Lost Engine on 1st Turbo Run

slowfizzz

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Installed a RCC Turbo Stage 1 on an 08 Gen II wth ~3k miles. Tuned by Johnny Cheese. 75 miles ridden hard but not sustained speed with no problems. I did get what I would call vapor lock once after stopping at a store. After waiting & fiddling with fuel line routing, ran fine. I am not clear if it was crimped fuel line or vapor lock but I re-did fuel routing to make sure.

1st run at Texas Mile (March) I lost compression in all 4 cylinders. Bummer. It was am on Friday and not too hot. I was running pump gas.

Pistons were scored wth the inner 2 having significant damage on both sides and outer pistons having worse damage on the inside. The cylinder had detonation signs and scored linings. Head gasket was intact (no oil/coolant mix). Oil smelled burnt but was otherwise fine.

Theories:

1. Bad gas
2. Fuel delivery problem (the pressure was still 42-43 after losing engine)
3. Had a lean condition (fuel map issue or bad MAP sensor?)
4. Improper warm up. Theory that pistons warmed too quick. Other theory that cylinder warmed up to quick. I had ridden 3/4 ile to start but sat in queue for a while. It did idle for minutes before I hit the line and temp showed warm
5. Theory that a pinch in waste gate vacuum hose could have caused turbo to go past 4 lbs. I was looking at road during run so did not notice gauge.
6. The coolant had air so coolant did not cycle and got to hot.

I am not a master mechanic but was able to build a zx14 nitrous bike and take to 202. This was my first turbo and I know it is something I did to the bike as a stock bike would not have done this (grin)

Kudos to Richard. He lived up to his reputation and has answered questions and helped debug far after the sale.

I am now building engine (new cylinder, SS valves, valve springs, wossner turbo pistons, studs). Unfortunately I have no clear root cause. Before a repeat I would appreciate any opinions on what could have done this or suggestions to avoid.

Thanks,

Derek
 
A good data logger would have helped point to a cause. You might consider adding one.


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ran it to hard on pump gas is the main problem
race gas would have stopped most of this
its called detonation and its nasty on these bikes with pump gas running wot
 
without a logger it's difficult to know the cause. as cdhoroho mentioned race gas may have prevented this. Anytime you want to push WOT for any duration it's better to be safe.
 
No cooling with water injection or heat exchanger, pump gas, WOT at the TX mile, & stock engine does not make for a happy experience.
 
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