[vdubturbo]

I recently had a little mishap with my motor. I just began pulling it apart and to my surprise, I found pieces of ARP Fasteners laying in my engine compartment.
Does ARP have a warranty? Do they cover the rest of your engine if theor failure cause complete and total utter destruction? I'll admit, I had assumed the failure was my fault, but as I dig deeper into this mess, I'm having a hard time believing detonation was the culprit.
Any thoughts, suggestions, comments? Who sells ARP bolts? I originally got mine from VelocitySport, but unfortunately they're no longer around.

 

[lugnuts]

Re: Has anyone ever had/heard of ARP rod bolts breaking? (vdubturbo)

what broke?
what are the condition of the rod bolts?
what was the torque?
what lube?

 

[blown_sixdub]

Re: Has anyone ever had/heard of ARP rod bolts breaking? (vdubturbo)

What do the rod bearings look like? Did you spin a bearing and sling a rod? Take some pics of the remains of the bolts and post em up.
Sorry the engine went pop. What happened?

 

[vdubturbo]

Re: Has anyone ever had/heard of ARP rod bolts breaking? (blown_sixdub)

Its REALLY hard to tell what happened. I tried taking pics last night, but the flash on my buddy's camera sucks.
I originally thought I went lean and detonated. But as I pull this thing apart, I'm finding cyls #2 and #3 both threw rods through the FRONT AND BACK of the block, while cyl#4 blew it out the back. Looks like #1 was the only one undamaged. (I haven't gotten the head off yet, so god only knows what's up in there.
I found a piece of ARP stamped road bolt laying on top of my exhaust manifold. I also found a mangled piece of bearing floating around on the subframe. I can't possibly see how detonation could cause 3 cylinders to blow at the same time. I could understand if debris from one got caught in the others, but if I was already off the power after the initial problem, is there still enough force to break 2 more rods!?
Anyway, I'll try and post some pics tonight. I used the moly lube from the ARP kit, and the motor was built over a year ago, so I can only assume the bolts were torqued to ARP specs.
Its gonna be a dirty weekend. When you see these pics, you'll think I was John Force. I've never seen 3 out of 4 rods break at one time before.

 

[need_a_VR6]

Re: Has anyone ever had/heard of ARP rod bolts breaking? (vdubturbo)

Quote, originally posted by vdubturbo »

I've never seen 3 out of 4 rods break at one time before.

Go big or go home right? Sorry to hear about it man.

 

[Patrick Schmidt]

Re: Has anyone ever had/heard of ARP rod bolts breaking? (vdubturbo)

Search around on Corner Carvers .com. A guy there had a ARP cam bolt go in his Cobra, and they replaced the damaged parts for him.
Actually, here's the thread
http://corner-carvers.com/foru...t=ARP
Hope that helps,
Cheers,
Pat

 

[vdubturbo]

Re: Has anyone ever had/heard of ARP rod bolts breaking? (need_a_VR6)

Quote, originally posted by need_a_VR6 »

Go big or go home right? Sorry to hear about it man.

Haha, so true! I can't wait to show you guys the pics.
Pat, thanks for that thread. All day long, I've been mulling over what could have possibly happened. ARP already agreed to make good on the broken fasteners, but I'm more concerned about the loss of the Pistons. That is nearly $600 in eaten cost. I mean, I'm not dumb and I know speed=money, but if I do in fact find that the failure was out of my control, i'll be a little disheartened.
Believe it or not, that stupid Schrick oil pan that I hate so much is the only thing holding the majority of the bottom end together. I found parts from the back of the block lodged in between my headlight and my battery!

 

[euro_racer16v]

when you built the engine, did you use a rod bolt stretch gauge? is it the rod bolts that broke? if so, this is most likely your problem.. i had done the same thing happen. i didnt use one, rod bolt broke went thru the front and back of block. the bolts should only be used once on the rods, unless they are still within the tolerences. if this is the problem, i highly doubt arp will pay for anything. IM me if you need any info on this..


Modified by euro_racer16v at 10:00 PM 7-18-2003

 

[vdubturbo]

Re: (euro_racer16v)

They're ARP bolts, so they aren't stretch bolts per se. Although there is a tolerance for resuing them.

 

[euro_racer16v]

actually they still are strech bolts.

 

[vdubturbo]

Re: (euro_racer16v)

That's pretty much what I just said. Really doesn't matter b/c they were brand ****ing new when I installed them.

 

[euro_racer16v]

get a stretch gauge..
http://www.speedzoneracingengi....html

 

[Scirocco#28]

Any chance of hydrolocking? I've never heard of multiple rod failures at one time. Wow!

 

[vdubturbo]

Re: (Scirocco#28)

I'll have some pics up tonight, hopefuly.
I'll probably start a new thread asking the question, "How?"

 

[vdubturbo]

Re: (vdubturbo)

Pics...
http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=944430