Valve Train Explosion

[TimothyPaul]

Ciao Group - looking for a little direction. Took my car to have oil changed and new tires. Drove out of service center’s lot to my house ( approx 2 miles) picked up my trailer, drove another two miles to my warehouse and the upper half of my engine blew up. :-(. 115K miles on it and engine was perfect before oil change. Roughly been about 4-5K miles since last change with a synthetic blend. Don’t really use the vehicle much, its just my utility vehicle for Home Depot runs, etc….

I haven’t pull anything apart yet, posted video so you can hear the noise. It is much much louder in person….
Anone have thoughts ?

 

[Turdle]

How does oil look? Which brand of filter used?
Video will not play for me. Upload to YouTube.

 

[Rick]

How does oil look? Which brand of filter used?
Video will not play for me. Upload to YouTube.

Click on the icon at the top right of the video box. It pops up in Google Drive.

 

[TimothyPaul]

How does oil look? Which brand of filter used?
Video will not play for me. Upload to YouTube.

It looked fine (new) and the level is correct.... I couldn't see which filter they used.

 

[Turdle]

It looked fine (new) and the level is correct.... I couldn't see which filter they used.

Well, take a look. Call em and ask.

 

[Turdle]

Click on the icon at the top right of the video box. It pops up in Google Drive.

Didn't work. Using non Google browser.

 

[TimothyPaul]

DEXOS / SPECIALTY OIL CHANGE UP TO 5 QTS 01 72.46
5.0 QTS.
SAE 5W-30 Super Premium Motor Oil
PZ173 OIL FILTER 7057290 44TN 1 8.99 8.99
5W-30 PZL GLD DEXOS CERTIFIED OIL UP TO 7015243 44TN 1 54.99 54.99
DEXOS - SPECIALTY OIL CHANGE LABOR 7034604 44TS 1 5.49 5.49
USED OIL FILTER RECYCLING CHG (1) 7075051 44TN 1 2.99 2.99

 

[Rick]

@Turdle

 

[Lee's Automotive]

Sounds like chain guides sadly or a failed tensioner either way that sounds horrible

 

[Turdle]

That does sound pretty bad. If the new oil filter is not defective, I don't see how an oil change can be to blame. Coincidence?

 

[Tekreck]

Ciao Group - looking for a little direction. Took my car to have oil changed and new tires. Drove out of service center’s lot to my house ( approx 2 miles) picked up my trailer, drove another two miles to my warehouse and the upper half of my engine blew up. :-(. 115K miles on it and engine was perfect before oil change. Roughly been about 4-5K miles since last change with a synthetic blend. Don’t really use the vehicle much, its just my utility vehicle for Home Depot runs, etc….

I haven’t pull anything apart yet, posted video so you can hear the noise. It is much much louder in person….
Anone have thoughts ?

We all know the 4.0 engines need new timing cassettes sooner or later. It is inevitable. I think this is the point you decide to find someone to do the cassettes (takes a special mechanic in this day old time). Any option requires getting the engine out (cassettes, short block, used) and with only 115K I would do cassettes along with rear main. Many YouTube videos on the subject.

I tried to make myself believe it was tappets, but I’ve had tappets go bad and their noise is not as much “in your face” as yours.

 

[CDW6212R]

It's time to remove the valve covers and the lower oil pan, to see what debris is obvious, and possibly damage to the hard parts.

The best care to increase the lifespan of the SOHC 4.0 V6 is to use only best quality synthetic oil, and change it often. Using regular oil or semi-synthetic is a bad decision for those engines. Lower quality oils and running long intervals between oil changes is the fastest way to find out how bad the valvetrain can fail.

Stop following the OEM extended oil interval recommendations. Change the oil way more often, and never use anything but the best oil possible. I aimed for 4-5000 miles with my 99 SOHC, and never had any noises over the 75k miles that I drove it. Most of the SOHC issues are from prior poor oil maintenance.

 

[Lee's Automotive]

It's time to remove the valve covers and the lower oil pan, to see what debris is obvious, and possibly damage to the hard parts.

The best care to increase the lifespan of the SOHC 4.0 V6 is to use only best quality synthetic oil, and change it often. Using regular oil or semi-synthetic is a bad decision for those engines. Lower quality oils and running long intervals between oil changes is the fastest way to find out how bad the valvetrain can fail.

