Just heard the news and man that sucks. Any idea what happen? Maybe the big 2.6 was too much for the PSP long block... :-(
quote"Oooops!!! there goes my motor..

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I just got my 99 Lightning in from Long Island. Drove it back here about 830 miles, with no problems. Actually kept her cruising about 70ish all the way home.
I did a few runs around town with her, not thing special this week, probably put on 60 miles if that. I go Thursday to get new tires put in the rear, not more than 3 miles from my place. The tire guy comes into me and say " Sir you truck wont start" ... Ummmm huh? lol.. I had to laugh. So I so out, and sure enough, Nada.. nothing, just a "click" from the starter. I thought.. ok.. bad battery, because after a few times of trying to start her, my lights go real dim. I get an Opitma battery, and still same thing.... " click" .. crap! .. haha. By now its almost 8pm. The tire place, which whom I give HUGE props to ( Discount Tire on 95th st in Oak Lawn ) let me keep it inside their place till I got it towed in the morning to my mechanic. I get the dreaded "call" in the morning.. " Gregg, we have a problem I need you to come over here" ... from my mechanic. I get over there and we explains to me that the engine will crank by hand, then dead stop. Hmmmm... so we start pulling the plugs, and sure enough, anti-freeze in cylinders 1 & 2.( cant compress a liquid ) Ok we get that all blown out, then as we crank it by hand, we get the .... scraping... Eeeek!!! sound.. Sounds like a rod is bent??? SOoooo long story short, I got a hold of a local " performance mechanic " that I have had very high recommendation from, and get it towed to his shop. He is going to tear it down and see what happened.. and then try and figure out WHY it happened.. because the motor only has a little over 3000 miles on the build. I talked to the guy I bought it from, whom is a great guy... and NO I am not blaming him, he is very concerned, and even said that he will "help" me with the problem... so that was a nice offer... Guess what I did last night ? haha! Wish me luck!"end quote

 

Wow! How many of Robs motors have blown up now? Sorry, that ain't funny. I wonder if the tire place abused it?

 

More than Rob?

In all seriousness Rob is a stand up guy and I'm sure will help get it right, this just sucks for everyone envolved I hope it all works out. Todd

 

Sorry to hear......Good luck!

 

Guess the stalling was caused by a little more than spark blow out.

 

Oh man, sorry to hear it! Hope it gets worked out.

 

Wow....all these blown engine stories are starting to make me nervous to have fun with my truck!

 

Jeff I almost fell out of my Chair when he told me

Gregg is an awesome guy and I believe everything he's saying but theres no doubt in my mind theres SOMETHING missing from what little we know at this point. I do know the truck was running FLAWLESS when it left NY and running Flawless after it arrived in Chicago. I spoke to Gregg numerous times Sat Sun Mon Tues and Wed and he told me that himself, as he did here on Monday.

I also know he had the Oil Changed, an auto Start installed, had the L to Ford, to a Rim Shop, Tire Shop, his Mechanic and I believe an inspection station. In his own words the truck was running great so obviously the cylinders WERE NOT filled with water that 1000 miles or so he's put on it.

He said the Batt died and he left the truck at a tire place Wed and when he came back Thursday it never started again. EACH AND EVERYONE OF YOU READING THIS KNOWS YOU DO NOT DRIVE A LIGHTNING TO THE TIRE SHOP SHUT THE MOTOR OFF AND THEN THE MOTOR SELF DESTRUCTS.
It never ran again after that and when I asked how it was runing on the way there is said it was running perfect, you put 2 and 2 together.

You all know as much as I now do but I'd bet my last breath of air someone took it for a death ride in the extreme cold temps Chicago is having this last week and blew the motor. I'd put my money in it being someone at the tire place where he left it over night too. Thats all I know and I'm going to ignore the BS remarks already said in this post.

 

I knew that stalling in that vid was a sign. I didnt think it was just plugs. Man sorry to here the bad news. I have sold about 50 vehicles/quads/sleds/etc... That is why I always write down AS IS in the bill of sale.

 

Now that is impressive.

Never seen the truck in person..Never drove in it..Saw a 2 minute video 2 months ago and WOOLA You have all the answers.

800 mile ride home with no problems ..Had the oil changed (nothing in the oil BTW), at least 10 trucks a year blow up in the winter... but none of that matters.


How much do you charge an hour.


VINNIE

 

For the record...

I built that truck 3 years ago. It ran fine for the owner it was built for, at 500rwhp (ported Eaton). The motor was built to handle WAY more than 500 rwhp, as the owner at the time was planning to up the power at a later date.

Rob added the KB. The stalling issue he had was before the truck came to me to be tuned for the KB. After retuning it with the KB, it again ran fine and had no problems.

The truck ran fine all the way to IL. The truck ran fine after it GOT to IL.

Greg did call us looking for some advice when his mechanic gave him the bad news. It's hard to diagnose a vehicle that's 1000 miles away.

These motors don't burn up head gaskets. The only thing I have ever seen that happen on, is a vehicle that has been severely overheated (as in abuse, not coolant temp). A bunch of 1/4 mile blasts in the row on the street, or a nice blast to 140 for a few minutes, and you'll cook the motor at that power level, if the truck is not setup for that kind of driving.

It's possible that either the truck suffered a mechanical failure and then was beat on, or someone just beat the snot out of it. Could have been anyone, as Rob stated the truck was brought a lot of places when it got there. That truck DOES have a wideband permanently installed in it, so if there was a mechanical failure, I would think someone driving it who knows these vehicles would notice something wrong bad enough to toast the motor.


It's definitely a crappy situation, and hopefully Greg can get it fixed and back together so he can enjoy it again soon.

 

sounds like someone at "Discount Tire" has some explaining to do.

 

Thanks Sal, you like many people know the truck ran great as it still did after it got to Chicago. I spend hours with Gregg and all through it I talked about all the important stuff. Octane, cold weather, how cold is it in Chicago,
what fuel did they had, what additives, etc... I explained how I mix 100 octane with 93 every other fill up to be safe, I explained how the 00 was delivered Wed and I still hadnt started it by Fri because of the cold temps, (why do you think it's been under wrap the last week). I also explained to listen for pinging (detonation) and if he heard any get off the pedal immediately. I explained he would then mail the XCal to Sal and have an adjustment. I pluged in the Xcal and showed him all 3 tunes and how to load them, I gave him Sals info and told him if he needed a tune adjustment to simply contact him. I told and showed him any and everything important, and he understood it all...

I dont drive my L's when its single digits or teens, and I told Gregg that,
TG the Fri he picked it up was warmer so was Sat Sun and Mon. BUT come Tuesday it was BRUTAL out there and it remained that way the entire week (why do you think Blacky is still under wrap). Maybe with the colder Chicago Temps it was detonating, maybe he didnt notice it, maybe someone at the tire place took it for a spin, maybe, maybe, maybe.... WHAT I DO KNOW is it left here running perfect, got there running perfect, and after that something bad happen, something I can not be blamed for.



And FOR THE RECORD I have NEVER ONCE blown a L motor, I chipped a Valve at English Town still ran an 11 and Jim drove it to his shop. Me and Sal sold the original motor and as far as we know it's still out there kicking ***
(btw that was the original motor that came with my L off the showroom floor) So lets not have people that DONT KNOW assume, ask people that know if you want to really know.

 

I know me and my boys be going down to that tire shop! I never leave a vehicle anywhere if i can help it! When i had no choice, I wrote down mileage and let everyone in the place know i was doing it. I Hope it all works out for him.

 

Wow, that sucks. A built Lightning should be able to handle the cold to a certain extent with a conservative tune though.