[stashtrey]

Several weeks ago while cruising along in 4th gear I went into a limp/misfire mode. Got it home and pulled Cylinder 2 misfire & Cylinder 2 misfire detected.

Went the usual route of coil/plug swapping... then replaced the injector... then replaced the 5 other injectors... no dice. Started smoking. Extremely rough running. Always #2 ...never changed and no other codes.

When doing the last round of injectors I shined a light down the #2 spark plug hole and thought I could see some kind of a crack in the top of the piston... didn't want to believe it.

That literally began the 5 stages of grief over my car...

Denial - must be carbon buildup of the shape of the piston dome even though the others don't look like that!

Anger - why the hell did I decided to run such an aggressive tune on my aging motor. Isn't stock fast enough? I'm an idiot.

Bargaining - maybe the piston can simply be pulled out and slide a new one in... no biggie!

Depression - I can't afford this... my poor beloved car that I've poured so much money into... all the preventative maintenance... the hours and hours of garage time... my life sucks and is not getting any better any time soon.

Acceptance - I'm going to get a low mileage motor... no more bed-plate oil leak, half the mileage of my 100K engine, I can strip the old engine and sell off things I don't need. Perhaps time for some upgraded turbos while we're at it. My beloved car will be back on the road in no time! This too shall pass!

Anyways... took it to a dealership to have them inspect it and they ran a scope down the cylinder and confirmed what I already knew and feared.

Was running e60 tune with great logs for some time. Didn't drag race the shit out of the car... daily driver. Took all precautions and really baby my car. Oil change every 2500-3000 miles, all gaskets (VC, OFH) changed, plugs always changed way before needed, all hoses vacuum lines etc kept fresh etc.

I guess several years of running a somewhat aggressive tune just caught up to me and my 100K motor. Nothing I can do about it now. Sourcing used engines online. Having it towed from the dealership (wanted $14K+ to replace with a new long block - fuck that shit!) to a solid indy. Ready to get it swapped out and get back on the road.

I am grateful to have a great family and an awesome father who has loaned me his E36 M3 which is a total blast to drive. Gorgeous hellrot over buffalo magma (only 43 made in that combo!)Awesome car and I now officially want one for myself!

[335NJ]

I mean, you got a sweet ass loaner though, lol sorry.

I've never heard of a piston splitting like that on the N54, wonder if the injector was pissing fuel? I'd like to see others opinions as well.

[Myrder]

What was the timing you ran on this E60 tune? You were just cruising along and cyl2 split? You never noticed any misfires before?

[jin]

Any clue what specifically caused the piston crack? That e36 is gorgeous!

[stashtrey]

No misfires... Car ran absolutely fine. Don't know the timing just know my logs where inspected and looked fine. High boost though and I should have known better. Lesson learned albeit an expensive one. No more tuning for me.

[stashtrey]

No idea what caused it. Not going to speculate or think about it any more as I've been an absolute wreck since it happened. Nothing I can do about it now so focusing on getting it back on the road and life back to normal.

Yes...the e36 is a beautiful car. I found it and encouraged my dad to buy it. Feel bad for taking his baby away!!

[stashtrey]

The scratches on the piston are from me scraping it with a long screwdriver to try to feel if it was a crack before confirming.

The engine would start up and run just on 5 cylinders of course. Not sure what the sides might look like as well as the cylinder. No fluids leaking either.

[V8bait]

Cracked crown, what mods were you running? Usualy that's from over advanced timing or just generally too much cylinder pressure, maybe too many thermal cycles in a short time. Detonation usualy takes out ring lands, puts holes through or takes chunks of the crown so your logs probably looked ok.

Could have just been bad luck on a defect too that just decided to let go now. Thanks for the report though.

[stashtrey]

Originally Posted by V8bait

Cracked crown, what mods were you running? Usualy that's from over advanced timing or just generally too much cylinder pressure, maybe too many thermal cycles in a short time. Detonation usualy takes out ring lands, puts holes through or takes chunks of the crown so your logs probably looked ok.

Could have just been bad luck on a defect too that just decided to let go now. Thanks for the report though.

Thanks for the reply and insight. I think it really was bad luck. It is such a perfect crack/split.

