Major Engine Failure

[Jay88]

Do they have ethanol in your fuel, down there?
Kind of looks like it pinged itself to death.

A chunk of piston, valve, etc. can jump from cylinder to cylinder
and hit every one of them and never exit the engine!

No we don't use ethanol in our fuel

 

[Jay88]

That’s a very nice looking truck. I’m sorry that happened.

The whole engine is toast and At this point you need to get another one. As long as the rest of the truck is in awesome shape cosmetically and mechanically then I would put a reman engine in it. But a used junkyard engine will be cheaper.

Hi,

The truck is in mint condition apart from a blown engine!!! been looking around for a replacement engine but nothing over here in NZ, tried Australia but they're not shipping at present as most States are still in Lockdown!! Now trying to get our money back from the Trader that sold the truck to us!!

 

[TechGuru]

The timing chains usually don't go bad with such low mileage. Very odd for sure.

I agree with Rick in that this is unusual for to happen on a 4.0L V6 with this low mileage on it.

Not changing the oil often enough and/or using inferior oil most likely...

 

[TechGuru]

Hi,

The truck was a repo... and we think she had been sat in a barn for a couple of years!! It does make us wonder if the engine is an original!! As a lot of low mileage trucks come from Japan onto the New Zealand market. Kiwi's love changing engines over!!! Th rest of the truck looks in mint condition after we had her groomed and serviced. she had only travelled 1,076 kms from purchase (think its just over 500 miles) I dont understand how such a failure may have occurred to such a young engine?

Do you know if there is a way to check the engine numbers to see if it has the original engine fitted, I've got the VIN and Engine Numbers.

Never buy repo's. It's common for them to be sabotaged before getting repo'd...

 

[TechGuru]

Do they have ethanol in your fuel, down there?
Kind of looks like it pinged itself to death.

Ethanol increases octane thus PREVENTS pinging...

 

[Jay88]

We understand what you are saying, that is why we had a full pre purchase independent mechanical inspection done on the truck, plus a full new service as soon as we purchased the truck.

 

[Jay88]

Ethanol increases octane thus PREVENTS pinging...

Only ever full up at BP stations using their premium 94 octane fuel.

 

[Gary Crist]

Ethanol increases octane thus PREVENTS pinging...

E85 Don’t Do It! Unless you know…

E85 - is basically a bio-fuel obtained from biomass sources: corn crops, grains, "starchy" wastes and sugarcane...Better read about it before you use it!

fuelandfriction.com

I have seen it too many times.

 

[imp]

Do they have ethanol in your fuel, down there?
Kind of looks like it pinged itself to death.

A chunk of piston, valve, etc. can jump from cylinder to cylinder
and hit every one of them and never exit the engine!

Please describe how this journey takes place: pieces get ejected out of exhaust port, sucked back into another? New concept, to me.....

 

[Joe Stewart]

Please describe how this journey takes place: pieces get ejected out of exhaust port, sucked back into another? New concept, to me.....

cant wait for the explanation....LOL

 

[TechGuru]

E85 Don’t Do It! Unless you know…

E85 - is basically a bio-fuel obtained from biomass sources: corn crops, grains, "starchy" wastes and sugarcane...Better read about it before you use it!

fuelandfriction.com

I have seen it too many times.

Sounds like a bunch of BS to me. I run Valero E85 all summer long.

 

[TechGuru]

Only ever full up at BP stations using their premium 94 octane fuel.

and the oil? I use Castrol GTX which is made by BP.

 

[Gary Crist]

Thank you for the reply as to ethanol Jay88. If an engine is designed to run on gasoline
ie. Not Flex Fuled, the engine will run lean! Earlier engines (not flex fuled) do not have
the injector capacity to run high volumes of Ethanol!

AS far as cylinder or engine reversion, it is real easy for an object to bounce from cylinder to
cylinder. As the intake valve opens, the pressure inside is greater than the intake pressure.
Remember the cylinder is still in exhaust phase and it's pressure is still way above atmospheric
and the gasses are still expanding even in the cylinder with the exhaust valve open.

By playing with valve events EGR can be induced or the fresh intake charge can be diluted with
exhaust gas,witch is inert, thereby, reducing the temp of the combustion process to less than
about 2K degrees F to lower NOx emissions.

Because the pressure in the cylinder is positive and the intake is less than atmospheric and
the piston is almost to the top of it's travel, any piece of crap is free to move out of the cylinder
with the rush of exhaust gasses as they move into the intake stream. Now, because the piece
has mass and has velocity, it will travel out of the intake runner as the intake valve slams shut.
When the "slug" of intake charge that was filling the cylinder encounters the closed valve,
it bounce back toward the throttle body and is now in the plenum ready to got to it's next
piston encounter.

Here is a neat little read.

Intake Reversion - Reversion Explained For Racing Engines - Circle Track Magazine

In this month's Enginology section CIRCLE TRACK contributor Jim McFarland explains how reversion in the induction system can affect your racing engine's ability to make power - Circle Track Magazine

www.hotrod.com

 

[TechGuru]

No one ever said anything about E85 in a non-flex. AFAIK the vast majority of 4.0L's are Flex.

 

[Jay88]

My guess is that the timing chain skipped and the valves hit the pistons. I'm not positive though, since I'm not sure where the contact point for the valves would be on the SOHC. The timing chains usually don't go bad with such low mileage. Very odd for sure.

Hi Rick,

Do you know how we can check that this is the orginal engine fitted in this Explorer? We've got the VIN and Engine Serial number, but have no way of checking that this engine is the original engine!!

In NZ it is not uncommon to swap engines, & we're now wondering if this is actually an engine that's covered say 300,000 kms and not the 62,000kms that we've been lead to believe.

Thanks
Jay

 

[Gmctyphoon]

I think looking at all the bolts holding the engine in would be first thing to check. The bell housing bolts on the trans, the motor mount bolts, and the exhaust manifold bolts. These will tell a story if the engine was ever taken out.

 

[TechGuru]

I think the VIN is on the block on the transmission side somewhere.

 

[mostly_broncos]

Japan you say?

Import you say?


Are you sure it didn't float to New Zealand after the Tsunami?

 

[Jay88]

LOL You may have a point there!!!

Japan you say?

Import you say?


Are you sure it didn't float to New Zealand after the Tsunami?

L

 

[EDWARDCASE]

Only ever full up at BP stations using their premium 94 octane fuel.

Is 94 what your car calls for?