Stop following the OEM extended oil interval recommendations. Change the oil way more often, and never use anything but the best oil possible. I aimed for 4-5000 miles with my 99 SOHC, and never had any noises over the 75k miles that I drove it. Most of the SOHC issues are from prior poor oil maintenance.

I'm using Lucas and MC 5w 30 semi syn and MC FL1A I'm at 266k what would you recommend me use?

 

[TimothyPaul]

It's time to remove the valve covers and the lower oil pan, to see what debris is obvious, and possibly damage to the hard parts.

The best care to increase the lifespan of the SOHC 4.0 V6 is to use only best quality synthetic oil, and change it often. Using regular oil or semi-synthetic is a bad decision for those engines. Lower quality oils and running long intervals between oil changes is the fastest way to find out how bad the valvetrain can fail.

Stop following the OEM extended oil interval recommendations. Change the oil way more often, and never use anything but the best oil possible. I aimed for 4-5000 miles with my 99 SOHC, and never had any noises over the 75k miles that I drove it. Most of the SOHC issues are from prior poor oil maintenance.

You know CDW, I had actually asked for full synthetic…. Have no clue as to how they ended up using a blend…. Looking back at my vehicle logs, it seems as though I didn’t even have 5000 miles on the last oil change….

 

[CDW6212R]

Choose a high level oil band which you like, and buy their synthetic oil at Walmart or Amazon. The FL-1A filter is great, or the FL-820S(that change happened in 1999) if it takes that short one. I think the best oils preserve the plastic chain guides much better than the lesser oils, plus older oil has more material in it. The cleaner the oil can be, the less it will damage the guides, or the fragile rubber seals inside the external tensioners.

 

[Lee's Automotive]

You know CDW, I had actually asked for full synthetic…. Have no clue as to how they ended up using a blend…. Looking back at my vehicle logs, it seems as though I didn’t even have 5000 miles on the last oil change….

I wonder if they put too thick of an oil or the wrong weight

 

[CDW6212R]

You know CDW, I had actually asked for full synthetic…. Have no clue as to how they ended up using a blend…. Looking back at my vehicle logs, it seems as though I didn’t even have 5000 miles on the last oil change….

Yeah, you have to watch that carefully when you have someone else do the oil changes. The crazy thing I saw on that receipt was the charge of $2.99 plus tax for disposing of the old filter. The new filter should cost no more than $4.

That's like a tire shop charging $4-$5 to dispose of your old tires. I take my old tires with me from any shop like that, and straight to the dump at no cost.

 

[CDW6212R]

About the only oil weight I'd worry about is a 50w oil, that thick of an oil is too much for the small passages in those tensioners. The rest of the engine can handle most any oil weights.

 

[TimothyPaul]

We all know the 4.0 engines need new timing cassettes sooner or later. It is inevitable. I think this is the point you decide to find someone to do the cassettes (takes a special mechanic in this day old time). Any option requires getting the engine out (cassettes, short block, used) and with only 115K I would do cassettes along with rear main. Many YouTube videos on the subject.

I tried to make myself believe it was tappets, but I’ve had tappets go bad and their noise is not as much “in your face” as yours.

hi Tekreck - I am pretty new to the 4.0 SOHC so I don’t know exactly what the timing cassette is. Obviously, its the timing chain / belt, but I’ve never heard it referred to as a cassette…. I‘m pretty much a vintage Oldsmobile big block guy. My first guess was a timing chain because it was an immediate issue, not like you would hear a noise getting worse over time. Just don’t understand why an oil change would trigger that….
I guess my big thing is figuring out if it ws a goof on the part of the oil change place, or just as John said “coincidence”.

 

[TimothyPaul]

Yeah, you have to watch that carefully when you have someone else do the oil changes. The crazy thing I saw on that receipt was the charge of $2.99 plus tax for disposing of the old filter. The new filter should cost no more than $4.

That's like a tire shop charging $4-$5 to dispose of your old tires. I take my old tires with me from any shop like that, and straight to the dump at no cost.

I typically never go some place to change oil. I always do it myself…. This time I was having new tires put on and figured while they were doing that, might as well change the oil….. oh well.