Did a bad tune blow my engine?

[SVT-DADDY]

Whats the combustion chamber look like? I lost a piston like this once and we determined that there was a nut dropped into the motor. The head was chewed up as well.

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[SVT-DADDY]

Just adding to the list of reasons I'm never using an email tune. Lucky to have a good dyno tuner within a reasonable drive, I know that's not an option for everybody.

To each his own but I'll take a data logged "mail order tune" from a company like Lund or PBD that does hundreds of this cars over a local guy that "has done a couple" any day.

Plenty of guys making 700,800, and even 900whp around that have been tuned remotely.

 

[Genxer]

Just adding to the list of reasons I'm never using an email tune. Lucky to have a good dyno tuner within a reasonable drive, I know that's not an option for everybody.

That depends on the complexity. A simple tune / setup that has been used by a lot of people has been vetted pretty well, but a setup with more variables? Maybe not so much.

 

[Genxer]

I am not hear too bad mouth any tuner companies. I just wanted to know if this has happened to anyone else. Just like every mustang owner we get used to the power and would like a little more. I had Kooks headers installed earlier this month, first big mod I made for more power, before this I didn’t even have a cold air intake. After I received my car back from the headers installed I then added a 2018 intake manifold (Lockout) and JLT CAI. I know at this point I would need a tune. So I order a one, (will not disclose from who but it is a very establish company). I was told several times that I did not need to upgrade my injectors unless I was going to run E85. I was under the understanding that if you upgrade your intake manifold you would need bigger injectors. But they are the expert so I did not install my 47# injectors. Just to make this clear after I installed the manifold and CAI not once did I turn the car on until I installed the base tune.

Just like any mail tune I was asked for a data log. On my way to my secret street doing 70mph on the E-way white and blue smoke started coming out the tail pipe. My car shut off and I coasted to the side the road. Had the car taken to Ford dealership and what came back was.

Misfire from valve leakage

• Excessively lean conditions

• Excessively High Cylinder temperatures

Piston Damage

• Pre-ignition

• Excessive levels of detonation

Did you hear pinging, hammering or anything prior to the engine letting go?

 

[Die007]

Did you hear pinging, hammering or anything prior to the engine letting go?

No I did not. You would think with that much damage you would hear that piston bouncing around in their. When it first happened I though it was a head gasket because of all the white smoke coming out the back.

 

[aleccolin]

To each his own but I'll take a data logged "mail order tune" from a company like Lund or PBD that does hundreds of this cars over a local guy that "has done a couple" any day.

Plenty of guys making 700,800, and even 900whp around that have been tuned remotely.

By “good” I implied experienced with this platform; Kevin Adolph is a Mustang and BMW specialist which is why I drive to Richmond instead of going to some other shop a lot closer to VB. If I didn’t have that resource I’d probably be more inclined to use an email tune and just get it checked on the dyno.

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[Jay-rod427]

Just by looking at the rings I'd believe crazy high cylinder temp as the rings bent which means they got hot and lost their temper. They should've snapped. But on the other hand I find it VERY hard to believe the tune did that without boost and/or wot pulls.

 

[aleccolin]

No I did not. You would think with that much damage you would hear that piston bouncing around in their. When it first happened I though it was a head gasket because of all the white smoke coming out the back.

If somehow the injector got dirtied or damaged when swapping over, that might cause a lean run condition and/or preignition on just that one cylinder. You might not be able to tell without an EGT on every runner.

 

[wildcatgoal]

Guess we know where your 10mm went...

 

[SVT-DADDY]

No I did not. You would think with that much damage you would hear that piston bouncing around in their. When it first happened I though it was a head gasket because of all the white smoke coming out the back.

Whatever did that to the piston probably lifted the head. Again, whats the head look like?

 

[JennyStang]

Honestly, I dont think this is a tuner issue, doubt a tune will do this on a car that didnt even go WOT. This is most likely install error. Something fell in.

I agree. Crazy what happened

 

[Dusten]

Just adding to the list of reasons I'm never using an email tune. Lucky to have a good dyno tuner within a reasonable drive, I know that's not an option for everybody.

How does an email tune vs a dyno tune prevent this? Either way a base tune had to be loaded and evaluated.

To each his own but I'll take a data logged "mail order tune" from a company like Lund or PBD that does hundreds of this cars over a local guy that "has done a couple" any day.

Plenty of guys making 700,800, and even 900whp around that have been tuned remotely.

Word. My truck has been street tuned via email tuning since 2012. Truck is DD reliable, makes great power for its combo and has zero issues.

 

[Die007]

Whatever did that to the piston probably lifted the head. Again, whats the head look like?

The head was done for. This was a catastrophic failure. Once I get more information from the tier down I will post an update.

 

[F1scamp]

Whats the crank look like? Does the rod spin on the crank? I would be pretty surprised if a tune caused this. The bearing would be a good indicator of what happened. And why would you have it shipped to ford, so you could pay the absolute maximum?

 

[ahl395]

+1 I agree with this.

Even if the fuel injectors were too small, it would not have caused an issue until WOT.

Why did you bring it to Ford? Your warranty is void so if your spending money on a motor you better get a built one.

While I definitely agree that a bad tune can mess up your engine, my guess is that something mechanical failed or a foreign object entered the engine for it to be destroyed like that just cruising.

Yes a bad tune can mess an engine up even idling, but odds are that it would most likely cause damage when under load. So since this failed at light load, it makes me think it's mechanical rather than tune related. An established tuning vendor should be good enough to have a tune that drives and idles without destroying itself like this did. I would expect that from a fly by night tuner, not an established one as you say.

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