Car wouldn't start, then it exploded
Speechless how an 08 TL has been through so much in 50k miles....luck is definitely not on your side
Not sure what to say but I hope everything starts going better. You're handling this situation very well given the circumstances
Not sure what to say but I hope everything starts going better. You're handling this situation very well given the circumstances
Chapter Leader (Southern Region)
Joined: Sep 2008
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From: Waffles, BU
I'm still trying to wrap my mind around how the hell that chunk of metal blew out of the water passage, how did pressure get so high in the cooling lines to blow it out like that or did something blow down from the manifold into it and make it break like that?
There's no coolant running through the manifold or runners, those lines are all separate and it blew out right by the thermostat, not the EGR.
I can't imagine the water pump being in perfect shape, since that thing blew a huge piece of metal out of the water passage.
The other side of the water passage has a connecting pipe that runs underneath the lower intake runners to the side of the block where the belts are and goes into the block on the rear side of the water pump.
If pressure got that high inside of those lines to break that metal like that I would imagine it could've pushed the water pump away from the block as well.
What've you been running for coolant? Just curious, it almost looks like it's been running on water instead of coolant from the color of the spray on your engine cover and the corrosion on the throttle body and water passage.
There's no coolant running through the manifold or runners, those lines are all separate and it blew out right by the thermostat, not the EGR.
I can't imagine the water pump being in perfect shape, since that thing blew a huge piece of metal out of the water passage.
The other side of the water passage has a connecting pipe that runs underneath the lower intake runners to the side of the block where the belts are and goes into the block on the rear side of the water pump.
If pressure got that high inside of those lines to break that metal like that I would imagine it could've pushed the water pump away from the block as well.
What've you been running for coolant? Just curious, it almost looks like it's been running on water instead of coolant from the color of the spray on your engine cover and the corrosion on the throttle body and water passage.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 20,172
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From: Bakersfield
There's no doubt it was an intake backfire. It's normal to have fire coming from the intake ports during cranking so you have your ignition source. What is hard to understand is how enough fuel built up for that kind of backfire. On another note, this is why a lot of high hp turbo and especially nitrous cars use burst plates on the intake manifold. It's just a bolt in plate (sometimes a PRV) designed to give before the intake manifold or some other part of the car does.
I have a couple ideas in this case but I need to go back and read the old thread.
No one sprayed any kind of starting fluid in it, did they?
I've seen cars blow the supercharger and even the intake manifold clean off the car and the rest of the engine was fine. A severe intake backfire rarely causes engine damage.
One thing to look at, is the cam timing correct or did it jump a tooth or two?
Did this guy possibly hook the coils up wrong? I know this would be hard to do but it would perfectly explain what happened.
I have a couple ideas in this case but I need to go back and read the old thread.
No one sprayed any kind of starting fluid in it, did they?
I've seen cars blow the supercharger and even the intake manifold clean off the car and the rest of the engine was fine. A severe intake backfire rarely causes engine damage.
One thing to look at, is the cam timing correct or did it jump a tooth or two?
Did this guy possibly hook the coils up wrong? I know this would be hard to do but it would perfectly explain what happened.
Chapter Leader (Southern Region)
Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 88,888
Likes: 11,846
From: Waffles, BU
You ever see a cast aluminum intake manifold explode like this in a NA application IHC? What I think is crazy is the intake manifold volume is pretty decent, there was probably quite a lot of vapor accelerant to cause this reaction 
I think that manifold is a magnesium alloy just like the 4G manifold that's been swapped into the 3G TLs.
I'm pretty sure the 04-06 manifold is aluminum, but the 07-08 is two pieces bolted and held together with some type of liquid gasket. I've had these parts powder coated and they have to be heated up on a hanger for a while first so the magnesium can off-gas so it doesn't create bubbles in the finished product.
The valve covers on the Type-S are also magnesium alloy, I have a set that I had powder coated in my bedroom right now waiting for me to install, they have a MG stamp on the inside of them as well.
Probably why if you've ever seen someone try to paint the valve covers their paint probably didn't stick very well. Once you strip the old paint off, if its taken down to bare metal, the covers need to be blasted or keyed to create a tooth on them and then hit with a non-etching epoxy primer if it's going to be painted, or they can be chemically treated and powder coated.
I'm pretty sure the 04-06 manifold is aluminum, but the 07-08 is two pieces bolted and held together with some type of liquid gasket. I've had these parts powder coated and they have to be heated up on a hanger for a while first so the magnesium can off-gas so it doesn't create bubbles in the finished product.
The valve covers on the Type-S are also magnesium alloy, I have a set that I had powder coated in my bedroom right now waiting for me to install, they have a MG stamp on the inside of them as well.
Probably why if you've ever seen someone try to paint the valve covers their paint probably didn't stick very well. Once you strip the old paint off, if its taken down to bare metal, the covers need to be blasted or keyed to create a tooth on them and then hit with a non-etching epoxy primer if it's going to be painted, or they can be chemically treated and powder coated.
Last edited by mzilvar; Mar 7, 2014 at 03:07 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2006
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From: Bakersfield
The only thing close to it was when the timing was off. I've seen it blow a turbo apart as well as both mufflers downstream and it bent the throttle plate and blew any vacuum line that wasn't zip tied off. That engine however was running when the cam sensor came loose and turned. This thing would have to be cranked for a while to dump enough fuel and then the wrong series of events and basically the perfect storm for this to happen. I would almost bet the people who did the headgaskets screwed up the timing belt somehow and it jumped time.
I've got another theory that has to do with coolant in the cylinders but it's a little far fetched.
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Probably why if you've ever seen someone try to paint the valve covers their paint probably didn't stick very well. Once you strip the old paint off, if its taken down to bare metal, the covers need to be blasted or keyed to create a tooth on them and then hit with a non-etching epoxy primer if it's going to be painted, or they can be chemically treated and powder coated.
takin care of Business in
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/44051364@N00/9224471313/http://www.flickr.com/photos/44051364@N00/9224471313/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/44051364@N00/, on Flickr
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boom
I have a theory that it wasn't fuel explosion but actually a air pressure explosion it doesn't look like it broke right after the water pump my guess is they were redoing gasket or Cooling that's somebody that's a rag inside one of the ports well they were working on it to keep out the dirt but forgot to it out and collected the hoses back up why you said it wanted to start up but it couldn't because it's building up pressure probably start wanted to start beginning morning and then stop let it sit for a while if I want to start again will it build up pressure until it eventually Boom
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