Hole in JE race piston!!

[Jets303]

So i was on my way to Greeley (60 mile drive) when all of a sudden my engine siezes up and my tires lock up! I pulled over to the side and checked it out. There wasnt any signs of oil or coolant or anything strange for that matter. So i get it towed home and start taking it apart. As im removing my oil pan i get hit in the face by a piece of chewed up metal. I looked up into the motor and noticed that both of my inner pistons had holes in them! Saddest thing ive ever seen! So my question to the community is what should i do next? Is a rebuild expensive? Is this something i should try and tackle myself? What could have caused this? Is it even worth fixing? The rest of my motor is fully built so i want to salvage what i can. Thanks guys its been one of the saddest days of my life

 

[toxicity883]

How many miles did the pistons have on them? Was the engine balanced and built by a reputable shop? If so id be talking to the shop and JE and figuring out where the problem originated to cause a hole in a forged piston.

 

[srpjosh]

+1. It's hard to destroy a pison like that, not impossible just very rare. Who tuned the car, if it went lean for a extended period of time, that WOULD destroy those pistons. Still ckeck with JE, send them pictures, and follow up with the shop who did the work. If you did the work, JE might not warranty the pistons. Keep up posted.

 

[tenn-gsx]

Pics Of The Actual Piston Man!

 

[Jets303]

The enigine was built in a shop in california. The pistons had 22k miles on them since the build. I had the car tuned by a local car shop and it ran fine for the 2 months on the tune. This doesnt make any sense guys what could have fried these pistons???

 

[BogusSVO]

you had to run lean for some reason, pistions do not fail like that for no reason.

you mad had got a tank of bad gas. or gas with water or something got mixed into it...

 

[Jets303]

Ya thats a valve...

 

[1SLOW93TURBO]

Oh my gosh!!! Ahhh, I'd say you had a tuning issue WOW.

 

[ApexVIII]

!
was the timing belt snapped?

 

[PieEyedPiper]

I'd go to the shop who "tuned" your car 2 m onths ago and show them their handy work. Barring injector or fuel pump failure.

 

[Rob10_99]

ok you got the piston out, what caused all that ruckus? that gold nugget looking thing in the first post?
What do those cylinder walls look like? what was your cam/spring combo?

 

[malibu80]

Be meticulous when you teardown the motor to find wear spots or obvious reasons for catastrophic failure. Most likely you skipped valve timing I think.
A lot of "reputable" auto shops around here hire guys 8-10 bucks an hour and expect them to change timing belts, fix leaks, etc, compared to experienced auto techs in the biz. If you did not personally set your car up, march on to where you paid your hard earned cash and demand that they foot the bill.
I really have a hard time believing an early detonation in the chamber could blow through 2 pistons especially name brand for that matter. Again, I would seriously throw out tuning issues and bet on figuring out why and how your valvetrain skipped timing.

 

[AWD-TSI]

danm bro that sucks i feel for you. ### shop tuned it? Mac, Carz?

 

[rush2252]

I wouldnt be pointing fingers at the shop who tuned it. I would guess automatic tensioner failure causing it to jump time. The piston has slapped some valves a few hundred times before it burnt through.

 

[Rob10_99]

Yeah, thats not purely a tune issue, it sure does look like a loose belt that skipped a few for a couple hundred miles, at 30psi.

 

[AWD-TSI]

im not sayin that the shop caused this. im sure it was a combo of things. the pistons and the valves did have a rather interesting chat though. shame

 

[96eclipzGsT]

Is your turbo still in one piece? It looks like something went through the motor. What does the head/valves look like?

 

[mitsu93gsx]

Looks someone pourded .177 cal BB's in the motor, I feel your pain, I just had a idler pulley come loose and take my head out....

 

[420a_turbo]

Damn that really sucks. Just curious, how did it run up until that point? Seems like it would've had to have been in the Valve timing, and also looks like it happened for a while before she went poo-poo.

unrealated, but hopefully makes you feel a little better. I sucked water up less then 3k miles after a build. Snapped an eagle rod in the process.


I feel your pain. Dont give up though, slap a new motor in that bad mo-fo and move on. Sorry to see another DSM on the operating table....

 

[Littlebeeper]

happened to me on a stock piston. timing was a bit off and i heard the accassional hard tap. i blew it off as lifter tick (but louder). hey that was my 1st DSM,i didn't know how loud those things got . anyway. about a month later one of the valves had a bad argument with the piston and blew its top. engine died with a nice metal on metal noise and i could hear the thing in the chamber as i tried to start the engine. After being pulled home and removing the head i saw a nice hole like that in the piston. My car ran fine for a month with just the accosional knock. damn valve hung in there for quite a while. now i pull out the strait edge every time i do timing. eyeballing it don't work. found out the hard and expensive way.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

I wouldnt be pointing fingers at the shop who tuned it. I would guess automatic tensioner failure causing it to jump time. The piston has slapped some valves a few hundred times before it burnt through.

Perhaps not immediately, but once your cross off skipped timing, fuel pump/injector failure, then what would you do?

A piston slapping a valve a few hundred times before burning through could be achieved in a matter of seconds.

 

[Jets303]

Yeah, thats not purely a tune issue, it sure does look like a loose belt that skipped a few for a couple hundred miles, at 30psi.

Bingo, I as running a race tune at 30lbs on my holset setup and the "High Performance" timing belt tore. Not completely just enough to skip a few teeth. My entire head is ruined. Im guessing when that valve and piston meet the first time, it broke the lifter and spring and sent pieces of metal flying through my head. Every lifter and valve is damaged in some way. But no worries I swapped a 6bolt motor in the beast and will begin my journey to 400whp again! Thanks for all the input guys, its coo to know you have an entire community to get your back.

 

[lazyazzdaddy]

I feel you pain man! i also am/was running an hx35 at 30psi on e85. just had the same exact thing happen to me this week on my way to work. mine only happened in the #1 cylinder. I beleave the cause of mine was a failed lifter seeing as the pivot was laying in my head. I also had a fully built head and bottom end. but what can you do? time to start over.
Good luck man! hopefully you can shrug it off like i did and look at it as a chance to build it even more bad ass. my goal just went from 500 which i had to 700whp. we'll see!

 

[lacroixdp]

That's truly a shame man. I hope your new engine build gives you better luck!

 

[viperlp01]

I wish i would have saw this thread earlier.. YOur pistons dont just fall apart.. They melt.. That piece was beaten to shit... I knew it was valves.. Sad story man.. I bet you it wasn't a boost issue.. they didnt tension that timing belt right... your 22k mile timing belt should have never went..