View Poll Results: Why are engines blowing?
Too much boost ?
91
48.66%
Too lean ?
66
35.29%
Bad parts ?
21
11.23%
Driven too hard ?
68
36.36%
Tuned for 1/4 Mile - Not 140 mph blasts
12
6.42%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 187. You may not vote on this poll
Why are engines blowing?
Senior Member
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 668
Likes: 0
From: Mi.
yosemitesamiam,
Plain and simple! Ford did what they did to make the turck a reality for the public. They are not obligated to give you a performance vehicle that has internals to take on such mods that add more than 150hp. They didn't build the truck for the aftermarket suppliers. They built them for us average joe's.
The beatings these engines take have proven the internals hold up to the stock hp. Those rods are good up to 450hp. You also get a warrenty with this truck. You wan't something for nothing is what i hear. You are upset that you now want to go faster and it will cost you extra to do it.
Why should the mojority pay more for a few that are going to take it to the limit. If the truck was 2K more I wouldn't have been able to buy it.
I have a mid 13 1/4 truck out the door. I have beat every 01 performance product that chevy put out! Except the Z06. Haven't raced on yet! How much is the price tag on a new vett,fire-chicken and SS crapmaro? Do they have forged rods? Is chevy building their engines to take on 500+ hp with aftermarket superchargers. Don't think so!
No manufacturer is going to raise the cost of a vehicle for a few that want into the 11's. Do it on your dime. It's about selling the most of what you have. The cost would be $36,000 for a lightning with forged rods. Remember when you buy a vehicle you are not only paying for the cost to build it. You also paid for the engineering and testing.
Do you think the Rod supplier is going to give Ford a deal on the cost. No way!! They are going to hit Ford up big time because its Ford. Like I said earlier! When these trucks were out beating performance cars it was praised. Then when it gets moded and blows, it's "Ford should have known"
Maybe Ford should give it's SVT buyers a mod class before you buy. If you don't know what makes an engine work!! "Don't touch it." I'm not flamming anyone! Ford gave us the best truck.
P.S. It would be un-fair to compare a Lightning to a dodge! The Ford is made better! Throw a S/C on that dodge and see what happens. Your comparing apples to oranges! We got what we paid for HP with a warrenty!
Thor.
Plain and simple! Ford did what they did to make the turck a reality for the public. They are not obligated to give you a performance vehicle that has internals to take on such mods that add more than 150hp. They didn't build the truck for the aftermarket suppliers. They built them for us average joe's.
The beatings these engines take have proven the internals hold up to the stock hp. Those rods are good up to 450hp. You also get a warrenty with this truck. You wan't something for nothing is what i hear. You are upset that you now want to go faster and it will cost you extra to do it.
Why should the mojority pay more for a few that are going to take it to the limit. If the truck was 2K more I wouldn't have been able to buy it.
I have a mid 13 1/4 truck out the door. I have beat every 01 performance product that chevy put out! Except the Z06. Haven't raced on yet! How much is the price tag on a new vett,fire-chicken and SS crapmaro? Do they have forged rods? Is chevy building their engines to take on 500+ hp with aftermarket superchargers. Don't think so!
No manufacturer is going to raise the cost of a vehicle for a few that want into the 11's. Do it on your dime. It's about selling the most of what you have. The cost would be $36,000 for a lightning with forged rods. Remember when you buy a vehicle you are not only paying for the cost to build it. You also paid for the engineering and testing.
Do you think the Rod supplier is going to give Ford a deal on the cost. No way!! They are going to hit Ford up big time because its Ford. Like I said earlier! When these trucks were out beating performance cars it was praised. Then when it gets moded and blows, it's "Ford should have known"
Maybe Ford should give it's SVT buyers a mod class before you buy. If you don't know what makes an engine work!! "Don't touch it." I'm not flamming anyone! Ford gave us the best truck.
P.S. It would be un-fair to compare a Lightning to a dodge! The Ford is made better! Throw a S/C on that dodge and see what happens. Your comparing apples to oranges! We got what we paid for HP with a warrenty!
Thor.
Last edited by Thor01; Jan 29, 2002 at 06:28 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 0
From: Houston, Tx, USA
Well then we all agree that this engine is just fine if you leave it stock. Well, it wasn't fast enough for me. Now its pretty fast and I like this way.
Will it hold together as well as a 409? Better, I had a 409 and dropped a valve at 120 mph. 409s had thin valve stems that got hot and crystalized and broke. They also had an annoying habit of dropping valves. They also puked rods if you ran them over 6,000 rpm consistantly.
