Intake manifold exploded

[Gregor the mad]

So i started my truck up yesterday and as soon as it fired i heard a very loud bang accompanied by smoke under the hood. Popped my hood and ran to open it and found my upper intake manifold blown to pieces.. my question is how did this happen and also how should i go about fixing it. Any help is appreciated thank you

 

[tripplec]

Well this is no doubt shocking. Never heard of such a thing.
A large back fire out the exhaust but caused by what.

Any for a proper response Please add a detail build information signature to appear in your posts so when have the full vehicle detail. Millage included..

 

[Gregor the mad]

Ah thanks i will for the purpose of this post though its a 06 mountaineer with a 4.0 about 195k miles.. ill add a photo later when im in front of my desktop but yea its in pieces lol

 

[tripplec]

If you add it as I have done you never have to type the crucial info. Otherwise its a very big guess.

 

[MotorCityFats13]

nitrous backfire could do that.....

 

[Gregor the mad]

 

[Gregor the mad]

No nitrous lol, also it left a nice dent in the hood

 

[Explorer_PL]

Wow, never seen anything like that. Somehow the fuel/air mixture got back into intake and ignited. I am thinking the timing/valves got all mixed up allowing for the mix to back flow to the intake so it ignited inside the engine and in the manifold.
When I talk to my friend who has been a tech for years if he has any idea.

 

[michael loibl]

I've seen that maybe 2 or 3 times on ford 4.0L in my towing and road service work. I see a quite frequently in General Motors 3.8 L V6 from 1990s. Believe it or not one of the common causes of this situation is a weak battery... Car begins to crank, but doesn't quite start, and the motor may spin backwards slightly. I have had the pleasure of seeing it happen with the hood open several times. Most recent one was a mid 90s Buick Park Avenue. The car wasn't closed up to a close the garage door... Pieces of the intake left marks on the garage door when they hit it, and small flames were scattered around the top of the motor for a few seconds.

 

[Tech By Trade]

Wohhhhhh, that's impressive!

 

[tripplec]

I don't think the OP would agree. What to do fix it and hope the engine is ok or... maybe there are codes. Just turn the ignition on to read them.

 

[PotatoExplorer]

Holy hell man, that's scary!!! I'm glad you're OK!

Michael Loibl's response will have me freaking out about my Ranger's battery for sure!!

Best of luck man, I hope it's an easy (and cheap) fix.

 

[Tech By Trade]

I have to disagree, I think he would be quite impressed by the shrapnel. As for code reading, probably a good idea. Also, the low battery description makes sense. It would have to get spark after the reverse rotation and kaboom. Not hard to run a battery test and find out. My battery is on the way out, this gives me more incentive to go ahead and replace it sooner rather than later.

 

[tripplec]

We changed the battery in our 02 last year. 1000CCA battery (maybe 800CCA) from Walmart it really spins fast starting. Has 3 year replacement warranty here. Cold weather can aggrevate an old battery as all vehicle loose cranking ability. I always get the biggest in the class when replacing an OEM battery.

 

[Gregor the mad]

Thanks for all the replies, the battery is less than a year old but i will have it tested.. and it was pretty impressive but i had my 1 year old in the car so it scared the crap out of me

 

[tripplec]

LOL, No pun intended but it would do that and more if it were me in there at the time. I'd probably be on the horn to a dealer asking how can this happen. SAFETY ISSUE

 

[Tech By Trade]

We changed the battery in our 02 last year. 1000CCA battery (maybe 800CCA) from Walmart it really spins fast starting. Has 3 year replacement warranty here. Cold weather can aggrevate an old battery as all vehicle loose cranking ability. I always get the biggest in the class when replacing an OEM battery.

Hate to hijack, but how is the Walmart Warranty? My last 2 have been Costco, but they are a bit cheaper out of Walmart.

 

[tripplec]

Hate to hijack, but how is the Walmart Warranty? My last 2 have been Costco, but they are a bit cheaper out of Walmart.

"5 year total Warranty with 3 years free replacement" This is on their Everstart MAXX CCA varies with group number design.

 

[MotorCityFats13]

I am always hearing horror story's about those Neverstart battery's

 

[Larryjb]

I've seen that maybe 2 or 3 times on ford 4.0L in my towing and road service work. I see a quite frequently in General Motors 3.8 L V6 from 1990s. Believe it or not one of the common causes of this situation is a weak battery... Car begins to crank, but doesn't quite start, and the motor may spin backwards slightly. I have had the pleasure of seeing it happen with the hood open several times. Most recent one was a mid 90s Buick Park Avenue. The car wasn't closed up to a close the garage door... Pieces of the intake left marks on the garage door when they hit it, and small flames were scattered around the top of the motor for a few seconds.

I heard about this too. One cause was a leaking fuel pressure regulator. The intake would fill with fuel vapours, then bang!

To the OP, did you ever have any extended cranking?