m400 fooked
Author
Discussion

CTO3

Original Poster:

334 posts

236 months

Saturday 15th December 2007
quotequote all
took car out today, m400 lost all oil pressure, then oil, then very bad noise. JNM say big end bearing. dirty great titwank!!!!

drink
feck
arse

conleth

Edited by CTO3 on Wednesday 16th January 11:33

gadgeroonie

5,362 posts

265 months

Saturday 15th December 2007
quotequote all
sorry to hear the news

however - look on the bright side, rebuild it for more power !

(or consider one of those cheap 3.0 engines from America)

what mods did the engine have ?

peterguk

2,622 posts

246 months

Saturday 15th December 2007
quotequote all
Any idea as to why loss of oil pressure? Leak? Low level? I assume TDS so surge should have been limited..

Sorry to hear..

Adrian W

15,493 posts

257 months

Saturday 15th December 2007
quotequote all
Sorry to read that. Sell your wife/girlfriend/mother, call 01277-261400 and ask for a bloke named Trevor and offer him lots of money.

art411y

832 posts

249 months

Saturday 15th December 2007
quotequote all
jeez last thing you needed hope 08 is better for you

worty

2,202 posts

254 months

Sunday 16th December 2007
quotequote all
Sorry to hear that
Sounds very much like what happened to Ash.

worty

Iaing01

421 posts

240 months

Sunday 16th December 2007
quotequote all
Gutted for you mate.

Iain

sjc

16,399 posts

299 months

Sunday 16th December 2007
quotequote all
Is it under warranty from the dealer, as I seem to remember you haven't had it long?

RobP

2,097 posts

270 months

Sunday 16th December 2007
quotequote all
CTO3 said:
at donnington today m400 lost all oil pressure, then oil, then very bad noise. JNM say big end bearing. dirty great titwank!!!!

drink
feck
arse

conleth
Conleth -just got back. Let me know what the diagnosis is. Nice to see you again anyway.

Ash M400

3,836 posts

270 months

Sunday 16th December 2007
quotequote all
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=316...

Do you have the standard fuel pump?

If so, you have had the same issue I had.

Time for more BHP.

obes

3,298 posts

273 months

Monday 17th December 2007
quotequote all
nightmare mate frown
have been there myself, not good.

as mentioned, maybe time for some cheeky mods smile
(prepare your cheque book now though !)

C&C

3,913 posts

250 months

Monday 17th December 2007
quotequote all
Really sorry to hear this.

I too have been in a similar situation and really feel for you.

Very best of luck in getting it sorted.

Conrad.

CTO3

Original Poster:

334 posts

236 months

Tuesday 18th December 2007
quotequote all
hi all
jnm have had a look at the car and decided it is the big end bearing that's the problem. engine now coming out to assess whats happened. it had the fuel pump upgrade, though not sure when this was done. when jnm remapped the car recently they said it was one of the american engines that noble used for around 10 of the m400's. they said there were around 10 'other' spec engines used as well. when they'd seen this problem before it was on one of the american or 'other' spec engines.
i've only had car about 2 months so hopefully warranty will cover some cost.
immediate thoughts were for more bhp when work being done on the car though i've not had much chance to experience the 430bhp in standard form yet after remap. will keep you posted


conleth

Adrian W

15,493 posts

257 months

Tuesday 18th December 2007
quotequote all
CTO3 said:
hi all
jnm have had a look at the car and decided it is the big end bearing that's the problem. engine now coming out to assess whats happened. it had the fuel pump upgrade, though not sure when this was done. when jnm remapped the car recently they said it was one of the american engines that noble used for around 10 of the m400's. they said there were around 10 'other' spec engines used as well. when they'd seen this problem before it was on one of the american or 'other' spec engines.
i've only had car about 2 months so hopefully warranty will cover some cost.
immediate thoughts were for more bhp when work being done on the car though i've not had much chance to experience the 430bhp in standard form yet after remap. will keep you posted


conleth
I don't want to be to negative, but! JNM remapped the car and then it went bang? did they increase the boost on an unknown engine? how much power was it making before they remapped it? and how much boost was it running then?

GTO400

1,877 posts

280 months

Tuesday 18th December 2007
quotequote all
Don't see why JNM remap has anything to do with Main bearing failure !, personally l can't recommend them high enough, great people and great work.

obes

3,298 posts

273 months

Tuesday 18th December 2007
quotequote all
They are MEGA sensitive to oil level yes
When mine went, the guy who did the rebuild had heard of lots of occurences in the mondeo let alone in a Noble !