Is it better than a 327? No. You could bolt all kinds of stuff and a big holly on a 327 and shift all day 6 grand and the things never blew up.
I don't think its as good as a 454 either. They only thing I've ever been able to do to a 454 is bend pushrods.
This is not the best engine ever built but it is still a very good engine and in todays market it is very good. If I had the money right now, I would tear down my engine and put new rods and pistons in it but I don't. So I will just have to wait and see. If I blow the engine, I will refinance it, "build" another engine with the extra money and then it won't blow.
noelvm
Will it hold together as well as a 409? Better, I had a 409 and dropped a valve at 120 mph. 409s had thin valve stems that got hot and crystalized and broke. They also had an annoying habit of dropping valves. They also puked rods if you ran them over 6,000 rpm consistantly.
Is it better than a 327? No. You could bolt all kinds of stuff and a big holly on a 327 and shift all day 6 grand and the things never blew up.
I don't think its as good as a 454 either. They only thing I've ever been able to do to a 454 is bend pushrods.
This is not the best engine ever built but it is still a very good engine and in todays market it is very good. If I had the money right now, I would tear down my engine and put new rods and pistons in it but I don't. So I will just have to wait and see. If I blow the engine, I will refinance it, "build" another engine with the extra money and then it won't blow.
noelvm
Last edited by noelvm; Jan 29, 2002 at 06:38 PM.
Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
From: San Dimas, CA USA
Apples to oranges??? Oh yeah? Last time I checked, when someone "threw" a super charger on a Dodge 5.9 it smoked the hell out of the Lightning...and for obvious reasons...the Dodges are lighter. But I'm not wanting to get into a Ford vs Dodge vs Chevy debate here...and who's is better...I simply brought up the fact to prove a point...the 5.9L Dodge motor's bottom end is stronger...period.
Now back to the original problem...I think you did in fact touch on a possible solution:
"Maybe Ford should give it's SVT buyers a mod class before you buy. If you don't know what makes an engine work!! "Don't touch it.'"
That is the best fix I can possibly think of...really. And anyone who cannot pass the class has to forfeit their warranty.
Sam
Now back to the original problem...I think you did in fact touch on a possible solution:
"Maybe Ford should give it's SVT buyers a mod class before you buy. If you don't know what makes an engine work!! "Don't touch it.'"
That is the best fix I can possibly think of...really. And anyone who cannot pass the class has to forfeit their warranty.
Sam
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2000
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 0
From: Houston, Tx, USA
I got a better idea, offer a special engine, "for more money," that you can order with your truck that has upgraded parts in it. This use to be called the "high Performace engine option"
noelvm
noelvm
Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
From: San Dimas, CA USA
Oh man...I can just hear it. The high performance division of Ford is not really selling you high performance. They are just selling mediocre performance for a marginal price. We call the truck "Static" instead of "Lightning" due to its mediocre engine parts...but then again...you are only paying a marginal price for this vehicle right? Right. Oh...what's that you say? You want the real "Lightning?" Well, you are going to have to pay extra for that because again, our high performance division is just mediocre. We can make you a "Lightning" but it will cost you. The extra amount of money needed to make the "Static" a "Lightning" is about $2000. Because heck, we are already overcharging for a marginally put together F-150, so we wouldn't dare go all out and have to charge the customer say, $35,000 for a truck that is only worth $33,000 because our motto is do it half way or don't do it at all!
Senior Member
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 4,297
Likes: 0
From: Clifton, NJ, USA
Sam --
Do you even OWN a Lightning? You're begining to sound like a Dodge troll...
Novel -- I like that idea. I'm sure there are some who would have sprung the extra bucks to get our engine built the way it is in the GT40 concept, headers, better rods and all. :) Then there are those who would have loved to have it the way it is, while all of them being the fasts production truck currently on the road...
Daniel
Do you even OWN a Lightning? You're begining to sound like a Dodge troll...
Novel -- I like that idea. I'm sure there are some who would have sprung the extra bucks to get our engine built the way it is in the GT40 concept, headers, better rods and all. :) Then there are those who would have loved to have it the way it is, while all of them being the fasts production truck currently on the road...
Daniel
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,519
Likes: 0
From: Greater Boston
hmmm
how many guys have r/t's that have a supercharger putting out 10lbs of boost or more!!!! Simple math here:
Number of Lightnings produced with superchargers-all (i hope)
Number of 5.9 Dodges produced wth superchargers-none
Number of dodges with superchargers divided by the number of dodges....... =????? Very, very low percentage
Number of Lightnings with superchargers(that are stock)that haven't blown up divided by the number of lightnings.....=????? Very, very low percentage. Put all the bolt ons to the stock truck and there is still a very low percentage.
