rolling road disaster
 

Hi

Ive been on a rolling day today at dyno demon in the south wirral, my intentions for the day was to find out wether my type-r was fuelling correctly and if it would need a remap or not, the car is in standard form except a panel filter and cat back exhaust.

The run on the rolling road proved that a re-map was needed as the afr on the graph went off the scale, the ecu was retarding the timing and throwing in extra fuel to compensate for the knocking, unfortunatly damage has been done and it seems the bottom end has let go. Initially i or the people at dyno demon didnt realise damage had occured, it was only when i set off to go home i heard rattling and stopped just around the corner to see what was happening, having never heard a rattling bottom end i drove back to dyno demon for them to have a look and the guy in charge there confirmed it was the bottom end, he gave me the option to store it there until next week when they will be able to take a look and assess the damage, he also said the can arrange recovery for the car.

Having never dealt with dyno demon i dont really know what my best option is, there are a couple of respected subaru specialist close to where i live, one is scooby technix in fleetwood the other is cotton competition near preston, i expect both can rebuild my engine to a high quality but im unsure about dyno demon having never dealt with them before, really i think it would be better to have the car closer to home so i can atleast visit the car and make the decisions closer to home.

What are my my best options with rebuilding the engine? to be honest im no mechanic and i dont fully know what is going to be involved in the rebuild or how much its goin to cost, im just looking for some help on what to do really before i tell dyno demons to commence with the rebuild.

Thanks Tristan

Hi mate you cant go far wrong with Andy @ scoobyteknix. Top bloke with sound advice and will get you back on the road asap :)

Banny

I can not comment on either company but just to confirm your bottom end let go as a result of the rolling road or would it have gone anyway?

I was thinking of putting my scooby on a rolling road to see what it had before I started playing but reading your post am a little concerned.

Please can someone confirm will a rolling road knacker a car?

keep it closer to home nuff said

Rolling roads are o.k if your engine is healthy but hitting the limiter alot of times and giving it WOT in a short space of time is too much for some chocolate blocks :-)

i go to dyno demon for my work and booked in for service they are decent guys and wont screw you they do full rebuilds frequently so know their stuff.
It sounds like the extra strain from the rolling road was a bit too much for what sounds like a weak bottom end.No harm in getting them to quote you for the work

Banny ive used andy at scooby teknix a couple of times since owning the car over the last six months and they do a good job and seem quite helpfull. they are definatly one of my options for the rebuild.

silverscooby it hard to say wether it was the rolling road to blame or not, i believe all the jap import scoobys need a remap due to the differences in fuel that we have over here, so without a remap maybe it was a time bomb waiting to happen, the guy at dyno demon also said the forces on a rolling road are greater than real road conditions and this could have contributed to the knackered engine than wasnt running correctly in the first place, i suppose il never know, i was only one of 20 other cars on the rolling road today and no-one else had a problem, so i would say you will be ok unless you think you may have a problem to begin with.

Tristan

Condolences mate.

First: accept that if your bottom end has gone, you're looking at a big bill. Think circa 2.5k for a pukka standard build with a guarantee.

What you must NOT do is be tempted to give the work to the cheapest quote: your choice should be based on recommendations from people who have direct experience with the garage. It MUST be a recognised Subaru specialist.

Get it done right first time, pay once, leave happy!

Suggest you give David at APi advice. He'll let you know what you're in for and give you the info you need to make an informed decision, even if you're taking the car somewhere else!

Good luck!

i did ask for a quote but he said it was hard to tell without stripping the engine, by that time there as good as doing the work

Tristan

new scooby, thats exactly the reason im posting on here to find out what my best options are, and the most capable hands to leave my car with although id like the car to be as close to home as possible, i was expecting between 2 and 3 grand for a standard rebuild, my main concern is having the job done properly by people who know what there doing, regardless of cost to a certain point, i also have to think about remapping the newly built engine which is another £600 to add to the cost. il try api tommorow and see what they say.

Thanks for the advice Tristan

Before you let them touch it, I REALLY, REALLY suggest you call David at APi mate.

The trouble with using rolling roads is you are normally required to sign a disclaimer before going on the rolling road that your car is in good working order and so if there is a problem it is on your head.

i suppose it depends on how you look at it, you could pick up another engine for about £600,if you can do the swap over yourself then this is the next/cheapest option,alot of scoobs are being broke now so if the engine can be heard running before purchase etc,you do tho have to bear in mind it too can be duff but if cash is tight £600 is easier to swallow than £2.5k on a rebuild,you could buy probably 3 engines over a couple of yrs etc before the £2.5k rebuild pric is reached,but you need to be mechanically savvy and i dont think you are (your words,just re-read) so ignore what i just wrote ha ha

I didn't when I went to Surrey Rolling Road :wonder: or any other other guys who where there!

Another vote here for API's, and dont forget put some extra cash aside for the remap!!! API would be able to rebuild the engine and have it mapped once fitted!!!!!:thumb:

If the A/f gauge was off the scale they should have stopped immediately????

yep thats very true :mad:

yes am with you on that one

no disclaimer signed not sure where you would stand with that

best bet is just buy another engine

why would you point the finger at the rolling road operator, obviously if things didnt look good on the readings that is why they finished the session?
If i went to have mine checked cos i thought it needed a remap and it blew i honestly wouldnt blame the garage as all the miles previously would have contributed to the damage.
May be easier to get a low milage second hand engine or if you got the dough go all out and get a monster re build and tune it to the level you want

Sorry to hear the bad news. To be honest I think its just bad luck. Obviously putting a car on the rollers and wringing its neck for 15/20mins constant is going to cause trouble if you have a weak spot or fueling/knock issues. As people have said, either chuck another engine in (but without knowing history you could end up here again in a couple of months) or go for a rebuild. The later is gonna cost a lot more, but should last you a lot longer and a good 'blank canvas' to start tuning from! Good luck, hope you get it sorted soon.

I have a 2.5 api block for sale if your interested.

Not true really, there are plenty of JDM cars that can and have run in the UK fine on our super+ unleaded fuel, but its always nice to have a visible or audiable warning of when the car is detting, it can happen to a UK car also if it gets a bad tank of fuel, so I would recommend a KS3 knock analyser for a mere 208 (ish) quid, its a damn sight cheaper than an engine ;) but you also have not said what version STI you have?

Tony:)

what does bottom end knock sound like, is it a deep sound, or is it higher pitched sound?

Cheap option here and will bolt to your existing heads, giving a really strong healthy engine ;)

22B Bulletin Board: 2.0L Built short engine

Banny

Isn't it the case that ALL modified engines (when the bits have just been bolted on and are then put onto the rollers to be mapped) are actually in no fit state to actually go on the rollers?

I agree :confused: I was at a rolling road day at Power Engineering a few months ago and my one of my friends Skyline started to det on the rollers so Iain aborted the run there and then and explained the problem.

I can't see any sense in continuing to run a sick car on the rollers :confused:

Stock cars will go off the scale rich quite easily. Pretty much everything that's been said on this thread is hearsay and speculation. If the car hadn't have died on the rollers it would have surely gone shortly after.

The problem is it ran lean. Running rich isn't really an immediate danger, lean however can result in instantaneous damage and IMO if the operator noticed this was happening from the AFR he should have stopped the run.

i might be interested in that mate, drop me a pm with more details

tried to pm you but you inbox is full

I killed a piston ringland on my mates rolling road :D