Adrian W

15,493 posts

257 months

Tuesday 18th December 2007
quotequote all
GTO400 said:
Don't see why JNM remap has anything to do with Main bearing failure !, personally l can't recommend them high enough, great people and great work.
Because the stresses on the bottom end increase drematicaly, remember this engine was designed to produce 205bhp. my comments wernt a pop at JNM, However i did ask for the before and answer

CTO3

Original Poster:

334 posts

236 months

Tuesday 18th December 2007
quotequote all
not able to say what the car was producing before the remap as wasn't running well - large flat spot/misfire - bad presale service garage had the wrong plugs installed and were gapped incorrectly in any case. but boost standard and untouched before and after. i had done around 400 miles since remap before donny

conleth

Mike Tuckwood

1,261 posts

228 months

Tuesday 18th December 2007
quotequote all
Adrian W said:
I don't want to be to negative, but! JNM remapped the car and then it went bang? did they increase the boost on an unknown engine? how much power was it making before they remapped it? and how much boost was it running then?
That's an entirely valid question.

A remap makes use of the safety headroom within the map, optimising it for performance, with the high rigours and stress placed upon the engine during a track day, its likely that high intake temperatures are more likely to bring about the onset of in cylinder detonation. Particularly so if ignition advance has been pushed too far during the remap?

Detonation causes a HUGE pressure increase on top of the piston while it's still rising towards the optimum ignition firing point, the end result of that can quite easily bring about a big end failure.

The massive shock load caused if an engine is experiencing det, carries that additional shock load down the con rod and to the crank. The pressure is so great, that it can punch through the oil film which exists between the big end shell and the crank.

This can cause failure in itself, but if bad enough can cause the big end to pick up as it breaks the oil film, gripping the shell, spinning it and blocking of the big end oil feed.

Given that at circa 6500rpm, the cylinder is on its firing cycle maybe 55 times a second, (and seeing tdc around 110 times a second) it's easy to see how even short instances of det can take their toll!

While I'm in no way at all suggesting that this is the cause, I'm merely putting some meat onto the bones that it wouldn't be an act of madness to consider what was done during the remap only a short while before and to include it on the list of possible suspects?

It could also be poor quality fuel, reduced fuel pressure, spark plug temperature range too hot, oil level, oil quality.............. (the list goes on).


Mike

Edited by Mike Tuckwood on Tuesday 18th December 23:32

JLSELAN

405 posts

262 months

Wednesday 19th December 2007
quotequote all
Mike Tuckwood said:
Adrian W said:
I don't want to be to negative, but! JNM remapped the car and then it went bang? did they increase the boost on an unknown engine? how much power was it making before they remapped it? and how much boost was it running then?
That's an entirely valid question.

A remap makes use of the safety headroom within the map, optimising it for performance, with the high rigours and stress placed upon the engine during a track day, its likely that high intake temperatures are more likely to bring about the onset of in cylinder detonation. Particularly so if ignition advance has been pushed too far during the remap?

Detonation causes a HUGE pressure increase on top of the piston while it's still rising towards the optimum ignition firing point, the end result of that can quite easily bring about a big end failure.

The massive shock load caused if an engine is experiencing det, carries that additional shock load down the con rod and to the crank. The pressure is so great, that it can punch through the oil film which exists between the big end shell and the crank.

This can cause failure in itself, but if bad enough can cause the big end to pick up as it breaks the oil film, gripping the shell, spinning it and blocking of the big end oil feed.

Given that at circa 6500rpm, the cylinder is on its firing cycle maybe 55 times a second, (and seeing tdc around 110 times a second) it's easy to see how even short instances of det can take their toll!

While I'm in no way at all suggesting that this is the cause, I'm merely putting some meat onto the bones that it wouldn't be an act of madness to consider what was done during the remap only a short while before and to include it on the list of possible suspects?

It could also be poor quality fuel, reduced fuel pressure, spark plug temperature range too hot, oil level, oil quality.............. (the list goes on).


Mike

Edited by Mike Tuckwood on Tuesday 18th December 23:32
Sorry for a bit of a quibble, but TDC only occurs once in every 2 revolutions, since it is the top of the compression stroke (both valves closed)--the other piston "top" in a 4-cycle motor is with the exhaust valve open so it happens under relatively low stress conditions.
As for the failure, I suspect a combination of low oil level and oil starvation due to hi-g cornering and braking played a role. Bearings do not react well to a loss of lubrication--even a short one.





Edited by JLSELAN on Wednesday 19th December 07:28