Ever had a engine or Transmission failure?

[ZZman]

We often talk about the importance of quality fluids for our vehicles. However we often hear little to nothing about failures that may have occurred due to the fluids.

My question is basically have you ever had an engine or transmission fail and what caused it.

In over 4 decades of driving and dozens of newer and used vehicles I have never had a transmission fail. I did however have an engine failure on an old Ford Festiva. Something in the valvetrain broke and made horrendous noise. Not sure of the cause because I junked it with about 150,000 miles. I also had an Olds Delta 88 with the 3800 motor hydrolock a cylinder due to intake gasket failure and threw a rod thru the block. I guess that isn't too bad of a record.

How about you?

 

[demarpaint]

None here, pushing 5 decades now..

 

[2009Caraman]

1985 chevrolet citation. transmission failure. I think the 3 litres of atf that spilled out 2 days before may have caused it.

Didnt know anything about cars as a teenager.

 

[KGMtech]

We had a used 1998 Ford Windstar with the 3.8LV6 and yes the transmission failed right after I thought a fluid change would fix a slipping issue. The transmission shop that did the fluid change warned me that it could be disaster, but I was TOOOOOOO smart.

The rebuild was done at same shop, they still have an excellent reputation and I sent them customers when asked for such advice.

Now I buy newer cars and service the heck out of them.

 

[Kestas]

No problems for over 50 years with cars under my care.

 

[goingplacesanddoingstuff]

I had a first gen Nissan Xterra N/A 3.3 head gasket fail. Something like 170k on it. The previous owner didn’t take very good care of it, but I got it for really cheap and drove it like 40k mi.

I used Pennzoil Platinum at the time.

 

[mrsilv04]

GM 5.3 (factory engine) - lifter failure @ 94,787 miles.
GM 5.3 (Jasper rebuild #1) - lifter failure @ 97,197 miles (replaced after only 2,410 miles)
GM 5.3 (Jasper rebuild #2) - coolant in oil @ 101,011 miles (replaced after only 3,814 miles)
GM 5.3 (Jasper rebuild #3) - still in truck.

Friends don't let friends buy junk from Jasper.

 

[CDX825]

Had the transmission in my 98 ranger fail on me. It had been rebuilt prior to me owning it. It didn't fail completely but was in limp mode. Guy that rebuilt it told me who ever had done it before used a cheap torque converter brand that was known for failing. He said he was amazed it made it as long as it did because they were so problematic.

Currently working on putting my 2011 Ford transit van back together from a transmission rebuild. It started slipping on me at times and I knew it was only a matter of time. One day I was on my way home and it was struggling to maintain 55 without slipping on flat ground. I made it home and parked it and had the transmission rebuilt. I don't know what the actual failure was but these vans are known for transmission problems. I bought it with 137k on it and figured if I kept the fluid changed it would last. No such luck though only made it to 150k.

Company I used to work for was terrible about doing maintenance on their vehicles. All of the work vans and trucks had well over 100k on them without ever changing the transmission fluid. I had 3 separate vehicles have transmission failures while I worked there.

I can't say Ive had much luck with automatic transmissions in general. I don't beat on anything and I keep the fluid changed and they still cause me issues. They have really made me appreciate my manuals!

 

[JTK]

No failures or major break downs, but I don't keep my daily drivers much past 100K miles. My 2019 Nissan Pathfinder began the sounds of timing chain failure at 103K miles a few months back, at which point I traded it in. It probably would have gone another year before throwing cam/crank correlation codes and misfires. I wasn't going to wait around to see.

 

[Jdeere562]

I had an old 1964 Rambler as a work car about 45 years ago. It was on it's last leg, so my Brother in law and I decided to have fun with it one weekend. (after a few beers)

So we fired it up, and put a brick on the gas petal to hold it down full throttle. Had another beer and laughed. It was smoking and steaming by the end. It would slow down, then speed up. Just guessing maybe it was when the bearings spun, then loosened up a bit?

Forget the oil it was running, but we laughed our rear ends off!