There simply aren't enough dodges out there with superchargers to make a statement like the dodge lower end holds up better on a supercharged motor than a ford lower end.
Second of all, just throwing a s/c on a 5.9 isn't smoking a lightning. I know a guys who has a vortec on his r/t with 8psi of boost running mid 13's. There are stock 2001's running lower than that.
Comparing r/t's and lightnings aren't really apples for apples, because the ford is supercharged from the factory, the dodge is not. You start adding to the dodge, we start adding to the lightnings.....the lightnings will come out on top the majority of the time. The old saying how much do you want to spend...well how fast do you want to go????
I would like to see 5000 dodge 5.9's built with supercharges and have the owners start adding the mods these lightning guys are adding and see how they hold up.......that would be the real and only comparison......Just my opinion...
Number of Lightnings produced with superchargers-all (i hope)
Number of 5.9 Dodges produced wth superchargers-none
Number of dodges with superchargers divided by the number of dodges....... =????? Very, very low percentage
Number of Lightnings with superchargers(that are stock)that haven't blown up divided by the number of lightnings.....=????? Very, very low percentage. Put all the bolt ons to the stock truck and there is still a very low percentage.
There simply aren't enough dodges out there with superchargers to make a statement like the dodge lower end holds up better on a supercharged motor than a ford lower end.
Second of all, just throwing a s/c on a 5.9 isn't smoking a lightning. I know a guys who has a vortec on his r/t with 8psi of boost running mid 13's. There are stock 2001's running lower than that.
Comparing r/t's and lightnings aren't really apples for apples, because the ford is supercharged from the factory, the dodge is not. You start adding to the dodge, we start adding to the lightnings.....the lightnings will come out on top the majority of the time. The old saying how much do you want to spend...well how fast do you want to go????
I would like to see 5000 dodge 5.9's built with supercharges and have the owners start adding the mods these lightning guys are adding and see how they hold up.......that would be the real and only comparison......Just my opinion...
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 1999
Posts: 5,438
Likes: 1
From: Palm Coast, FL
Comparing ANY other motor, no matter what brand or size, to the 5.4 doesn't mean anything. That's like saying "hey my rock is better than your wood". What does that mean? Nothing. The rock is harder, and wood floats. Each has it's good and bad points. The Dodge 360 has been around for 40 years. It's had it's time to mature into the motor it is today.
The Trition 5.4 has only been around since 97. And the Lightning version of that motor is the FIRST version of it in a performance application. As with any part, the first version of it is the worst, as it will be refined as it's production continues. Unfortunately for us Gen 2 owners, we are the guys who own the first run of this motor. We are the ones who will break stuff. We are the ones who will find all the "flaws" in this motor. Hopefully our findings and losses will contribute to the "next" version of this motor. Only time will tell. Even now, those of us who have blown stuff up, are lighting the way for current owners to improve what they have before it happens to them.
The Trition 5.4 has only been around since 97. And the Lightning version of that motor is the FIRST version of it in a performance application. As with any part, the first version of it is the worst, as it will be refined as it's production continues. Unfortunately for us Gen 2 owners, we are the guys who own the first run of this motor. We are the ones who will break stuff. We are the ones who will find all the "flaws" in this motor. Hopefully our findings and losses will contribute to the "next" version of this motor. Only time will tell. Even now, those of us who have blown stuff up, are lighting the way for current owners to improve what they have before it happens to them.
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,170
Likes: 0
From: Ft Lauderdale, FL, USA!
I think it's the chip most of those blown up engines are running...I won't state the name of the chip...but it's starts with a J and a L
Last edited by ricekicker; Jan 29, 2002 at 09:43 PM.
Member
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 19
Likes: 0
From: San Dimas, CA USA
Originally posted by LightningTuner
Comparing ANY other motor, no matter what brand or size, to the 5.4 doesn't mean anything. That's like saying "hey my rock is better than your wood". What does that mean? Nothing. The rock is harder, and wood floats. Each has it's good and bad points. The Dodge 360 has been around for 40 years. It's had it's time to mature into the motor it is today.
The Trition 5.4 has only been around since 97. And the Lightning version of that motor is the FIRST version of it in a performance application. As with any part, the first version of it is the worst, as it will be refined as it's production continues. Unfortunately for us Gen 2 owners, we are the guys who own the first run of this motor. We are the ones who will break stuff. We are the ones who will find all the "flaws" in this motor. Hopefully our findings and losses will contribute to the "next" version of this motor. Only time will tell. Even now, those of us who have blown stuff up, are lighting the way for current owners to improve what they have before it happens to them.
