Recently my '99 C2 started to run REALLY rough, acting as if there was bad gas in the tank. I looked it over, propped it up, and saw quite a bit of oil in the RMS area, and since I've already gotten the latest version of that fix, (the lower part of the engine where the tranny meets) I took it to the dealer to confirm, and yes, it appears I've had an IMS Failure.

After disparing a bit, I started reading a bunch of forum posts here and on other boards, after calling several places, I called Flat6innovations.com, spoke with Jake, and yes! It's fixable!!

Here are some pictures from dropping the engine, I'll be shipping it out to him today.

Luke

 

I'm sorry to hear the bad news. All I have been reading about Jake and his options look extremely promising. Did you have a catastrophic failure (by that I mean valves hitting the pistons as a result of the IMS) or did the bearing just fail? If the bearing failed but no other damage occurred, it's not as bad as he has a way to replace the bearing without opening the motor.

Good luck and keep us updated as I'm going this route if my motor fails.

 

I'm not totally sure as to the extent of the failure. I did see some "misfire" codes when I connected the computer up, so it's possible I need more than just the bearing. We'll see....

 

Your engine is shot...period. Really, the three options you have for this is Jake, Fabian or a new engine through Boardwalk. Keep up in the loop

 

 

yes, please keep us posted

 

After chasing my tail for a while trying to find the best route to fix this, I have an update.

I have now learned, there is no such thing as a total engine failure.

I sent the engine to Jake, and he found that the engine had oil starvation due to some gunk clogging part of the oil pickup! in 2007, I fixed an oil leak around the seam of the oil pan, but apparently used too much sealant, so some of the sealant particles broke off, and over 2 years slowly starved the engine enough to cause wear on the main crankshaft bearings!

I got the engine back, found the one place in the US that repairs crankshafts for our engines, and will be putting it all back together in the next week or so! (Yes, I'm doing the work. I have the know-how, and the required specialized tools)

I'll post an update when everything is back together.

By the way, when I'm done, I'll have several upgrades done to the engine, most importantly, the upgraded IMS from LN Engineering.

 

So how much is the rebuild costing versus buying a remanufactured or used engine?

 

The least expensive I found was around $6000 for a used engine. A remanufactured one is around $12-$16K.

My rebuild and upgrades (much better than the $6K used engine) will end up costing me less than $4K. Of course, I'm doing the work, so you have to add labor cost to that price for someone else to do the work. (of course, you got to find someone. Ha!)

 

How many miles did you have prior to this failure?
Reading the posts around here makes me nervous - i have 108K miles in 99 C2...

 

Thanks. It's good to have options if this ever happens to me...

 

This forum is very light on engine failures, so if this place is freaking you out, you'll have a heart attack if you find some of the sites all these engine failure guys frequent.

 

Yes, that is true, this forum is light on engine failures, that's why I prefer it here, less "freak-out", more realism.

I had 86,000. Remember though, it wasn't an IMS failure, but rather an oil starvation issue. I'm doing the LM Engineering IMS upgrade while I have the engine taken apart, but I'm of the opinion, that a $600 IMS repair on your engine is well worth the effort.

You'll have to take your flywheel off to get to it.

 

I had forgotten to update everyone on this, I'm adding some pictures.

I got the engine back from Jack completely disassembled! Never doing that again! I'll be the one taking it apart and putting it back together next time! (Or for someone else)

After the previously mentioned upgraded parts went in, and the chain (5 of them) timing was done, it was just a matter of braving the freezing weather to put it back together.

The moment of truth arrived, and the engine turned over after the second key turn! No engine lights, no leaks now after over 500 miles!!

The only part that was not for the faint of heart, is putting the crankcase back together. To attach the pistons, you need this special rod to get the clip in place, if it falls into the engine; you have to take it completely apart again!

 

never thought it got cold in Dallas

Well done, now if you just started a on the side business doing these i'd know where to take mine.