turbite

So, as some of you know, I was at buttonwillow this past weekend, and had some not-so-good luck.

Car ran great for about 4 laps or so!
Then I started to get an odd, "BB's in a can" sound whenever I got on the gas.
Temp was at the 1/3 mark, wideband read okay.

I then entered into riverside when it suddenly sounded like I had no muffler.
(I actually really liked the way it sounded! its too quite as it is.)
Anyway, I was thinking some sort of an exhaust leak by the testpipe or something.
I stayed on it through the turn, and right as I was leaving the turn it went.

Clunk! Boom! and a huge blaze of glory in my rear view mirror.
I pulled off and sat there for a second thinking "damn it! first session of the season!"
Then I decided to get out and survey the underhood damage.

First I noticed oil all over the place at the back side of the engine,
then I noticed my turbo was on fire. Nice.
I ran back to the cockpit and grabbed the extinguisher, and return only to find that it does nothing.
I frantically shake it a hit it trying to figure out why it does nothing.

The corner worker is meanwhile running around the lake to get to me with an extinquisher.
A little bit later (probably 30 seconds, seemed like 10 minutes) the extinguisher finally started actually doing something, and I put out the flames.

The rest of the weekend consisted of me trying to get the car back to my garage 300 miles away.

Now its in the garage, and I'm gonna be pulling the engine soon to survey the damage.
I think theres a spun bearing in the least, and theres oil in the coolant.
The fire doesnt look to have caused any damage as it was just oil on the crossover and turbo that burned.

Worst case, the fire actually did cause damage, the turbo ate shrapnel, I threw a rod and ruined my 5000 mile block and my crank (please everyone pray my valves and cylinders are fine! )
Best case, just a spun bearing.

mumzer summed it up best I think by saying, "it would be funny if it didnt suck so much."
I try to think about it this way, it makes a good drinking story, and I get to learn how to take apart an engine.
I've got a junkyard hookup with tons of 944t parts, which should help.

Anyone want to help me yank an engine?
I have no clue how to do this!

I'll post pics when I get home.

edit:
and I owe big thanks to all the people who helped me out immensely.
mumzer and crew, others who gave me a ride to bakersfield to get uhaul.

PorscheDoc

"It would be funny if it didn't suck so much"

Priceless

David Floyd

No fun seeing your mirrors full of fire!

My engine was completely distroyed!

I wish you the best.

Rich Sandor

did anyone catch that on video? that would be cool.

I hope you get the thing back together okay! good luck!

badass951

Sounds like detonation to me.

EZRider

Man that trip sounded downright scarey I hope you'll hang in there and bring your Porsche back better than new.

Dal Heger

Nice, You blew up your car. The engine is toast, there is nothing salvageable.
Get a new engine. You have a nice hole in the side of your block. The head is toast as is the entire block.

The BB's in a can sound was your spun bearing. If you stopped at that point you could have fixed it. Been there, done that. Still had to get the crank turned and one rod straightened.

Sorry for sounding so harsh, that's not my intention, it sucks, but it did give you warning.

Good news, 951 engines aren't that expensive.

Dal.

Perry 951

If you have oil everywhere, something let go and windowed the block. Not good... I feel your pain!

Anytime you hear crazy noises, you should always get out of the gas and limp to the pits. Live and learn.

turbite

Thanks for the comments guys.

I'll let you all know how things work out.
I do really wish I had it on video, it would be pretty cool, especially with the open exhaust sound coming on right before it blew!

Dal: Luckily, we don't have told-you-so ******** like you at the track that make times like this bearable.

scottz

At least you got your health . . .

Good luck, I feel for you.

mumzer

guys...chill....there are no holes in the block...no connecting rods sticking through the pan, and no great volume of oil....the oil fire was minor...

if i had to bet, id say it was an unrelated failure, secondary to the bearing. Oil probably caught fire as soon as dirk pulled over and stopped the car.

in hind sight dirk did say the car had been making a lifter noise for some time...maybe it was really a rod going already...should he have stopped? probably, but it wouldnt have changed the outcome.

the only thing he really did wrong was open the hood...if the fire had been serious, opening the hood could have resulted in serious burns.

give the guy a break....

David Floyd

That's not what my wallet is telling me, I now have much more in the engine than what I paid for the whole car.

I do have a little more HP now

David Floyd

That's good to hear, minor damage. No fun but fixable.

Perry 951

In my experience, oil does not exit the engine just for fun. Let us know what you find.

Dal Heger

Sorry, I just call it like I see it. Been there, done that. I was luckier than you in that the rod didn't break, but it was really close. I was lucky.

It sucks though. Remember, it's just a car. A couple grand and you're gonna be back in the game with a new engine and hopefully some upgrades.

As for the ******* comment, heh, been called worse. I won't hold it against you, I feel your pain. I'm just a realist. Engines can be repaired/replaced, the monetary outlay sucks, but then again, we have old high performance cars, some of this is to be expected. If you were closer I'd be there helping you tear it out and install it. You should be able to find a used good engine for pretty cheap if you look around. Buy that, tear it down, clean it, replace the worn parts (including the turbo which will have metal bearing shavings in it) and it'll be as good as new.

I treated my almost ventilated S2 block as a learning experience, I hope that you will take this as one too. Now I KNOW what a bad rod bearing sounds like!

Good luck!