Comparing ANY other motor, no matter what brand or size, to the 5.4 doesn't mean anything. That's like saying "hey my rock is better than your wood". What does that mean? Nothing. The rock is harder, and wood floats. Each has it's good and bad points. The Dodge 360 has been around for 40 years. It's had it's time to mature into the motor it is today.
The Trition 5.4 has only been around since 97. And the Lightning version of that motor is the FIRST version of it in a performance application. As with any part, the first version of it is the worst, as it will be refined as it's production continues. Unfortunately for us Gen 2 owners, we are the guys who own the first run of this motor. We are the ones who will break stuff. We are the ones who will find all the "flaws" in this motor. Hopefully our findings and losses will contribute to the "next" version of this motor. Only time will tell. Even now, those of us who have blown stuff up, are lighting the way for current owners to improve what they have before it happens to them.
Thanks...
And you all have me wrong...I'm actually a VW owner...I'm just reading up and poking around because my next ride will be a performance truck. Weather that be an L or a Dak R/T or I wait until Dodge has their badass v-10 Vipered Ram out. hehehe
Registered User
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 1,170
Likes: 0
From: Ft Lauderdale, FL, USA!
so quite flaming our forums - we are obviously trying to figure out what is wrong with our L's and we have no need for a troll such as you to come in here and talk shi*. The lightning is made PERFECT from the factory...and can withstand a long life stock. It is the people who mess with their engines who have all the problems. (Same with any companies engine including chevy, gmc, or dodge)
I personally believe it is the lean mixture they are running as a result of the aftermarket chip (FMU). Go check out the recent post of blown L's and check out what chip the majority of them had.
You can buy any truck you want...but us L's will be the ones whooping your as* on the road.
I personally believe it is the lean mixture they are running as a result of the aftermarket chip (FMU). Go check out the recent post of blown L's and check out what chip the majority of them had.
You can buy any truck you want...but us L's will be the ones whooping your as* on the road.
Member
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: Austin, TX.
Originally posted by LightningTuner
Comparing ANY other motor, no matter what brand or size, to the 5.4 doesn't mean anything. That's like saying "hey my rock is better than your wood". What does that mean? Nothing. The rock is harder, and wood floats. Each has it's good and bad points. The Dodge 360 has been around for 40 years. It's had it's time to mature into the motor it is today.
The Trition 5.4 has only been around since 97. And the Lightning version of that motor is the FIRST version of it in a performance application. As with any part, the first version of it is the worst, as it will be refined as it's production continues. Unfortunately for us Gen 2 owners, we are the guys who own the first run of this motor. We are the ones who will break stuff. We are the ones who will find all the "flaws" in this motor. Hopefully our findings and losses will contribute to the "next" version of this motor. Only time will tell. Even now, those of us who have blown stuff up, are lighting the way for current owners to improve what they have before it happens to them.
Comparing ANY other motor, no matter what brand or size, to the 5.4 doesn't mean anything. That's like saying "hey my rock is better than your wood". What does that mean? Nothing. The rock is harder, and wood floats. Each has it's good and bad points. The Dodge 360 has been around for 40 years. It's had it's time to mature into the motor it is today.
The Trition 5.4 has only been around since 97. And the Lightning version of that motor is the FIRST version of it in a performance application. As with any part, the first version of it is the worst, as it will be refined as it's production continues. Unfortunately for us Gen 2 owners, we are the guys who own the first run of this motor. We are the ones who will break stuff. We are the ones who will find all the "flaws" in this motor. Hopefully our findings and losses will contribute to the "next" version of this motor. Only time will tell. Even now, those of us who have blown stuff up, are lighting the way for current owners to improve what they have before it happens to them.
Ford did have the ***** to come out with a truck that runs strong stock. I have had several 454SS, driven the R/Ts, nothing runs like the Lightning. The SVT guys built this truck to get beat on from the start, in stock form. Anytime you modify equipment, it puts excess stress on all components and shortens it's life. Just putting a nice sounding exhaust makes us want to step on it more. Guys, it's a truck, heavy, functional, and quick for what it is. I'm sure there are many other reasons they blow up, not enough warm-up time, lack of oil changes ect. If you heavily modify it, build a motor. I just got mine and after reading all these posts, it got me concerned, but hell I'm going to enjoy it.
SW
