Ran a 13.007 today before my engine ****ing seized
 

Got out to the track today, first time since July 1st and ran a 13.007@104.38 on a 1.75 sixty foot first run of the day. So it was looking like a promising day. I made one hot lap pass right after it, had a funny launch where the car pulled sideways (don't ask me how, it never happens... :nervous: ), I think I ran 13.19 on that one, and then it went to hell in a hand basket.

My next pass an hour later I was just coming to the end of my burnout, where I usually just sort of let the rpms drop and release the hand brake at the same time to pull me out of the burnout, and all of a sudden the car shut off. At first I thought I'd stalled it but I've never done that before and the rpms were still up probably around 4k or so, so I quickly realized I was in trouble. Gave it a second and tried to start it... dead, wouldn't even turn over. ****ing engine seized. I'll have to pull it out and tear it down to see what happened but the preliminary assessment so far is pointing to the oil pump failing.

Yay. So I am just tired and pissed off right now. I still don't have the 12 second timeslip that I KNOW the car is capable of and I might be done for the year. I mean seriously... 7 thousandths away??!! Gimme a ****ing break. Sheesh, I didn't even have the cutout open on that run. And forget that even, with better weather I'd have hit 12's easily. It was 90% humidity today, temps around 75 and a 10-15 mph straight on headwind. Give me 40% humidity without the wind and the car goes 12.9x all day.

I'll post a timeslip up later and a video which I believe I got on the camcorder, but I'm just too tired right now and frustrated.

man that sucks but a great time anyways and on a 3.0


this is what happen to me thats why i have a 3.5 now my oil pump in my 3.0 shattered into pieces like it was glass .

IF your staying with the 3.0 make sure you get a upgraded 3.5 oil pump


oh and ill get a 12 for you this comming sat

And a ? what have you been revving to ..my car was fine under 7500rpm over that killed it

Doesn't count... 12's should be elementary for a lightweight 3.5... ;) The whole point was to run a 12 on a N/A 3L.

If indeed it was the oil pump, it's noteworthy that it didn't fail at high rpm. I wasn't revving up to 8k or so like you... it was at the tail end of a burnout, somewhere around the 4000 rpm mark IIRC. Definitely not even close to the rev limit. But I'll have to pull the engine and see what's up... it's still possible it's something else.

:sadpace: sad to hear. Sooooooo close wow... Good luck on getting things straightened out.

thats terrible. get the engine back up, get out and show us some 12's

ARRGG, that sucks... :banghead: I was waiting for this thread, since i read your post where you were going racing this weekend. Anticipating some 3.0 NA 12s to give me some (more) inspiration to keep going... Sorry to hear it, and I know you didnt ask but i vote you stay 3.0 and get another DE/DEk in there this fall, get back to the track and nail the numbers...

For clarification....He doesn't have a DEK in there, just the DEK IM.

Dandy - I'm really sorry to hear the bad news - there aren't many 3.0 N/A beasts left out there.. :vqman:

I hope you're going to replace the motor with another one, to finish out this season - so close to the 12s, too... :nutkick:

That truly sucks. Is the VQ35 simply going to go in earlier instead?

Wow, I didn't see this coming. Do you think it has anything to do with the EU? I've never heard of a VQ failing like this before. Please tell me you're gonna stay 3.0 and throw in a DE-K.

I highly doubt it had anything to do with the EU or the tuning.

Given the preliminary assessment we did yesterday, all signs point to a mechanical failure, and my #1 suspect at this point is the oil pump. Although I wasn't over-revving it at the time it seized, it's possible all the high revving abuse wore down the pump over time (if indeed it was the oil pump). I did not routinely go past 7500 but it saw 7300 quite often.

I won't know for sure until I pull apart the engine, and I'm not making any decisions on what I'm going to do yet either until I find out what shape the engine's in and what failed.

Dang man sorry to hear that. My first thought when I'd just read your title was "oil pump".

Excellent job on the 13.007 though - so close and by far the quickest and fastest still.

Luckily engine swaps in these cars are really easy, you can do it in a day.

Ahhh so close. The Maxima.org cheerleading squad urges you to continue the pursuit :D

Just FYI, you're a lot of inspiration for me :)

Great time. That suxs your 3.0 seized on you. If it is the oil pump IIRC that the 3.5 oil pump can fit into the VQ30DE. I hope you stay 3.0 for a little longer. All that work on the EU.

That sucks man. DEK's are everywhere so get one... :)

Crap dude! That really sucks. I've been paying attention to your progress for while now. I'm really interested in what the 3L NA guys are doing.

