Possible engine failure

[Navi]

it’s because it was a euro spec GPF car, they tune different to the older stuff, hence the reason we gave up.

yeah I wouldn't have trusted him with a euro spec car.

 

[SugarMouth]

99 Ron, also tried to ms109 but knock remained

I am no tuning guru but do not see anything in the log way out of whack meaning something else may have been contributing to the knock. 6 degrees on your fuel was not crazy or anything. I also did not see crazy retard but retard up in the rev range and multiple cylinders is iffy.

 

[jimlloyd40]

Shitty situation, sorry dude!

But we have to admit something was a little strange with the car from the beginning.... MS109 and knock remains with what was already low timing (from what I remember)?. Tough to pinpoint hardware issue(s) all along or tuner error at this point. This is one shitty aspect of remote tuning I think--- hardware issues or just weird shit going on in general.

I have a buddy I've been helping tune in his big turbo Mazdaspeed 3, he had wild AFRs early on dialing it in at 30+ psi. He pulled the plugs and couple of them were missing insulators etc.... they were NGK. I don't think the plugs are to blame here.

I agree that hardware problems can't be dealt with via a remote tune but shouldn't his tuner suspected a hardware problem when he was having to reduce timing knowing he was running that high of octane of fuel and stopped doing revisions until potential hardware issues were proven?

 

[Paxtond1]

Well we ran a bore scope down the block today.

Piston doesn't seem to be cracked on the crown but who knows,

Next step is to get the head off, got a friend who is going to do it after I clean out the garage and give him some working space.

after that I will be making a IE order for rods, pistons and valve train along with the new Littco L560 BB Turbo, lets try to make 600whp on E85

Will update when we get the engine apart.

 

[SugarMouth]

Well we ran a bore scope down the block today.

Piston doesn't seem to be cracked on the crown but who knows,

Ring land maybe. Look forward to your build.

 

[swcrow]

subscribed for knowledge

 

[Alex@Stratified]

I am sorry to see this happen.
There were some teething issues with the software through COBB for the newer ECUs (some limits with respect to post shift timing) that have now been removed and the software is always being improved. I understand that this can be trying on the patience.
Unfortunately damaged plugs like this are an indication of knock. The combustion chamber design of the EA888.3 seems to channel a lot of the knock energy towards the spark plug (and hence why we see spark plugs fail often).

 

[Alex@Stratified]

David, I know you have the drive to rebuild this even better - so looking forward to see the build!

 

[Hollywood0220]

I am sorry to see this happen.
There were some teething issues with the software through COBB for the newer ECUs (some limits with respect to post shift timing) that have now been removed and the software is always being improved. I understand that this can be trying on the patience.
Unfortunately damaged plugs like this are an indication of knock. The combustion chamber design of the EA888.3 seems to channel a lot of the knock energy towards the spark plug (and hence why we see spark plugs fail often).

I agree with Alex@Stratified here. There is a reason that VW recommends spark plug changes on “stock” cars @30K miles. On stock set ups, this is an early preventive measure / on higher output applications it is recommended 10-15K. Be mindful of underlying reasons for that.

Since there were a ton of revisions and fine tuning, the problem was already pre-existing. How the “Unicorn” achieved 467hp is a great mystery.
Bottom Line:
When tuning and “knock” is limiting progress, just STOP and proceed with due diligence to uncover the underlying problem before considering to continue.

 

[Paxtond1]

Yeh its one of those things, I have no hard feeling toward anyone, nor do I pin blame on anyone.

Having raced and built super bikes for nearly 15 years im more that acquainted to issues when you start turning things up, got to pay to play right?

Im itching to get the head off and make sure the block is going to be ok for a build, then to find a tuner/shop that can "assist" with getting a IE order over to me with customs friendly price declaration lol.

Interestingly when I went to unicorn, he tried to tune the car via Cobb and couldn't get the car to make power and also ran in to the same power cut that Alex had, we decided to ditch cobb as it doesn't seem to play Nice with these new euro spec GPF cars as it simply leaves the GPF error and turns off triggering of the Check engine light, the other software takes it out and totally as if it never existed, the other plus point of this is he has the ability to code in MPI and Flexfuel on the 2019 Simos 18.10 ecu

The big win out of all of this, is my wife came and see me looking all pissed off in the garage and gave me permission to raid the bank account and just get it finished.

 

[Hollywood0220]

So yours actually is “Dual Injection” correct? If that’s the case, your platform is truly foreign to North American tuners.
600 is a BOAT LOAD for a steet car

 

[Paxtond1]

So yours actually is “Dual Injection” correct? If that’s the case, your platform is truly foreign to North American tuners.
600 is a BOAT LOAD for a steet car

The 2019 cars dropped MPI and are now similar to the US spec cars, however we have a extra GPF filter in the exhaust due to the EU going to war on anything with a engine ( fortunately we voted to ditch those suckers, but on current models we still get all the Euro BS).

Yeh 600 for a street car is a lot, but I have a company car so my Gti is just for weekend fun and not a daily driver, I don't have a lot of spare time in my life so when I do I like to enjoy myself.

 

[Navi]

That's interesting... Did not realize 2019 euro cars dropped MPI. Now whenever someone talks shit to me about my 2017 not having MPI I'll tell them my car is 2019 spec OEM+++.

 

[aaronc7]

Yeh its one of those things, I have no hard feeling toward anyone, nor do I pin blame on anyone.

Having raced and built super bikes for nearly 15 years im more that acquainted to issues when you start turning things up, got to pay to play right?

Im itching to get the head off and make sure the block is going to be ok for a build, then to find a tuner/shop that can "assist" with getting a IE order over to me with customs friendly price declaration lol.

Interestingly when I went to unicorn, he tried to tune the car via Cobb and couldn't get the car to make power and also ran in to the same power cut that Alex had, we decided to ditch cobb as it doesn't seem to play Nice with these new euro spec GPF cars as it simply leaves the GPF error and turns off triggering of the Check engine light, the other software takes it out and totally as if it never existed, the other plus point of this is he has the ability to code in MPI and Flexfuel on the 2019 Simos 18.10 ecu

The big win out of all of this, is my wife came and see me looking all pissed off in the garage and gave me permission to raid the bank account and just get it finished.

Yeah, it kinda sucks that Cobb doesn't actually disable the CEL or emissions monitors anymore, as you said simply prevents the light from coming on in the dash. I think it's to keep the EPA off their back in the USA. I read HP Tuners is doing the same thing for newer vehicles. I can't blame them I guess, they need to do what they need to do to stay alive...but still sucks.

This is actually an issue for stage 2 cars I believe, you can disable the rear o2 code for catless/high flow cat downpipe, but it's still detecting the low cat efficiency and is biasing the AFR a little rich. Which is why EQT and others recommend just unplugging the rear O2 sensor. When I ran Ecutek for a short time it never had this issue.

 

[Paxtond1]

So progress has been made.

The engine is out of the car and on my bench.

Decided to source a spare engine and fit this to my car to minimise downtime.

This will allow me to build the forged bottom end at my own pace instead of stressing about getting the car back up and running, the stock block with be paired with the new Littco L560 BB turbo and 980cc MPI.

I have settled on spec of my engine build with I.E tuscan rods, Mahle Pistons and rings, with OE bearings, as it stands I am thinking of leaving the head alone however with the new time scale the budget may allow for a upgraded valve train for a few more revs.

This should also be interesting to show the gains than can be had with being able to push a forged engine over a standard block.

More pics as we make progress.