Well said WideOpen03SVT. Hang in there Chris! Get some rest, then get the compression tester out.

Judd

 

Chris
If it was caused by the nitrous it would seem to me it would have been more abrupt and catastrophic. It sounds like your deal happened over a longer period of time. Looks like your going to have to do some inspecting here.

These guys are right don't make any decisions right now.

I could tell you my Foch story That might cheer you up.

The only thing that is keeping my going right now is that I too have descent looking dyno sheet.....only mine is totally untuned and without the hose
Dale

 

Hey Chris. Man that really sucks. I can imagine how stoked you must have been to be in the 700 / 800 club, and then to have your engine take a lunch break. WOW.

Give it a day or two and then go fix that thing. You've invested too much now to just let it go. You'll regret it if you git rid of the L.

Take care

 

I am probaly the only one(maybe one or two more people) on the boards that knows EXACTLY how you feel.

Been there , Replaced that.

Even had to drive home all night replacing fluids. Except mine was anti-freeze instead of oil.

The first few days makes you dig deep (Is this F'ning truck worth all this?) NO , ITS NOT... Then a couple days go by and you realize
all the fun you have had and all the good people you've met and you realize . YEAH, ITS WORTH IT and come back BIGGER AND BADDER then before.

Time will heal this wound.

VINNIE

 

Chris, Sorry about your motor, but forge on. Sooner or later it happens to everyone who pushes the limits. Yours was just a bit sooner. I blew a brand new one with 48 miles up on the dyno.

 

Chris, take a positive note. You don't need warranty because you are the warranty; an excellent mechanic who did a fantastic job of building a 700 HP motor. Just take your time and my guess whatever the problem is may not be as bad as you think or the truck would have had you walking home. Let me know if i can do anything to help.

 

Chris, I got your message about the oil consumption on my home machine. That definitely does suck. I've been thinking about it all day, trying to figure out what's up. Obviously it can't be anything MAJOR, like a hurt piston or broken ring, or it would have never made the power it did. When we pulled the plugs out to regap them and found three wet ones, I guess that should have told us something was up. I know we were thinking maybe bad coil packs, but it was hard to tell if they were gas or oil fouled. The only thing I can think of, is maybe the ring gap was too small and on the spray the rings expanded till they butted up and started to wipe out the cylinder walls. That's the best guess I can figure given the truck's symptoms.

Don't give up on it though, I know it's frustrating. My truck hasn't moved since November, and the last few times it's been out, things have been breaking. Not fun at all, so I know your pain. If you need help with ANYTHING at all getting it up and running again, you know I'm here for you.

 

Chris,

I am so sorry to hear about your misfortune. Everyone on this thread has made it clear for you not to make any hasty decisions on the future of your truck. You built that bad boy up for a reason and endured so much I am sure in between, it would be a shame for you to let her go. You obviously are more than capable of handling the task of finding out what went wrong with the motor. Give your mind a few days so that it may endure some peace and relaxation and then go tackle the motor problem.

I enjoyed your write up on your engine buildup and it has inspired me to hopefully do the same (when $$$ permits ) one day. I came from the mustang world and all of my friends have mustangs. They had little to no confidence in the Lightning, but when I tell them about stories like "your engine build up" and how these bricks on wheels are breaking the 10 second barrier they all have a new positive perspective on these trucks.


GOOD LUCK in diagnosing the problem with your killer engine and
I hope to see you post your 10 second time slip soon when you get that bad boy running again!




-Chris

 

I got a feeling Sal nailed it with the piston ring theory.

 

I know it sucks, but worse comes to worse.......park it till winter.....makes a nice project.

Re hone the cylinders......new rings, a few seals and gaskets. Unless you fried something internally which you will see when you pull apart........i think it's more time, then parts. Luckily , you happen to do what you do for a living.

 

yeah it does suck and all that you wasted all that time and money.........but some people on here are acting like your mom just died. Sal said he'll do anything you ask him, maybe i should fry me engine so i can get a quicker tune done for me.

 

I went through 3 engines on my first 99 lightning. I am leaving the new one I bought alone. I had a problem with my last F-150. It would drive fine but it would shudder under throttle. Used a ton of oil. pulled it apart and it was just a broke piston ring.

 

Oh Man, that truly does suck monkey a$$
What can I say that hasn't already been said Chris ?
EXCEPT I AM SOOOOOO SORRY IT HAPPEN TO YOU BRO

We just got back from an all day party at a State Park and saw this post, even my son is freaking out, he loved seeing your
Beast yesterday and wants me to make mine look like yours.
It's a beautiful L, it has the entire package we all wish we had,
and as you said yourself, IT DID NOT throw a rod.

Give it a day or so, think it over, but as Sal said, my guess
would also be (for whatever reason), the rings destroyed the cylinder walls. Nothing a quick bore job, new rings, and gasket set can't fix. I know it sucks Bro, but a few hundred bucks, a few weeks down time, yes more sweat and tears, BUT you ALREADY KNOW what awesome power to expect from it.
Amazing #'s Chris, way to go Sal

I'm so very sorry Chris

 

Just park it for a while and cool off. To many emotions coming out right now to think clearly.

Pretend it belongs to a stranger and he just dumped it in your lap and described your symptoms.

A CLEAN SHEET OF PAPER! HOW WOULD YOU TROUBLESHOOT IT.


Maybe a compresion test for starters. Several have mentioned rings.

Any chance it could be something with the crankcase venting?
I remember an old relic I had that got a bad PCV valve and it smoked and used oil bad. After I changed it the thing ran fine.

Hope it is something simple.
Good Luck Chris. our thoughts are with you.
Greg

 

Chris, I definately know the feelings your going through. I spent well over 25000.00 on building a 10 sec lightning only to see it blow 3 times due to incompetence. I drove it home the last time on 4 cylinders while popping and farting its way into my driveway. Its cost me more and more aggravation, time and money to finally figure out the problems. Ive been down since last october but Ill be reserected here shortly. I too allmost put my truck back to stock to sell it, but I figured Id try one more time to bring back those happy days. Good luck, Pete