[DemonZL1]

Originally Posted by ccw

Another vote for Ryne. He definitely knows what he's doing.

Here he is tuning my ZLE on the dyno hitting 921rwhp with no meth and no port injection.

Ask him about this car. I beat the shit out of it, and it never skips a beat!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bvcw2GSgjQv/

[Scottyz]

Couple scenarios come to mind here.

I would check the exhaust to verify coolant actually did spew out the exhaust causing the car to hydro lock and bend a rod
OR
Did the tech drop the oil, forget to fill it back up, started it and didn’t watch the oil psi gauge. Went to pull away and next thing you know it’s too late and the engine is knocking. They tell you it hydrolocked but you need to verify there is coolant in the exhaust.
Maybe it did hydrolock?? Maybe there was a part failure causing the engine to actually ingest the coolant and hydrolock. It’s possible. I’ve seen crap like this happen over the years as being a mechanic.

As for the tech taking it out and beating on it till it grenaded. I highly highly doubt that. The tech may have taken it out and beat on it but most of us can’t even break the engines now. I beat on mine hard. It’s a tough SOB.
Just look at the guys that track them all the time. No way the tech would be out beating it that long till say a head gasket let go therefore ingesting the coolant.
I would have a tough time believing that.

If there isn’t a bent rod, the tech likely forgot to fill it with oil.
If there is a bent rod, I hate to say it, but I believe it was going to happen anyhow and just happened to happen at the dealer.

Check the exhaust for coolant. Go from there.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by Demon Z/28

possible a spring or valve let go and yes, coincidental. You didn't mention you heard any revving or anything and I would think if they were playing with your car, you would have.

Sounds like a bad situation for both parties involved but odd there needs to be more info before just saying the dealer blew up my engine, especially from a lawyer.

Me speculating here - Coolant out the exhaust tells me a valve broke, piston caused it to crack the sleeve and you have your coolant. Now, what would cause this? a valve can break at anytime, unfortunately. If we went with the idea of the engine left running while changing the oil, it likely would have seized before getting to a coolant in the cylinder situation.

Also, you mentioned mods have been there... how many miles on the valves prings? Those are a wear item and should be replaced more regularly than a typical valve spring. I'd at least pull the valve cover and see if a spring broke which in turn could make a valve break ... Adding - the chances of the brick leaking coolant is high on the list as well. Ask whipple if they have an issue with that.


Good luck

All good inputs. Motor has less than 9k miles on it with about 8k on those valve springs. (Car was modified when it had about 1,000 miles on it.) I don't think there was an issue with the whipple as the intercooler tank still appears full.

Obviously we'll know more once the motor gets torn down.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by Scottyz

Couple scenarios come to mind here.

I would check the exhaust to verify coolant actually did spew out the exhaust causing the car to hydro lock and bend a rod
OR
Did the tech drop the oil, forget to fill it back up, started it and didn’t watch the oil psi gauge. Went to pull away and next thing you know it’s too late and the engine is knocking. They tell you it hydrolocked but you need to verify there is coolant in the exhaust.
Maybe it did hydrolock?? Maybe there was a part failure causing the engine to actually ingest the coolant and hydrolock. It’s possible. I’ve seen crap like this happen over the years as being a mechanic.

As for the tech taking it out and beating on it till it grenaded. I highly highly doubt that. The tech may have taken it out and beat on it but most of us can’t even break the engines now. I beat on mine hard. It’s a tough SOB.
Just look at the guys that track them all the time. No way the tech would be out beating it that long till say a head gasket let go therefore ingesting the coolant.
I would have a tough time believing that.

If there isn’t a bent rod, the tech likely forgot to fill it with oil.
If there is a bent rod, I hate to say it, but I believe it was going to happen anyhow and just happened to happen at the dealer.

Check the exhaust for coolant. Go from there.

I appreciate the advice. Thank you.

[Techdude99]

That's one hell of a coincidence. It sounds like you'll need to enlist the help of a reputable mechanic to tear down the engine and document what failed and provide insights.

Since you bought the car from this store, perhaps you could work out an arrangement? As a lawyer, you know the drill. I gave up on modding cars to that level when I purchased my ZLE. GM's warranty covering everything except professional racing was a huge reason I sold my Civic Type R.

[Scottyz]

Does the intercooler have a stand alone cooling system?
Like it has its own pump and it’s own circuit? Or does the intercooler system and engine cooling system share the same coolant?
Quite honestly I’ve never looked into this

Come to think of it this may be a dumb question.

[SFV1LE]

So sorry to hear about this, most likely culprit is head gasket. Blown head gaskets are the most common mechanical engine issue. If that's the case it will be bad news to hear that a blown head gasket results in coolant in the cylinders and potential hydro-lock for our engines.

One would hope that a blown gasket would only result in coolant being pushed back out of coolant passages by leaking exhaust gasses causing overflow of reservoir--I've had this before in a highly modified Evo X motor with a big turbo making over 650 HP and the car was still very drive-able, coolant or oil never entered the motor but over time it would have failed completely.

Good luck and let us know what they find when they tear it down.

[DemonZL1]

Is cunningham doing the teardown ?

[ccw]

Originally Posted by Techdude99

That's one hell of a coincidence. It sounds like you'll need to enlist the help of a reputable mechanic to tear down the engine and document what failed and provide insights.

Since you bought the car from this store, perhaps you could work out an arrangement? As a lawyer, you know the drill. I gave up on modding cars to that level when I purchased my ZLE. GM's warranty covering everything except professional racing was a huge reason I sold my Civic Type R.

Yes, I agree. Sometimes modding cars aren't worth the hassle. It's always nice to have a factory warranty with no questions asked.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by Scottyz

Does the intercooler have a stand alone cooling system?
Like it has its own pump and it’s own circuit? Or does the intercooler system and engine cooling system share the same coolant?
Quite honestly I’ve never looked into this

Come to think of it this may be a dumb question.

yes, two separate systems.

[BlaqWhole]

This whole story just sounds suspect.

[cirpower]

Most likely the dealer filled the engine with coolant rather than oil. That would very quickly lead to burning coolant ("out of the exhaust") and a failure of the rod bearings (=knock). I have seen that happen before and it always ended in a damaged engine. Looking at those dealerships, all the fluids are next to each other and work like at the petrol station, pretty easy to mix them up.

Engines don't fail pulling in and out of the workshop, not really any load on them and too much of a coincidence.

[ccw]

Originally Posted by BlaqWhole

This whole story just sounds suspect.

What do you mean?

[Trochoidal]

Is this car the same one that caught fire at the track?