Pontiac Grand Prix Forums : Grandprix

well i was last turning to the Forum Court of Opinion on a sound that I could have sworn was internal tranny sound....well engine finally locked up, pulled the motor apart and found cyl. #3 was the culprit, connecting rod broken, piston smacked wall and gouged, crank is gone...now my question its a L36 has anyone else experianced anything like this on a motor with less that 80K

Wow thats a low amount of miles for that to happen. Something bad must of happened to that rod or it was faulty from the beginning and chose this time to break. That sucks

that is indeed a low mileage engine to have experienced a catastrophic failure, but it can happen. depends on how it lived its life, to an extent. but yeah, it could have been a defect in materials, though i would have expected it to fail alot sooner than it did.

did you have any mods on it?

you mentioned the crank gone.... did the bearing spin? If so I would say improper oiling of engine......

this would cause the piston to stick and break the rod.

possible inperfection in rod from factory? its too bad you had already taken it apart. with that low of miles you could have taken it to the dealership and had them throw you a bone for a free new engine. had the motor go in my 95 with 53thou miles on it(oil pump went out)

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2001 GTP street car- GT45 turbo,Stage 4 Intense turbo cam,FMIC,150 wet, double roller timing chain, Diamond forged coated pistons 8:0:1, Diamond piston rings, cryoed L32 connecting rods, Cryoed crank, Clevite77 main bearings, Clevite77 cam bearings, Clevite77 L32 rod bearings, ARP Everything, Intense/meizere true billet Flexplate, Custom UIM, Intense oil pressure kit, Cometic 4 layer head gaskets, OE-R lifters, Cryoed L67 block, ATI turbo dampner, SDD FATMAN FUEL RAILS!!!!!!!!!

I would rather think it is as you said..improper oiling rather than faulty parts. While their parts could be faulty, and it is known to happen. I wouldn't think the engine would last as long as it did if that were the case.

I put my money on oil not getting where it's supposed to.

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Morad Parts Company

1997 GTP - 200k+ miles, PEMs, 3" SS Exhaust w/ Borla Mufflers, 3.4", 180* stat(summer), FWI, 1.84 RR, PT, SLP hood, KYB GR2s, GMPP Handling Kit, etc...

Sorry to hear about the engine, that really sucks. As everyone has mentioned, those are awfully low miles for that to happen. In any event, you now have a reason to put an L67 in there!

Ture but you never know there could have been one bad rod in the run of engines when the one for his car was built... BUt like other people are saying L67.. Its a good engine and all but if you got the coin. You should do the Na L36 again with the zzp z7 turbo kit..

i would expect that if it were a bad rod, it would have manifested itself well before now. as for the NA L36 w/ turbo kit? are you kidding? if you're gonna do that, you do the L67 short block. you'll blow up the L36 no doubt.

^^^^ not really. if you have a good tune, and IC setup the L36 will have more compression and power. but you would be limited on boost...well more so than a stock L67.

eitherway....better pistons are in the future.

I know a few people switching over to the L36 bottom end..

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2001 GTP street car- GT45 turbo,Stage 4 Intense turbo cam,FMIC,150 wet, double roller timing chain, Diamond forged coated pistons 8:0:1, Diamond piston rings, cryoed L32 connecting rods, Cryoed crank, Clevite77 main bearings, Clevite77 cam bearings, Clevite77 L32 rod bearings, ARP Everything, Intense/meizere true billet Flexplate, Custom UIM, Intense oil pressure kit, Cometic 4 layer head gaskets, OE-R lifters, Cryoed L67 block, ATI turbo dampner, SDD FATMAN FUEL RAILS!!!!!!!!!

yeah, i was kinda eluding to the weaker bottom end components...

No mods, from the look of things bearing wasnt the problem, possible cap bolts backed out, but why? damage to crank from my guess would be from the rod hitting it....oilling could have caused it but wouldnt i see more damage to other cylinders and cap bolt would have damage; threads are still good on cap and bolt.... got a free l67, (like i said before this is my first gm, much less front wheel drive) thats a good long block platform for mods? Whats the difference in internals?

dished pistons...still hypereutectic......lower compression 8:5:1. slightly stronger bottomend.

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2001 GTP street car- GT45 turbo,Stage 4 Intense turbo cam,FMIC,150 wet, double roller timing chain, Diamond forged coated pistons 8:0:1, Diamond piston rings, cryoed L32 connecting rods, Cryoed crank, Clevite77 main bearings, Clevite77 cam bearings, Clevite77 L32 rod bearings, ARP Everything, Intense/meizere true billet Flexplate, Custom UIM, Intense oil pressure kit, Cometic 4 layer head gaskets, OE-R lifters, Cryoed L67 block, ATI turbo dampner, SDD FATMAN FUEL RAILS!!!!!!!!!