Engine passed away after true dual install

[BrownDogg]

I need you super smart fellas to help me figure this out. I have a 95 that I installed a 96-00 vortec in. Had the chip reprogrammed and everything was running pretty good for about a year. I decided I wanted true duals and had them installed. The day of the installation, riding home I noticed it was riding a little rough. Got it home in the driveway and it sounded really bad. Shut it down and when I cranked it again, bang, boom, pow a rod shot out the bottom of my oil case. I was so disappointed and disgusted I left in the garage for a couple years til now. I'd like to get my boy back on the road again and I'm planning to purchase another crate engine after selling this one to a friend. Problem is now I'm nervous I'll experience the same catastrophic event. Does anyone have any theories what could have possibly gone wrong that day? I thought maybe the installers didn't put the O2 sensor back on but that wasn't the case. I don't know what happened or why. I would like to not have to go through that again if possible. I never went inside that engine, never had a reason to. everything I did was external, so it wasn't some bolt I inadvertently dropped in or anything like that. Any ideas would be a great help. thanks in advance

 

[Keeper]

The day of the installation, riding home I noticed it was riding a little rough. Got it home in the driveway and it sounded really bad.

Did you take a peek at the oil pressure gauge by any chance? How many miles were on the vortec motor when you put it in?

Regardless, don't be skeert... stay in 'er minner! The sting is a few years old now... and it sounds like you're ready to get excited about #3. Eyes forward!

Good luck with it!

 

[Pinger]

Manual or auto?

 

[BrownDogg]

Manual or auto?

Auto

 

[BrownDogg]

Did you take a peek at the oil pressure gauge by any chance? How many miles were on the vortec motor when you put it in?

Regardless, don't be skeert... stay in 'er minner! The sting is a few years old now... and it sounds like you're ready to get excited about #3. Eyes forward!

Good luck with it!

Yeah, I always had my eye on the oil pressure being that it was fairly new crate. Pressure was always good. You're right though, eyes forward. Just a little gun shy since it happened.

 

[95burban]

Wouldn’t worry about it. They run till they won’t.

 

[Pinger]

Auto

I wondered if your exhaust installer didn't over-rev it when you were looking the other way. Hard to do with an auto though. If it'd been a manual, they could have buzzed it on a downshift.

 

[Cadillacmak]

I need you super smart fellas to help me figure this out. I have a 95 that I installed a 96-00 vortec in. Had the chip reprogrammed and everything was running pretty good for about a year. I decided I wanted true duals and had them installed. The day of the installation, riding home I noticed it was riding a little rough.

What brand was the crate engine the first time? Sounds like you just got a bad build to me. BUT, the driving home running rough gets my attention, can the TBI fuel pressure regulator fail wide open? The reason I ask is some ford regulators can, and if you continue to drive it will hydro-lock the motor. I rebuilt one ford v6 years ago that had hydro-locked on the highway, the damage inside was incredible, all we reused was the block and heads. Just wondering if yours was getting close enough to beat the lower end to death without locking up yet? What did the oil look like?

 

[Cadillacmak]

I wondered if your exhaust installer didn't over-rev it when you were looking the other way. Hard to do with an auto though. If it'd been a manual, they could have buzzed it on a downshift.

That is a really good point! I stopped taking my stuff to shops years ago because of that. Work not completed, work not tested, things paid for and not even touched, and the worst one was they lost my car for 6 months! It was a spare and I was really busy at work, but still, they lost it. I had to go sit in the waiting room for two days to get it back, then had to tow it home because it wasn't fixed.

 

[BrownDogg]

What brand was the crate engine the first time? Sounds like you just got a bad build to me. BUT, the driving home running rough gets my attention, can the TBI fuel pressure regulator fail wide open? The reason I ask is some ford regulators can, and if you continue to drive it will hydro-lock the motor. I rebuilt one ford v6 years ago that had hydro-locked on the highway, the damage inside was incredible, all we reused was the block and heads. Just wondering if yours was getting close enough to beat the lower end to death without locking up yet? What did the oil look like?

Oil looked real good. I'm not sure how I would know if it hydro-locked, not sure I know a way to figure it out. I replaced the fuel injectors quite a ways before the duals. Never had any issues til that day.