[Spencer_lee1993]

So the other night I'm driving to work, cruising about 110 on the Hwy. All of a sudden it feels like I have a flat, so I turn the radio down and drift around the lane thinking it was the uneven pavement but then I see the check engine flashing and I've got no power. So I get off immediately (convienelty there was a exit right there) and barely Make it around the exit and see a small parking lot. I pull in and scan the ecu and get a misfire in cylinder 4 code. I switch the car off and turn it back on and it sounded like a lumpy Subaru idling and I heard some metal grinding sounds. I immediately shut if off and called for a tow...two tow trucks later (the first one didn't have wood to load the car on the flatbed) I get back to the shop I do some part time work at.

Next day we pull the coils and spark plug and scope the cylinder and sure enough a piece of the piston is broken off and the cylinder walls are scratched. We checked cylinder 1 and it shows some small scratches too. At that point we parked the car and I left it till I decided what to do.

I called my ford service manager who is a pretty good guy when it comes to mods but he said if there is internal engine damage they have to call a ford investigator and if he sees any mods he will void the warranty. When I told him I had a fmic he said for sure they will void it. And if I put back oem stuff they would be able to tell. Problem is I could put the stock tune back in but I can't drive the car to get any drive cycles on the car. So figuring I would save myself two tows, one to the dealer and one back plus the money for the dealer to diagnose the car I would just build the engine with my mechanic buddies help.

Car is modded as follows:
Torrie 93 tune
3" carted turbo back exhaust,
Upgraded fmic
Eibach pro-kit springs
Mountune upper strut bar
And a few other suspension pieces

Car has 46000kms and is a 2013.

So now I'm trying to decide what is the best way to rebuild and prevent this from happening again.

Speed performance makes a nice rebuild kit with all forged internals
Dead hook Motorsport also has some nice pieces

Both are Mahle forged pistons and connecting rods

Sorry for the long Post continued...


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[Spencer_lee1993]

Now we all know of the poor headifold design that I think is part of the reason we keep seeing cylinder 1 and 4 blow. Having one port for exhaust in the middle creates uneven higher pressure in compared to cylinder 2 and 3 and much more heat since the exhaust goes further.

Also I want to have my injectors sent out to be tested for being dirty and not spraying properly...possibly leading the car to run lean. I'll post pics of the motor once we get it out this weekend. Ford performance had released a new head with separate exhaust ports....but then I'll need a custom header made since I don't think any exist plus a new turbo and that's greatly going to increase the price of my build.

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6049-20EBIP



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[ClarkRU]

Also I want to have my injectors sent out to be tested for being dirty and not spraying properly...possibly leading the car to run lean. I'll post pics of the motor once we get it out this weekend. Ford performance had released a new head with separate exhaust ports....but then I'll need a custom header made since I don't think any exist plus a new turbo and that's greatly going to increase the price of my build.

https://performanceparts.ford.com/part/M-6049-20EBIP



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Have we found out if a custom exhaust header will fit against the firewall with this new head?

 

[Spencer_lee1993]

Have we found out if a custom exhaust header will fit against the firewall with this new head?

Anything is possible....but I've gone away from the head idea, speed performance has done tons of testing and our headifold is good to 540hp. Way more than my build would ever get to. I'm considering port and polishing to the head. That should help the car breathe better. Possible cam upgrades too. Still in the brainstorming phase


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[Spencer_lee1993]

So it's been a while, parts are all ordered. Mahle pistons, Manley connecting rods, ARP head studs, Clevite bearings, Piper Stage 2 cams and uprated valve springs, custom head porting, and a local tuner is gonna do some custom tuning once it's all back together.

Excited to get it back together


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[FoST2016]

So it's been a while, parts are all ordered. Mahle pistons, Manley connecting rods, ARP head studs, Clevite bearings, Piper Stage 2 cams and uprated valve springs, custom head porting, and a local tuner is gonna do some custom tuning once it's all back together.

Excited to get it back together


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Did you ever figure out what happened? I was curious when I saw your post back in November. Were you just running lean for awhile?

 

[Spencer_lee1993]

Nope we still aren't sure what happened. I don't have the pics my buddy does, once I get them I'll upload. But you can see piston 4 is actually melted and the skirt is blown out. That only happens from heat


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[dieselxx]

Wow, nice build Spencer. Hope all goes well

 

[angrychair]

going to guess unlucky ring land groove failure?

 

[Spencer_lee1993]

going to guess unlucky ring land groove failure?

Ring land groove failure in cylinder 1 and melted piston and piston skirt blown out on piston 4


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[angrychair]

that sucks, what HP was your car making? Do you think it was tune/lean related?
Good chance it would have happened even if your car was completely stock I bet.
My friend bought a lightning that had a blown motor due to a lean tune, a few pistons were completely melted through.. it was making around 650whp, He had it rebuilt and sold it, now he just has two, both sonic blue 03's.

 

[Spencer_lee1993]

that sucks, what HP was your car making? Do you think it was tune/lean related?
Good chance it would have happened even if your car was completely stock I bet.
My friend bought a lightning that had a blown motor due to a lean tune, a few pistons were completely melted through.. it was making around 650whp, He had it rebuilt and sold it, now he just has two, both sonic blue 03's.

