Thrown Rod Maybe?

[Cory Booth]

Hi everyone, I have a quick question. I'm getting a 1994 Mustang coupe with the 3.8 V6( just for the shell) and the engine was described as blown. I don't plan on using the engine but I'm curious to know what exactly happened. The guy explained it like this " I was racing my friend and all of the sudden I heard a loud BOOM and then oil started leaking badly out of the bottom." Now I'm not a genius when it comes to cars but it sounds like maybe he threw a rod through the oil pan? Or maybe even somewhere else???? I apologize if this isn't enough to go on.

 

[Noobz347]

If he's let all the oil and smoke out of that motor then chances are pretty good that it's not salvageable.

I'm not sure if that helps you or not.

Is all the coolant gone too?

 

[Cory Booth]

All the oil is out I'm assuming. But the coolant is still there. I was just wondering about the possibilities of what went wrong. Are these symptoms only for throwing a rod or are there other things that could have went wrong?

 

[addermk2]

honestly... who cares? If the engine is blown, its blown.

besides, who the hell races a 3.8l?

 

[Dacon]

honestly... who cares? If the engine is blown, its blown.

besides, who the hell races a 3.8l?

I raced my 1.8 Honda when I was a kid. I also jumped it multiple times.

How does engine displacement prevent you from racing?

 

[Cory Booth]

It's not that I care. I'm curious, I'm fairly new to building engines so I want to learn as much as possible so I can diagnose nearly any problem. And lol have you not seen the 3.8 mustangs with forged internals and turbos? Look it up. They're no 8 cylinder but it's fun to experiment.

 

[Dirty Rod]

I'd guess he push a rod out of the bottom if there is oil on the ground. Should be pretty easy to spot the hole. The heads might be salvageable depending on where the rod went out but it's likely it's got bent valves too.

 

[Noobz347]

It's not that I care. I'm curious, I'm fairly new to building engines so I want to learn as much as possible so I can diagnose nearly any problem. And lol have you not seen the 3.8 mustangs with forged internals and turbos? Look it up. They're no 8 cylinder but it's fun to experiment.

If you still have the motor... Tear it down!

That will tell you everything there is to know about how it failed. If you're not sure about something well.... I loooooooooove pictures! So does most everyone on a forum. Post up your tear down pictures and talk a bit about what you find.

THEN we (the folks on this end of the interwebz) can do a bit more than just guess at the circumstances. Believe or not, there are probably a hundred different ways that a problem can snowball into a catastrophic failure.

 

[Cory Booth]

If you still have the motor... Tear it down!

That will tell you everything there is to know about how it failed. If you're not sure about something well.... I loooooooooove pictures! So does most everyone on a forum. Post up your tear down pictures and talk a bit about what you find.

THEN we (the folks on this end of the interwebz) can do a bit more than just guess at the circumstances. Believe or not, there are probably a hundred different ways that a problem can snowball into a catastrophic failure.

Yep. I just got the car home last night. I'm going to take it apart this weekend and drop in the 302 shortly after. Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll be back with pictures soon!

 

[Noobz347]

Yep. I just got the car home last night. I'm going to take it apart this weekend and drop in the 302 shortly after. Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll be back with pictures soon!

Awesome! I love a good, "whodunnit".

 

[revhead347]

It could honestly be a whole number of things. It could have been th PCV valve popping out of the intake, and then i dumped oil on the ground.

Kurt