoc

Yeah that's a good price. Like others said, I'd do the galley gasket, just to be safe. Glad to hear things are going to work out!

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Had a 2010 WRX- boy was it quick in a straight line, got a 2014 Z- man is she grippy in the corners-- then left the Z and later got a GTI, now back in an 09 racecar Z!

SchumiF399

Man sorry to hear about this, I am a little concerned now. I have 2012 Z with 47k that I barely move now because of COVID. Did you ever find why this happened?

axmea?

A '12 with 47? That thing needs more play time.

OP good luck with your repairs. Sometimes it's just good not to dwell on the why and just move on to the next.

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BrianInSoCal

Engine replacement in progress. Shop not sure why it happened. They said they've never seen such a clean low mileage car blow an engine like this. They think maybe oil starvation ... oil pump failure? IDK. I do know the oil level prior was right where it should be. I asked about sabotage. They said not likely.

To quote John Bender from The Breakfast Club - "Screws fall out all the time ... the world's an imperfect place"

BTW - does not need a torque converter like the dealership thought.

I'll let you all know when I get Zed back and how he drives.

Spooler

The only way to know exactly what happened to the old engine is to pull it apart and see what broke.

Rusty

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浪人 - 殺し屋
"The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only"
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Spooler

Our engines dropping valves is not normal at all. If you did have piston to valve contact it may be due to the galley gasket leaking oil. It supplies oil to the VTC's on the cams. Normally that won't cause any piston to valve issues unless the timing chain jumped or broke. That diagnoses is lacking lots of information. Something else was missed.

BrianInSoCal

Thanks Spooler. So maybe the timing chain broke causing the valves to go nuts. I guess then the question is why would a timing chain fail at that mileage on the VQ37? I've not heard of that happening on our engine.

The shop didn't do a full diagnosis - I would have had to pay for a bunch more labor. He just did some of his own (without charging me) based on his curiosity.

Spooler

Yeah, he would need to have pulled the front cover off to look at everything. That might have given him more of a clue.

Rusty

He would have to tear the motor apart to see what really happened.

I had one motor drop a valve for no reason once. Another motor, I had a Crane triple valve spring break and hold the valve part way open. Lucky, it didn't do any damage.

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浪人 - 殺し屋
"The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only"
http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html

BrianInSoCal

Got my Z back on Saturday. New long block, flex plate and intake manifold. Needed the manifold because it was polluted with shrapnel from the engine grenading. It really looked like someone dropped a bomb in there. There would have been no way to clean it out. Total price with labor $6485.

Drove great on Saturday. Only did 15 miles as the weather sucked. However, it has a couple oil leaks so taking it back in the shop on Wednesday to have that taken care of. Hopefully easy fix.

NecioVato

Keep us updated and glad you decided to keep it.

POS VETT

I have never done a study on engines that have dropped a valve, but I believe there are 2 common types.

First is it broke at the lower notch of the valve stem where the retainer latches. This can be explained by micro cracking during the manufacturing process. Whether it's inclusion in the material or surface scratching, your guess is as good as mine. This fails catastrophically without warning.

The other type is caused by excessive wear on the stem as witnessed by the recall on GM LS7 engines. This creates a valve train noise that develops over time. Hard to tell and it requires trained ears to detect without opening the engine.

I have experienced a valve dropped on my '82 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40. Luckily, it happened at a red light while idling. The engine simply stalled and refused to turn over. Opening the valve cover revealed the cause and after a new valve, lapping of only that one valve, and reassembly, the engine was back. A tiny nick on the piston and on the head were all the damages left inside the engine. In a way, it was a lucky engine.

At any rate, I'm glad the car now is running again. Hopefully the oil leak is a simple problem that can be easily fixed.