I can't answer that question. The shop could only guess that somehow the bearing didn't get enough oil at some point. My car was in need of fine tuning the tune. That's where we were when the engine had issues. I guess it's possible that the tune caused the connecting rod to bend first and then that cracked the bearings. But how do you prove these things?

 

You'll probably never know for sure. Rod bearings are the weakest link in the motor (and designed that way since they are relatively easy and inexpensive to repair, all things considered). Rods are the next weak link and will bend if the pressures remain high after the bearings fail or you're flailing around at ridiculous rpm's. I doubt the tune had a direct effect on the failure unless (i) the car was being driven under extreme conditions or (ii) the tune itself was botched - as in major fail - which would be almost impossible to prove. If the tune was done by a major tune shop, I would think that's very unlikely. If, however, it was done by a small shop under license (or worse by pirating the software) and the shop only does a small number of program changes a year without an appreciation for the logic behind the software, that could be a real problem. But it would be almost impossible to prove unless you retrieved your ECU and had a third party shop analyze what was contained therein.

When you brought the car to the shop. was there any failure in an external component such as turbo, I/C, etc.? Did the oil reservoir contain all ~8.5 qts.? Can you tell if the failure was hydraulic (liquid aspiration) or mechanical in nature? I'm surprised at the crank and oil pump failure. That would suggest severe mechanical detonation (as in explosion) as a cause. A rod bearing that gets squashed will make a bit of a mess but it won't generally blow everything up, imo.

In any event, what's done is done and it's not worth beating yourself up. Onward........

PS What do you mean that the tune needed fine tuning??

 

Lol in the realm of Porsche, M96/M97 rod bearings are not easily and inexpensively replaced. Not like you can just drop an oil pan off the bottom of a metzger motor ......


What rod(number) went on this motor?......I concur with the "replace if selling, rebuild if keeping" mentality on this subject but it all comes down to whether the case cores have been damaged. Just about everything else can be repaired and or readily replaced.

 

Were you on stock turbos or modified VTGs?

 

I already had the EVOMS EVT580 kit on my car when I bought it. Car ran great and I was excited to have more power. I had started the upgrade process with another shop using the EVT700 tune and modified VTG's from Evoms. Intercoolers/headers/intake were sourced from another company. For about six months the car never ran right. After a 3rd retune I thought everything was fixed. That shop didn't have a dyno and I never did a 1/4 mile to verify the power. Anyway, I could barely pull a friend in his bone stock BMW M6 so I knew something was still wrong. I took the car the premier Porsche shop and they recommended dumping the 3rd party mods (which I would have gladly done had my other shop or Evoms told me to do in the beginning). So, I rebought everything direct from Evoms and had that installed to make it a true EVT700. The motor went on it's first voyage. And here we are now.

Lesson: Ship your car to the tuner you have chosen and buy their entire kit. Also, leave well-enough alone.

 

[QUOTE=RennFab;3661683]Lol in the realm of Porsche, M96/M97 rod bearings are not easily and inexpensively replaced. Not like you can just drop an oil pan off the bottom of a metzger motor ......

I probably overstated that just a wee bit........sorry,

 

It sounds like the problem may have been brewing for some time, and finally ended badly this way. Not sure I'd blame the frankenstein approach as I have mods from a variety of vendors (Proto tune and vtgs, Porsche 997.2 i/cs, AWE exhaust) and the car runs great. EASILY pulls away from an M6 and just this weekend at the track pulled away from a CTS-V (which is an amazing sedan btw).

 

I think the real issue is trying to tune a car across the country. If I had mixed-manufacturer mods and the car was sitting on the tuner's dyno I have no question it could have been tuned to perfection. I think when you have to keep mailing an ECU across the country without data-logging information you tend to keep over adjusting the tune.

And, yes, I LOVE the new CTS-V. Amazing car for the money. I had a 2005 CTS-V which was a little half-baked but still fun as hell on the track. Mine had a Magnuson supercharger, TB, intake, headers, exhaust and tune. Sounded mean as hell and trapped 119mph in the 1/4. Dusted E60 M5s on the open road courses as well (I also had coilovers, sways, etc).

 

In terms of power a stock M6 goes almost side by side with a stock 997,1TT...So your car wasnt ok for sure...In terms of engineering without having exact data of your cars engine have in mind that in most cases if a tune is not right we reach problems on top of engine...(burned valves,melted pistons from detonation).In your case the problem is related to rod bearings...that usually happens from oil starvation...and not from rich/lean tune...perhaps an oil pump failed and caused that...since you opened the motor,what can you say about the condition of the pistons?were all the same colour?also examine injectors (place them on a test machine to determine their cc) and observe your fuel pump to find out if your failure happened from fuel factor...
An engine failed here from a faulty engine oil level counter...Engine needed oil while dash counter said level ok...Rod bearings were melted and engine destroyed...And guess what...engine had only 4 liters of oil when that happened...

 

Yep, my shop said the likely culprit was oil starvation at some point. I never had an oil light come on but maybe that sensor is something I need to check.

 

This is why i'd be interested in knowing what # bore lost the bearings....quite a bit can lead to this but oil starvation can be traced much like the starting point of a fire by looking at the parts and seeing what they "say". Same can be said for detonation. preignition, overspeeding, etc. There are many variables that can lead to a rod bearing failure, both internally(motor) and externally(parts, tune, conditions, etc).

What you certainly do not want to do is put another engine back in that car without first determining the root cause of this failure and working that out.

Best of luck to you. If you do get a chance to take and post pictures of that motor I would love to see them. Specifically the crank journals(rod and mains), rod small and big ends, oil pump gearotors, and cam/IMS journals.....

 

I dont know why they did away with a dipstick to manually check oil level. This electronic BS is just an accident in waiting.

 

I'll see if I can find out that info. Not sure if they have pictures. I personally haven't even seen the car since I dropped it off a few months ago. I have to take a ferry to get to the shop (which is why I used a closer (but recommended) shop in the first phase of my headache).

 

this is why i dont go with packages or tunes from remote guys, this is just my opinion but I really feel the right way to do it is to be DYNO tuned, not remotely but right there in person. Realizing this is not remotely an option for most, I know another here who has had similar issues with his build and his tuning has never been correct.

 

Did you see this?

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-part-out.html

Perhaps you want to contact them... might get a deal on that engine?