Ever had blown engines for NSX ??

[Radiaiton Joe]

It was hard to tell if it was modded. I noted that he had aftermarket wheels on it that appeared to be wider than stock. The car was very clean and the driver was an older gent with a kid in the car. He was on it hard when it blew. I told my GF that I suspected a miss-handled shift of some sort. I had previously been explaining to her how that nice car was a Honda over 10 years old and still worth upwards of $40k.

Reminded me of how much I've always liked the NSXs. Think I'll lurk around here for a while.

As long as we're sharing blown motor stories ...
Had an RX7 come apart in front of me coming out of T8 at Sears Point back when I had my Taurus SHO. Don't know how I missed the armco.

 

[nbuch001]

It's funny that there is even a discussion among Supra owners regarding NSX engines begin unreliable. There is plenty of documented evidence of the 2jz turbo engine experiencing "crank walk" leading to catastrophic failure. Supraforums has plenty of information on it. I'll take a snap ring failure any day over that head ache.

 

[angus]

It's funny that there is even a discussion among Supra owners regarding NSX engines begin unreliable. There is plenty of documented evidence of the 2jz turbo engine experiencing "crank walk" leading to catastrophic failure. Supraforums has plenty of information on it. I'll take a snap ring failure any day over that head ache.

I don't know about that - the complete 2J short block brand new is less than 1/2 the price of a NSX tranny...

That being said - it is so far and few between that NSX motors blow - even FI ones.

You can break anything if you try hard enough.

 

[robfenn]

Ours blew, albeit on track. Having said that, it had been used gently and rebuilt only a few months previously. It was an oil leak, i'm sure you've all see the photos of it on fire.

When we bought it, it had 90k on the clock and was running despite having a bit of a valve loose inside the engine! God knows how it didn't destroy it. When stripped down, there was quite a lot of stuff not quite right. For those proud of their high milers, i would urge you to consider your cars are running DESPITE the engine, not because of it. Unless you can account for every previous owner, you have to appreciate not all owners are as meticulous as you when it comes to maintenance.

 

[latzke]

Re: Had one Grenade in front of me 2 days ago.

Typical cause with those cars is selecting the wrong gear causing an over-rev, but the owners won't tell you that.

What is the gearshift like on the M3? I've not driven one. If it is sloppy like an Audi (to pick on one sloppy brand out of many) I can see the misshift being common relative to a car with a more-precise shifter. I know the ~95 M5 I drove was lacking in this area.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

I experienced engine failure due to poor engine management system installed at the time my BBSC was installed as part of the original 50 quite a few years ago.

 

[Juice]

And unfortunately, that would me me. You can easily lose a NSX motor with good tires and sharp banking. Being too stupid to monitor you oil prior to tracking solidifies the outcome.

I know of only two instances of NSX engines blowing up, and I believe both occurred due to oil starvation at high speed on high-banked oval tracks, where there are extremely high, sustained lateral g forces.

 

[VegasSpeed]

The term "Blown Engine" could mean a lot of things. First off if you mean any failure that requires an engine rebuild than I say the C30A engine is not that strong with mods on it. In stock form the engine will hold up to most things besides oil starvation. However, forced induction beyond 450whp will blow a head gasket or other issues. My friend has rebuilt his engine twice. Once from a failure. The Supra 2JZ engine is far stronger overall without built internals than a NSX engine is. Same goes for a S54 BMW M3 engine. You happen to choose two platforms to compare the NSX to that aren't good honestly.

Go look at Horsepowerfreaks.com and tell me how strong a E46 M3 engine block is with a turbo. Then look at some Supras as well. What I can tell you as a NSX owner is the limits for turbos and superchargers being reliable beyond 600whp are not good on our car. 500-550whp is probably the safe limit with a built engine block. However, the old E46 M3 and Supra can regularly do 800whp with a turbo kit with good reliability. I don't own either of those cars but I own a NSX. I still believe the NSX engine is not strongest based on those facts. Now, if you are comparing stock engines being run to failure....neither really happens that often IMO. Other problems will happen usually.

 

[4AU4LIFE]

In regards to above post;
In my particular case, the engine wasn't pushing anywhere near 400RWHP. If memory serves, it was more in the 330hp area. However, when my failure occured, I was gradually accelerating from a stop light, NOT jumping on it or racing. I would estimate that I was @ 2500-3k RPM when the engine let go.

