Why My Engine Blew....

beefcake

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I know all have had lost of speculation, too much power, bad gas, bad tune, etc..

From everything we've come to investigate about the engine. Our best guest the cause of the problem was the Caspers Electronics o2 extension harness.

After putting the new engine back in the car, we had issues right out of the gate with random o2 codes on bank 2. SCT Data logger was randomly not picking up a/f out of bank 2. 95% of the time, getting no reading.
I bought 2 new o2's thinking the old ones possibly got oiled from when the motor let go.

Put them in, and immediately had the same codes and no a/f. One time it would be o2 sensor code, then heater circuit code. etc.. All random codes related to the o2 sensor on bank 2.

We pulled the new o2's back out of both sides and got to looking at them closely. What we found was a little interesting. The passenger side, which had no harness extension, when you look at the holes the o2 plugs into. There is gold (connector) right at the tips of the holes.

On the Caspers harness. The gold (connector) is recessed inside the hole nearly half an inch. On top of that, the clip was busted on the connector. My guy at the shop said, hmmm, makes sense now. I asked what he was referring to. Originally the engine builder sent me a pic of one piston. I thought only one was gone. Turns out that all 4 bank 2 pistons were ate up. 5,6,7, and 8. The guys at my shop said that there was my problem.

More than likely, there was very little connection in the harness. When the clip broke, not enough connection to hold. We played around with the stock harness for a bit and was able to move it around and plug the factory harness in to the o2 without the connector.

Jump into the car, fire it up, and voila! No o2 codes and a/f was reading fine.

At Bradenton this past week, I was talking with my tuner and started talking to him about the harness. As soon as I mentioned header harness, he got a faint grin, not laughing, but like knowing what I was going to say.
He told me the American Racing shop car had tuning issues for a few weeks. He was remote tuning the car, and told them there was no issues with the car, it had to be somewhere else. They discovered the same thing, the harness was the issue with the car.

There was also another car that showed up at the NMRA race that was having similar code issues. Turns out he has headers with the same harness. (everyone uses these harness').

Also talked to Justin from VMP, told him my findings, he told me that he had recently went to order some of the harness' from Caspers and they told them they were "redesigning" the harness because of the clips breaking.

I talked to them myself today, moreso about the connector vs the clip. He said they use oem connectors. I assured him the connectors look nothing like oem. Then he told me they are "bosch" oem connectors.
Again, best guess is the clip had broken at some point and lost connection, more than likely under wot. John Lund explained to me that these cars when they don't pick up a reading, default to a 14 to 1 a/f.

More than enough to detonate a s/c'd Coyote at WOT.

Bank 1 was completely untouched in the engine as well.

So, there ya have it.
 

jsnyng

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I guess we know who won't be sponsoring you at NMRA Commerce. I doubt there will be a Casper's sticker on the car. I'm sorry you lost the motor, but I'm glad you got it figured out.
 

Intervention

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But you have a SW exhaust?

I never needed any o2 extensions with my headers? Maybe auto/manual?

Or am I lost here... (very possible)
 

beefcake

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But you have a SW exhaust?

I never needed any o2 extensions with my headers? Maybe auto/manual?

Or am I lost here... (very possible)

They are not needed, but my car was the developmental car. Most cars need it, so I imagine it was put on while building just to make sure everything would reach.

I don't think the production kits have an extender with them.
 

Steedman07

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Did Caspers give any indication that they would help you??
 

Intervention

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They are not needed, but my car was the developmental car. Most cars need it, so I imagine it was put on while building just to make sure everything would reach.

I don't think the production kits have an extender with them.

Thanks man...
 
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JJ@WMS

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You would have thought that the loss of signal would have set a code considering the computer relies upon those widebands quite a bit. You never had codes or a check engine light until you put it back together?

JJ
 

beefcake

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You would have thought that the loss of signal would have set a code considering the computer relies upon those widebands quite a bit. You never had codes or a check engine light until you put it back together?

JJ

I would have to say that is because there were no codes, until there were codes, lol.

Meaning, until the harness let go, there were no issues. Had the harness let go a week earlier, or on the street, that would have made a difference.

Of course once the motor went, i had gobs of codes. Of course at 120 mph at w.ot. , it's a little late.
 

Greg Hazlett

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If you were the developmental car didn't that make them responsible?

Did you have to sign anything absolving them of any responsibilities?

I would think a reputable company would step up and help you...

Sorry to hear about this.
 

vakane

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tell them to sponsor you forever.... and payup in parts or labor or SOMETHING.
 

DTony

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Beefcake, thanks for the information. Since I have Kooks long tubes I just went out and jacked up the car and checked out my o2 setup. Fortunately mine are oem without extentions. Just the same your post will probably save someone else the troubles you had.
 

beefcake

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If you were the developmental car didn't that make them responsible?

Did you have to sign anything absolving them of any responsibilities?

I would think a reputable company would step up and help you...

Sorry to hear about this.

I don't blame Stainless Works in the slightest. They aren't in the electronics business.

Caspers supplies the harness' to just about every company out there. If they plug it in as they have done for the last 10, 15, or whatever years, and there isn't an issue how would they know.

Obviously Caspers now knows there is an issue, that's why they are redesigning the harness.

Beefcake, thanks for the information. Since I have Kooks long tubes I just went out and jacked up the car and checked out my o2 setup. Fortunately mine are oem without extentions. Just the same your post will probably save someone else the troubles you had.

I agree,

For years, o2 extenders were always needed, I think that's why original cars got them, no matter the brand.

American racing was fortunate to have the harness on their shop car have issues right out of the gate.

Someone had to point the issues out to Caspers. They know there is an issue.
 
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Greg Hazlett

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I don't blame Stainless Works in the slightest. They aren't in the electronics business.

Caspers supplies the harness' to just about every company out there. If they plug it in as they have done for the last 10, 15, or whatever years, and there isn't an issue how would they know.

Obviously Caspers now knows there is an issue, that's why they are
redesigning the harness.


Expensive lessons learned and on your dime...:wtf:
 

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