Mods - AMS fmic; Walbro Fuel-It 255 upgrade; ER charge pipe; Turbos have 20K on them; RB pcv; BMS OCC. Not much else performance related that I can think of.

[kong24680]

Reading threads like this scare the shit out of me... Good luck on getting your car back on the road!

[stashtrey]

Originally Posted by kong24680

Reading threads like this scare the shit out of me... Good luck on getting your car back on the road!

so funny you say that as I was researching blown engine threads and came across nearly the same exact post from me in one!

[glachhman2]

Jweezus cwist

[n54gte]

You were running that spxxx tune correct?

[Myrder]

Originally Posted by kong24680

Reading threads like this scare the shit out of me... Good luck on getting your car back on the road!

It should scare you, if you are going to run an unknown tune and never look/inspect the logs yourself then it's very easy to hurt the engine.

[LaCross]

What tune were you running?

[stanlalee]

That's from excessive cylinder pressure. Piston must have been weak. The only reason I wouldn't say defective is it would have probably help up at factory power levels. On the other hand lots of boost + lots of timing +small turbos + low rpm powerband =hard on an engine. That being said these same engines have put down countless 600, 700, 861 whp runs without blowing up so I'm still speculating defect er factory weak/compromised piston. I don't think mileage had a thing to do with it. If there is one internal part that holds up well to mileage its the pistons (excluding rings of course).

[stashtrey]

Originally Posted by n54gte

You were running that spxxx tune correct?

Yes...same one many others run without issue.

"It should scare you, if you are going to run an unknown tune and never look/inspect the logs yourself then it's very easy to hurt the engine."

Not an unknown tune and I did inspect my logs though I rely on the expertise of those that truly know 'tuning' to tell me what I'm doing is within a safe range. I'm not a tuning expert just like 95% of everyone else on here running tunes.

This happened in 4th gear doing about 50mph. I wasn't smashing it and rarely do. Not trying to set records or race everyone on the street. There were absolutely no indications or signs that this was coming.

This is not about the tune so please let's not turn this into a bunch of speculation and pointing fingers. I posted this simply to tell my story and share some pictures of a piston failure.

Thanks for the replies and well wishes. Never thought I'd be posting a thread like this. It really is traumatic to experience something like this with such an expensive consequence...which I accepted when I decided to start modifying my engine.

[Jnat]

This is reality, with how most of us are pushing these things, I'm surprised we're not seeing more of this or other related engine problems. I wouldn't be scared, these motors seem very stout!

[n54gte]

a piston cracked and it isn't tune related? ok. i guess anybody can be a "t00ner" these days. adjust a couple of tables and afr and bam ima "t00ner"

[BQTuning]

Originally Posted by stashtrey

..
This is not about the tune so please let's not turn this into a bunch of speculation and pointing fingers. I posted this simply to tell my story and share some pictures of a piston failure.

Thanks for the replies and well wishes. Never thought I'd be posting a thread like this. It really is traumatic to experience something like this with such an expensive consequence...which I accepted when I decided to start modifying my engine.

Hope you get your car up and running. I kinda laughed at the part you said you'll just go back to stock after you get your car back up and running. Yes you may do so for a period of time but the HP Demons will start to come after ya

Now, when you posted this you gave just about every hater, doubter, and competitor out their ammunition and they will use it for whatever means to deter people. If you don't mind though I would like to see previous logs on the current tune. There has to be some sort of indication that was perhaps overlooked or not logged. If you dont want to post it then just PM the link, Ill just keep it between myself and your tuner whom I will address personally based on my observation if I see early warnings

[CarAbuser]

Would be interesting to see how lean you were during cruise and if fuelling was an issue.

[V8bait]

I've glanced at the spx tunes they look fine although I've never ran one. A Q logic tune with ?? psi of wgdc controlled boost, one of the old 15 degree wedge craze tunes, or a jb4/proceed without a backend would be another story. If it cracked while cruising it was probably something mechanical, maybe an oil jet or something wasn't cooling the piston, I don't know. Crown damage is usually high pressures yes, but extreme heat/cool cycles can also cause it especially if there is any defect in the metal, and mileage can most definitely contribute to that particular subset of crown failure. Just look at diesel trucks, they experience that frequently.