 

[VegasSpeed]

In regards to above post;
In my particular case, the engine wasn't pushing anywhere near 400RWHP. If memory serves, it was more in the 330hp area. However, when my failure occured, I was gradually accelerating from a stop light, NOT jumping on it or racing. I would estimate that I was @ 2500-3k RPM when the engine let go.

Now that is not to say that what happened to you can't happen. I firmly believe that each case is unique but overall our cars aren't meant to push massive boost as easy as other engine blocks.

 

[E-Nough Logic]

The term "Blown Engine" could mean a lot of things. First off if you mean any failure that requires an engine rebuild than I say the C30A engine is not that strong with mods on it. In stock form the engine will hold up to most things besides oil starvation. However, forced induction beyond 450whp will blow a head gasket or other issues. My friend has rebuilt his engine twice. Once from a failure. The Supra 2JZ engine is far stronger overall without built internals than a NSX engine is. Same goes for a S54 BMW M3 engine. You happen to choose two platforms to compare the NSX to that aren't good honestly.

Go look at Horsepowerfreaks.com and tell me how strong a E46 M3 engine block is with a turbo. Then look at some Supras as well. What I can tell you as a NSX owner is the limits for turbos and superchargers being reliable beyond 600whp are not good on our car. 500-550whp is probably the safe limit with a built engine block. However, the old E46 M3 and Supra can regularly do 800whp with a turbo kit with good reliability. I don't own either of those cars but I own a NSX. I still believe the NSX engine is not strongest based on those facts. Now, if you are comparing stock engines being run to failure....neither really happens that often IMO. Other problems will happen usually.

i was under the belief this thread was more so about the reliability of the nsx engine and if there was any known flaws or issues not about how strong the engine is under boost. all in all unlike the early s54 engine both the c30/32a, and the 2jz dont have any flaws from the factory and if maintained properly you can expect many miles of even hard abuse.

as far as ability to handle big power with forced induction, i do believe that inline engine's have an innate advantage over V engines. there is more reinforcement at the crankshaft with a main journal between each cylinder vs a main journal between every 2 cylinders on a v style block.

horsepower freaks shows the factory motor making 629whp, which i know is in the ballpark of what has been made on a factory nsx engine. im not sure about reliability of either engine at that point seeing as both have cast pistons most likely being their weakness. beyond that they used built motors. once either motor is built they can both produce amazing power. the supra features a forged bottom end from the factory built for boost not efficiency like the c30/32a and s54. i would hope it to be stronger to handle the rigors of factory turbochargers. look what happens when honda uses an all forged bottom end including the pistons, the s2000 can make huge power with factory components, i just wished they used forged pistons in other motors like the c30/32 or the b series line up.

 

[ChopsJazz]

Re: Had one Grenade in front of me 2 days ago.

Please excuse the goofy handle. I registered in a hurry and mispelled my own online name.

Love the NSX, by the way.

Was admiring one on highway 309 outside of Allentown, PA the other day when the driver decided to take off in a hurry. Don't know if it was a money shift or some other issue, but the motor grenaded (spectacularly) about 200 yards in front of me. So it is possible.

My S54 powered M3 never missed a beat in many track days (but that doesn't mean I didn't worry about it.). Typical cause with those cars is selecting the wrong gear causing an over-rev, but the owners won't tell you that.

Can you define"grenaded"? When my car blew a coolant hose on the freeway I was told it looked pretty spectacular to see the smoke (steam) coming from the rear of the car. The engine, however, suffered no damage whatsoever. Are you sure the engine actually blew up?

 

[Hapa88]

Did someone say NSX engine blow up??? :biggrin:
(disclaimer: I don't claim to know anything about this video whatsoever.:redface
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HZZXT5mC3mU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[jaffaz32]

My engine in my 300zx blow up due to oil starvation the thing is though the engine was only 1000 mile old, so my argument was that the engine builder was at fault.

Anyway i took it to Thor Racing in the UK to build me another engine and with the ambition of 900bhp, i had all supporting mods and the best gear to build that spec engine, they were not capable of dong the job strung me along for two years and then screwed me over thousands of pounds and even stealing couple of my parts.

Great that!

I had nothing but bad luck with that car.

I still have most the parts to build that car to that spec which are brand new.