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crankshaft trouble

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 1:24 pm
by w0158981
sooo my buddy's car juss died the other day and we decided to open it up anyway turns out the crankshaft is broke in half. So were just wondering if this is fixable and if so is there anything aftermarket that we could get to give it sum more power if we decide to replace it?

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 4:14 pm
by OB
Wow, that's not easy to break. What kind of car are we talking about? When a crank breaks, chances are you have several other major issues. Rod and piston damage, cylinder damage, possible valve damage, damage to the mainbearing journals, spun/damaged bearings etc.

Best bet= replace the entire engine. It's cheaper and much easier. You can waste hours tearing that block down only to find irrepairable damage. It's not worth the time considering the odds of major damage from a broken crankshaft.


Oh, and tell your friend to check his oil and/or and stop driving his car like a racecar next time :)

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:16 pm
by esteinmaier
Wow, broken in half? That's awesome! Take pictures!

But seriously, if the crank broke in half, the block and internals are toast. The head *might* be salvagable, but it's not likely. Go get another junkyard motor, and don't even bother with the existing one. Even if there's no damage that's visible, which is a 1 in 1000 chance, there will be stresses in ways that there shouldn't be, and the motor will have trouble in the future regardless of how well assembled it is.

Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:26 pm
by occasional demons
Unless it's the 5.7 liter diesel GM screwed their customers with. Had one come into the shop class in JVS only running on 4 cyl's and the power steering wasn't working and the battery light was on. We popped the hood, and the crank pulley wasn't spinning. It is truely wierd hearing an engine run, and having the balancer sitting still.
But yes, depending on how/why it broke, the chances are slim that it is repiarable.

Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 1:27 pm
by w0158981
its a 97 monte carlo, were not really sure how it happened the car is pretty mint but does have high kms so that might have done it, anyway we have decided the motor is toast so hes parting it out and going buy a 02 monte ss.

and the car sounded so weird when we wouldf try and start it we had no clue wat was wrong with but sure enough when we opened it up lol well u no the rest.

Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:01 pm
by Donkeypuncher
There was a car in the 80's that had crankshaft problems like this, I can't remember what it was though. They outsourced the crank manufacturing to an asian company that used sub-par quality metals. The impure metal caused the crank to fracture and ruin the engine.

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 9:42 am
by occasional demons
The bizarre thing with that 5.7 diesel was how the f*ck did it run? Doesn't the cam still drive off the front of the crank on those? They were basically a converted Olds 350 weren't they? Unfortunately we didn't get to tear it apart to veiw the carnage. :cussing:

Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:32 pm
by Swordfish2Cowboy
:ttiwwp:

Posted: Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:54 am
by dbesade
:withstupid: :withstupid: