Blown engine

[GMWNashville]

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Usually injectors on this car stay stuck in 'full open' when they fail. In that case they strip the cylinder and you have a boom not long after

I did replace one of the injectors along with the pile of parts i threw at it at first

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

Usually injectors on this car stay stuck in 'full open' when they fail. In that case they strip the cylinder and you have a boom not long after

I did replace one of the injectors along with the pile of parts i threw at it at first

I agree they usually fail stuck wide open but anything is possible. Cats are not common to go bad on these cars especially being clogged

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by admranger

Sorry to hear about this.

If the pistons/rods are shot, I need a paperweight for my desk. Crank might be a bit large for a paperweight, but I could use it to motivate some coworkers!

Best of luck on whatever you decide to do. I'm actually quite stunned no one said "LS7"...lol

I'm very curious to see the rod bearings as even if they got some crap in them from the mains failing (if the mains did indeed fail), we should be able to see the wear patterns or lack thereof.

The crank is massive and surprisingly heavy. It is an interesting piece though. Definitely good for motivating people!

If you want a piston I'm sure it can be arranged.

No LS7 in here. Very happy with the S65 despite this set back.

[strokemycocktus]

Sorry if I missed it, but how did you (or the mechanic) see that the cat is clogged? Is it easy to notice, or does it require some test to prove it?
I have the same x-pipe, so far it's catless, but I intend to put some high flow cats to deal with the smell. I don't track my car so often though.

This is so sad man, a whole engine blown because of some stupid exhaust...

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by strokemycocktus

Sorry if I missed it, but how did you (or the mechanic) see that the cat is clogged? Is it easy to notice, or does it require some test to prove it?
I have the same x-pipe, so far it's catless, but I intend to put some high flow cats to deal with the smell. I don't track my car so often though.

This is so sad man, a whole engine blown because of some stupid exhaust...

Before taking it to a third mechanic I removed the HFC xpipe to replace it with the OEM one. I wanted to transplant the HFC Xpipe into the E92 to enjoy a louder exhaust while the E90 was repaired. Upon removing it I saw the cat had died.

This xpipe places the HFCs in the primary cat position to try to get the car to pass emissions. You'll notice most other HFC xpipes place the cats where the OEM xpipe has its secondary cats, thereby removing lots of the heat they see.

If you're going to weld HFCs in I suggest you do it in the secondary position. That said, most people are just fine with HFCs in a tracked M3. This car sees a very specific use which is not conducive to cat survival

[jcolley]

Originally Posted by admranger

Sorry to hear about this.

If the pistons/rods are shot, I need a paperweight for my desk. Crank might be a bit large for a paperweight, but I could use it to motivate some coworkers!

If SYT_Shadow doesn't, I have a rubbermaid bin full of them.

Originally Posted by SYT_Shadow

We haven't checked yet. No oil on the floor or during the tow so it's not likely

If you're really set on keeping the block, send it up. If there's no holes, it may be salvageable.

[shimmy23]

Ugh! Just found this thread today. So sorry man. This is a true bummer but hang in there and keep us updated

[SYT_Shadow]

As far as the brand of cat, they're whatever was in the ESS HFC Xpipe

Whatever it was, it took the equivalent of 5 years of tracking. So I don't fault them.

The cats did not melt. One of them 'broke/crumbled'. The other is perfect

[dfwashere]

Sorry to hear man. Sucks booboo. interested in your further investigations though! youll be back.

[MSY]

I do wonder if ESS position of cats significantly heat them more than other pipes with hfc in the secondary position. But thank you and I removed all cats today so we all really really appreciate this info and if there is anything the forum or myself can do just let us know.

I also concur that it is really really hard to find good shops. Even supposed dedicated BMW shops. Its forces me to learn a lot and I've finally found a good one but it's sad isn't it?

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by MSY

I do wonder if ESS position of cats significantly heat them more than other pipes with hfc in the secondary position. But thank you and I removed all cats today so we all really really appreciate this info and if there is anything the forum or myself can do just let us know.

I also concur that it is really really hard to find good shops. Even supposed dedicated BMW shops. Its forces me to learn a lot and I've finally found a good one but it's sad isn't it?

You'll find there are some HFC xpipes that place the cats in the primary position so they get a lot of heat but also act like cats better than if they were further downstream.

Other xpipes place them much further downstream, protecting them but also acting less like cats as they see less heat so they're less efficient.

