Blown Engine :'(

[j.j._bluecelica]

Hey guys, I just blew my engine this morning out of my 2003 celica gt. Broken rod punched a hole down thru the lower block and oil pan. Looking for a replacement 1ZZ-FE and wondering if anyone else has done a engine swap @ home before. Tips, advice, anything would be helpful and greatly appreciated.

[rJZx]

Try searching on a celica forum... or at least a toyota one

[narfy]

that engine comes out from below with the transmission...
unbolt the front strut mounts from teh body
unbolt the front calipers from the brackets and hang nicely with coat hanger or wire
undo fuel lines, engine harness and coolant lines
remove the serpentine belt
unbolt the AC compressor and the power steering pump
unbolt subframe and mounts that hold engine/transmission to body
leave engine/transmission bolted to subframe for now
and drop engine and transmission together bolted to the subframe.
leave AC compressor and power steering pump in the engine bay

unbolt engine and replace...

[nickmak]

you should probably also think about why the motor blew up to keep it from happening again with your next one. did it run out of oil or something? not trying to be a dick or say its your fault or anything. blown motors suck ass

[skyxx]

You see that Orange thing you got there. Stay away from it like the plague!!!!!

[j.j._bluecelica]

I cheaped out last oil change a few days ago, I usually run the white K&N wrench off. There was a whining/chirping sound that same morning which I have never heard before? I thought it was a belt or something. Car was cold and I just drove it a block after starting it before it went. Wasn't even half on throttle.

I am running a turbo boosting only 8psi and it was professionally tuned and ran great for a long long time. Should I run forged internals in the next engine?

[Phil@rise]

That chirping was a spun bearing. Narfy got ya covered on the basics of the procedure.

[narfy]

i don't think the internals would have made much a difference for what you are running... your rod bearings failed, which caused a connecting rod to fail... 99% of the times in toyota engines, that is caused by insufficient lubrication... either no oil, or low on oil, or poor quality oil... high quality oil and filters make a HUGE difference... my own personal vehicles all run mobil1 synthetic oil and genuine toyota filters... mobil1 kuz it's easy for me to get...

[BoostedBB6]

Its out now, build up the new engine for more boost!!!

[j.j._bluecelica]

So for the new engine when I do get it, should I upgrade the rods or any other components? 250whp and 230ft-lb was the max I was pumping out. On 9psi, 10 max

[j.j._bluecelica]

And for oil changes the cheapest oil I've ever used was Castrol GTX and this was the only time I used a fram on my celi. Otherwise I've been running m1 or syntec along with either denso or k&n filters.

[civicyvr]

Originally Posted by j.j._bluecelica

And for oil changes the cheapest oil I've ever used was Castrol GTX and this was the only time I used a fram on my celi. Otherwise I've been running m1 or syntec along with either denso or k&n filters.

Sorry to see the carnage. Agree with Skyxx. Cause of failure most likely due to the cheap orange fram filter. Google and you'll see the horror stories.

[godwin]

Since you are running the engine out of factory specs, you should send the oil to an analyzer to make sure all parts are running fine. You should start doing this with your new engine, so you have a baseline.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by j.j._bluecelica

So for the new engine when I do get it, should I upgrade the rods or any other components? 250whp and 230ft-lb was the max I was pumping out. On 9psi, 10 max

I'm very conservative for stuff like this and I haven't really kept up with Toyota for a long time but here are my 2 cents. People will disagree with me and call me crazy. But here goes:

If you are pumping 250fwhp and 230 ft-lb of torque on a stock motor running 9psi - you're pushing it on a stock 1ZZ-FE motor. The factory Toyota/TRD supercharger kit runs what, I think at 6 or 7psi? (narfy can confirm this) and is relatively safe and conservative. If you had a 2ZZ-GE and ran 9 or 10psi - okay. That would work. But you ran this kind of power for so long. This was bound to happen and unfortunately, it had to be now.

Not only that, don't cheap out on oil and filters. You should have stuck to Mobil 1 or whatever synthetic oil you choose to run. Oil is the cheapest insurance you can buy for your motor. And a genuine Toyota filter doesn't cost that much more. This was an expensive mistake! For boosted applications, do not use a dyno oil. Remember - oil and a good filter is cheap insurance!

[j.j._bluecelica]

Yeah I'm kicking myself in the ass for that mistake...so would upgraded forged internals be worth it? At least rods I'm assuming.

[Lomac]

Fram...

To be honest, doing an engine swap isn't that hard, but you need to have the proper tools (hoist, air/power tools, torque wrench, etc) and a decent walk-through in order to do it properly, especially if it's your first time. A Haynes manual from CT will be able to get you through the majority of the swap using basic tools most people have lying around their garage, though I imagine a Toyota or Celica-based forum will have guides written up by members to help with short cuts.

[godwin]

The thing is without a history of oil analysis it is impossible to nail the error on the FRAM filter. Forged internals won't help you with oil starvation.. however an oil pressure gauge probably will. I think you would want to balance what you want to achieve and your budget (which we don't know). One can have new crankshaft with better oil cooling etc too.

[narfy]

i wouldn't bother building an engine up to run that little boost... i would recommend you find a way of not starving your engine of oil... like i mentioned, it wasn't a problem with the strength of your connecting rods or pistons, but rather a lack of lubrication which caused a failed connecting rod bearing, which led to a failed connecting rod...

find another celica/corolla/matrix engine, put it in, get running again... good thing is, there's so many of these engines out there, they can be had cheeeeep!

if you don't mind swapping the manifolds, oil pan, harness, etc... u can buy an engine out of anything that ran a 1ZZ-FE with VVT-i...

like godwin posted, get an oil pressure gauge... and possibly an inline oil cooler... and run quality oil filters!! i always get the biggest genuine toyota filter i can fit onto the engine... bigger filter = more capacity and better flow..

[Lomac]

To be honest, I highly doubt it was the Fram filter that caused the damage. Sure, they're not the greatest filter out there, but they're decent enough that unless there was a major fault with it, it shouldn't cause oil starvation. Honestly, chances are either your oil simply ran too low or there was already a production fault in the bearing that finally gave out. That said, as other have mentioned, run an oil pressure gauge. I had a connecting rod blow out on me due to a lack of oil pressure many years ago, and have always installed a gauge in my car ever since just for that piece of mind.

[j.j._bluecelica]

I did a oil change couple days before tho...checked oil levels and everything the day before. Could it still be oil starvation?

[Lomac]

You did put oil in the car, right? Or tightened the drain plug down properly? Not saying you'd be daft enough to not do either one of those, but I've unfortunately seen it happen in the past.

[j.j._bluecelica]

I checked for level and leaks day prior, nothing.

[j.j._bluecelica]

Ordering from JDM Source, any reviews or opinions on them?

[godwin]

It has been covered a lot of times.. use the SEARCH!

Originally Posted by j.j._bluecelica

Ordering from JDM Source, any reviews or opinions on them?

[j.j._bluecelica]

Engine's arriving tomorrow, stoked