If you have the money, I'm sure you can have another motor swapped in shortly.

If it makes you feel any better, my riding lawn mower motor recently grenaded and I swapped in another motor a few days later and cut my grass that day. :)

http://www.iwdwebdesign.com/house/Gr...er%20Motor.jpg

http://www.iwdwebdesign.com/house/Br...ston%20Rod.jpg

I know it probably doesn't make you feel any better. I feel your pain. Please keep us up to date on what you end up doing.

holy crap, what were you revving that lawn mower motor to???????

I don't know. I haven't installed my tachometer on this thing yet. lol

Geez Dan what the heck are you doing? We aren't ever going to get to the track together. I was hoping we could do that this coming weekend at St Thomas but I guess not. What a tough break, that really sucks.

Let us know when you find out what the cause was but I think you are on the right track by the sounds of it. Keep us posted.

That sucks. Good luck with the tear down and motor swap.

Wow talk about pushing it to the limit. Hope you get everything cleared up and hit 12's all motor. Congrats on your new time also.

Thanks for the support guys. I was pretty disappointed on the weekend, still am, I guess. I know this kinda thing is par for the course but I was more upset about not hitting the time I wanted to, plus the fact I was going to dyno it in a couple weeks and now in all likelyhood we'll never know what the power curve looked like. I was pretty sure it was in the 230-240whp range and peak power past 7k or very close. I'll be back, just not sure when or with what setup. It's bad timing too, just bought a house and am going overseas in January for 2 months so money's not exactly lying around.


Tell me about it... it's just gone that way, I figured we'd have met up several times by now but for one reason or another it hasn't happened. If my friend(s) happen to go I might tag along and bring the camcorder though, so might see you at some point yet.

Here is the timeslip:

http://img2.putfile.com/thumb/7/18613260172.jpg

I also have 3 videos. Can anyone host or should I throw them up on YouTube? Currently they're decently size avi's, 720x480 and about 80mb each, but I could size them down... They show the 2 runs I got in plus the engine seizing during the burnout.

that sucks. Stay the course and get the 3L 12.xxx man. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Sorry to hear that bro. That 13.007 is a great time!

Did you do a compression check?

car wont crank, cant do compression test

Wow, thats terrible news.. however, I can host those videos for you if you resize them some.. luke (at) vqpower.com

Sorry to hear that happen but congrats on the time.

VQ30s go for really cheap in junkyards so it shouldnt kill you swapping another one in. Hopefully the next motor be able to do the close to the same numbers.

did you have a shot to tear the motor apart yet to see if it was an oil pump issue?

i was hoping to see you hit 12's but once you get the car going you will be ok and the 12's will come. i personally think maybe u should build a purpose built motor using a 3.5 and go to town with that

No I haven't had time to touch it yet.

Trust me, I want to build a killer 3.5 but I can't afford to do it yet the way I want to. Going on a 2 month trip in January and just bought a house = not enough cash. For now the 3.0 is it.

:ben: ... ... ... There's always a silver lining to a dark story...

care to share what it is....?? lol

Silver lining = you're staying with the 3L.. some support it some don't, like a guilty pleasure... The 'thing' to do is get a 3.5L.. but you're staying with a 3L for now.. so it's even more ground breaking the things you've done and will do

Black cloud = (insert 2nd half of thread title here)

Hmm.. well like I said, I do want to build a 3.5. But the money situation just doesn't allow it yet because it's going to cost me a lot more than just the price of the used engine.

But in the mean time, it is also hard for me to give up on my 3L goal to hit 12's, I can be bulldoggy that way sometimes, I don't stop till I achieve what I have my mind set to.. of course some would call that stubborn... lol

Mind you, I may add a piece or 2 to make it easy for me to hit 12's now that I'm going to have to pull the engine anyways... :hide:

you should be able to pull of a swap pretty cheaply, selling your current 00Vi could pay for most of a dek, might as well do cams while your at it too...

and then the first the NA 3.0 in the 12s

I was routing for the original VQ30DE :(.

jus tstay w/ the 3.0 thas ur legacy. Then hit 12s b4 u get the 3.5 just to prove to the world it can b done. u already hit .007 away probably a little cooler weather and u will get it.

3.0 DEK ftw imho. You can probably find one for 400-800.

lol you guys are funny. I've already said I'm not putting in a 3.5 yet... :hide:

Thought I had a DEK for cheap but it fell through... :(

I'm hoping to get some time to pull apart the engine this weekend and find out what actually happened. I'll take pics, don't worry. :D