It's a tradeoff. I assume if the cats were in the secondary position they would have probably lasted forever, but bear in mind this car is tracked heavily and they lasted a pretty decent amount of time.

As soon as your issue isn't replacing one part for another one you find shops run out of answers. Fortunately the third time was the charm and these guys have in depth knowledge of S65s

[MSY]

Maintaining readiness with primary location makes a lot of sense if one wants to pass emissions but from your account it seems maintaining a hfc in primary for track duty may not be the best. Sounds like track duty needs secondary hfc or just fully catkess? Makes sense now that you have posted your story but who the heck knows until shit happens.

I'm so sorry this happened again.

[Datka]

Sorry about your engine. I was told by my trusted mechanic a while ago not to track s65 with cats.
We installed Gintani catless exhaust long before we installed the blower.

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by MSY

Maintaining readiness with primary location makes a lot of sense if one wants to pass emissions but from your account it seems maintaining a hfc in primary for track duty may not be the best. Sounds like track duty needs secondary hfc or just fully catkess? Makes sense now that you have posted your story but who the heck knows until shit happens.

I'm so sorry this happened again.

Absolutely, that is the biggest learning from this. Or at least that it doesn't work at this level of abuse.

Track pipes would have likely fared much better than what I did, but at the time I bought the xpipe I was very interested in readiness and did not intend to track that intensively.

Well, lesson learned and hopefully others will learn from it

[strokemycocktus]

About the cat brand in this x-pipe, all the sizing seems to be identical to the magnaflow cats, the cpsi as well. Given they charge only $100 more for hfc over resonators, I assume you are not getting any premium brand cats.
My guess is that they use magnaflow, however when I asked ESS they denied it.

SYT_Shadow are you planning on reusing the front pipes from your ess xpipe?

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by strokemycocktus

About the cat brand in this x-pipe, all the sizing seems to be identical to the magnaflow cats, the cpsi as well. Given they charge only $100 more for hfc over resonators, I assume you are not getting any premium brand cats.
My guess is that they use magnaflow, however when I asked ESS they denied it.

SYT_Shadow are you planning on reusing the front pipes from your ess xpipe?

My HFC Xpipe has already had its cats gutted and is now a catless xpipe.

It would already be on the E92 but last weekend the steering rack suddenly died... so it's also getting replaced.

Sometimes when it rains it pours

[SoCalRPM]

Yikes! Hope there's some silver linings in your future. I'll be interested to keep updated

[Dr. Dre]

Won't block cats just cause a loss of power? Wouldn't it also cause a check engine light to come?

[MSY]

Were you running a tune to disable CEL? If not I'm surprised no codes came up?

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by MSY

Were you running a tune to disable CEL? If not I'm surprised no codes came up?

Yes, I was running a tune. When it would run really rough sometimes I would get CELs. Then I replaced all the spark plugs and an injector.

You get all codes of codes when interesting things are happening. Motor Emergency program, idle control valve, misfires, etc.

When I was actually using the car I didn't have CELs. Whenever I had one we'd stop and try to diagnose and throw parts at it

[oldmanstyle]

Originally Posted by Honda

Why would you say "The current hypothesis is main bearings" ? and how is that related to Cat issue you had. Just trying to understand your theory.

Just speculating here, but the pumping losses would increase significantly if the cat was clogged enough to blow out the valve stems, then that would translate into increased force at an awkward timing on the crank, and it would only be on some cylinders, thereby causing an imbalance that could eventually ruin a bearing(s).

[MSY]

I would think you noticed her down on power no? Not in anyway that would help with diagnosis but out of pure curiosity looking back was just wondering?


Must have been lighting up a million codes! Guessing the thing would alternate from super lean to super rich in response to lean if things would sometimes flow and other times not get past the cats. Would be chasing dam tail around.

Were they ceramic cats? Imagine so if they crumbled. In my view I can almost assure ess ouy a cheap cat in knowing some background on ess. Not that it wasnt driven really hard but still its bothersome

[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by oldmanstyle

Just speculating here, but the pumping losses would increase significantly if the cat was clogged enough to blow out the valve stems, then that would translate into increased force at an awkward timing on the crank, and it would only be on some cylinders, thereby causing an imbalance that could eventually ruin a bearing(s).

Correct

Additionally, at times the entire bank 1 was misfiring... the crank probably had a party