I think the last dyno before the fmic and dp it was at 270hp. Hard to say. Could just be poor materials and they couldn't take the heat


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[angrychair]

yeah 270 isn't a lot, would love to know if it was a lean issue but you'll never really know I guess without a wideband log I suppose.

 

[Spencer_lee1993]

New phone means finally can post up pics.

Top two pics are of piston 1, it didn't cause the engine failure, however when we pulled the piston out the chunk you see missing fell out.
The bottom two pics are of piston 4, you can see why it caused the failure haha. And from the top you can see the piston surface is melted as well

Had a set back on parts, supplier somehow never accepted the order, so I'll be waiting at least another two weeks for the pistons and rods, and Mountune is waiting on Piper to send them the cam kit. Disappointed it's taking this long dealing with Mountune. Order the cams back on Nov 30 and they still haven't been shipped from piper in the U.K. To Mountune California yet

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[Spencer_lee1993]

Small update, rods and pistons have arrived. One set of bearings has arrived, the other set got canceled so have to reorder those. Still waiting on the cams from mountune. They haven't even received them from piper yet and I ordered back on November 30 . On another note, I've ordered a spec stage 2+ clutch and aluminum lightweight flywheel, and about to put an order in for headstuds, main studs, gasket kit and the crank key way. As well as some other minor stuff. @Duece McCracken has given me a lot of advise on some things needed for the clutch ie. new release clutch bearing and new flywheel bolts.

Also I started looking at a new intake, stumbled upon it looks really nice and the price is good even wth the conversion and duties.

http://www.ramair-filters.co.uk/sho...tion-kit-ford-focus-st-250-2-0t-2015-onwards/

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[BooSTedBeta]

Curious as to why drive cycles on the car would have mattered for a warranty claim? It's not an emissions test from your state. And very ford dealerships and reps actually have the software to know if you're car has been tuned or not.....anyway good luck with the build.

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[Spencer_lee1993]

Curious as to why drive cycles on the car would have mattered for a warranty claim? It's not an emissions test from your state. And very ford dealerships and reps actually have the software to know if you're car has been tuned or not.....anyway good luck with the build.

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Because without drive cycles they can claim that you've tuned the car. I just wanted to avoid the headache and time of dealing with them.


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[620speeder]

Curious as to why drive cycles on the car would have mattered for a warranty claim? It's not an emissions test from your state. And very ford dealerships and reps actually have the software to know if you're car has been tuned or not.....anyway good luck with the build.

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Cool tech: *knows the car was probably tuned but its not immediately apparent because its buried in the drive cycles so "plays dumb"* and you get your **** fixed.

Cool tech: *sees zero drive cycles and is forced to elevate the issue because its too obvious to brush past* and you don't get your **** fixed.

maybe?

 

[Mike8750]

So the other night I'm driving to work, cruising about 110 on the Hwy. All of a sudden it feels like I have a flat, so I turn the radio down and drift around the lane thinking it was the uneven pavement but then I see the check engine flashing and I've got no power. So I get off immediately (convienelty there was a exit right there) and barely Make it around the exit and see a small parking lot. I pull in and scan the ecu and get a misfire in cylinder 4 code. I switch the car off and turn it back on and it sounded like a lumpy Subaru idling and I heard some metal grinding sounds. I immediately shut if off and called for a tow...two tow trucks later (the first one didn't have wood to load the car on the flatbed) I get back to the shop I do some part time work at.

Next day we pull the coils and spark plug and scope the cylinder and sure enough a piece of the piston is broken off and the cylinder walls are scratched. We checked cylinder 1 and it shows some small scratches too. At that point we parked the car and I left it till I decided what to do.

I called my ford service manager who is a pretty good guy when it comes to mods but he said if there is internal engine damage they have to call a ford investigator and if he sees any mods he will void the warranty. When I told him I had a fmic he said for sure they will void it. And if I put back oem stuff they would be able to tell. Problem is I could put the stock tune back in but I can't drive the car to get any drive cycles on the car. So figuring I would save myself two tows, one to the dealer and one back plus the money for the dealer to diagnose the car I would just build the engine with my mechanic buddies help.

Car is modded as follows:
Torrie 93 tune
3" carted turbo back exhaust,
Upgraded fmic
Eibach pro-kit springs
Mountune upper strut bar
And a few other suspension pieces

Car has 46000kms and is a 2013.

So now I'm trying to decide what is the best way to rebuild and prevent this from happening again.

Speed performance makes a nice rebuild kit with all forged internals
Dead hook Motorsport also has some nice pieces

Both are Mahle forged pistons and connecting rods

Sorry for the long Post continued...


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Holy ****! Number one fear of tuning. How much have you spent on the rebuild?

 

[Mike8750]

Another thing, rebuilding a hard motor capabile of pushing over 350hp is great but can that kind of power be utilized in anyway the a FWD that already has probles gripping 250 ? whatt do you aimto do about traction?