 

[JustN89]

This topic is a recurring one, even if slightly different every time. I don't think catastrophic failure is likely to be experienced by most, especially by folks on here, and even in seriously neglected engines. Instead, what you find is that delayed maintenance with the cheapest parts/fluids will keep a car running while other issues slowly build up. Whether it's sludge, coking on rings, overly soft shifts, overly harsh shifts, etc. etc., these things are what will eventually send a car to the scrap yard. A 20 year old car that you've been using as a commuter getting 40 mpg and that doesn't burn a drop of oil and still shifts the way it did 10-15-20 years ago is likely a car that you'll want to repair when things break. A 20 year old car that burns a quart of oil every 1k miles, has deviant shifts when the trans is warm or cold, or whatever the case may be, is less likely to be a car that the owner wants to repair. Issues and delayed maintenance start to pile up and eventually, the owner couldn't care less about the car and just wants to be rid of it.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

GM 5.3 (factory engine) - lifter failure @ 94,787 miles.
GM 5.3 (Jasper rebuild #1) - lifter failure @ 97,197 miles (replaced after only 2,410 miles)
GM 5.3 (Jasper rebuild #2) - coolant in oil @ 101,011 miles (replaced after only 3,814 miles)
GM 5.3 (Jasper rebuild #3) - still in truck.

Friends don't let friends buy junk from Jasper.

When #3 goes, get a crate engine

 

[dbias]

My wife’s cars have never had a problem as she rarely takes them over 100k, except for her 2003 Yukon Denali XL which went to 168k flawless miles before trading it it.
My vehicles never had engine or transmission problems and I usually take them to 150k+. The only component I’ve ever had problems with are drivers side front wheel bearings. I’ve replaced them in a Corolla, Ford F250 diesel, Chevy Silverado, GMC Denali pickup, Audi A4 and two in the ford transit Connect which I recently sold with 210k miles on it. I don’t know why it’s always the driver side wheel bearing but I’ve gotten pretty good at replacing them lol
None ever used oil though.

 

[The Critic]

FIL's 08 Camry V6 broke a valve spring - I covered it here:

2008 Toyota Camry V6 P0303

My father-in-law's 2008 Camry V6 has a misfire on cyl #3. This is the middle cylinder on the rear bank. The misfire can ONLY be duplicated under full-throttle acceleration while climbing a steep hill. You can do full-throttle acceleration from a stoplight all day and the issue will never occur...

bobistheoilguy.com

Headgasket failed on my 11 Prius at 185K.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Grew up with "The General" GMC tatooed to my back side by my grandfather and dad. One day I realized something and stopped buying any further GM products. Not one ever oil related engine issue in any vehicle no matter brand or mileage.

1976 Chevelle Type S3 - transmission failure right out of warranty
1976 Chevy Monza - transmission failure right out of warranty
1982 GMC pick up - transmission leaks right out of warranty
1986 Chevy Monte CarloSS - tranmission failure right out of warranty

 

[350Rocket]

I don't want to jinx it but I haven't had any failures personally and I've changed out possibly original fluid in multiple high mileage transmissions that I've owned. Current 256k miles on the 4L60E in my 05 Silverado... working fine. Nearly 300k miles on the 2004R in my 84 olds. Several 2004R and a 700R4 in my previous vehicles...
Last week at work the 8 speed failed in the 2017 Silverado (less than 100k I believe) and a couple years ago it was the 2018 f150 with 55k on the 10 speed when it got replaced. Sounds like the 6 speed in the 2017 is failing now at 105k. These are heavily loaded surveying trucks including my 2005, however 3 different 4L60E have survived years of use now and the 2010 Tacoma is still pour spare with the 140k.
When I was 14 the trans failed in my parents 1995 Ford Windstar. A few months after the head gaskets. When I was 20 I worked at a Ford dealer as a service advisor so I saw a lot of trans failures there. Then I went to a GM dealer and didn't see as many other than a ton of Saturn vue CVT failures, all covered by GM by the time I left. They were easily the worst transmission ever.

 

[Donald]

2001 Jeep 4.0. piston skirt cracks and pieces fall. The lucky ones find the chunks of piston skirt in oil pan. For the unlucky ones a big enough chunk drops, jams in the crank shaft and trashes the engine. In my case a connecting rod was found to no longer attached to the piston.

Got a reman engine.

 

[Pew]

2 Evo engines, both my fault for poor parts installation. That was expensive.

1.0L focus engine, factory timing belt should have been changed 130k miles prior. My fault, again.

 

[Leo99]

The transmission in my 2004 RAV4 blew at 399,942 miles. I barely touched it.

Sold my old Jeep Cherokee when the RMS blew.

 

[wwillson]

John Deere 7520 - spun main bearing, which is common because the block is an integral part of the frame. The block flexes a bit and eventually a main will spin.

John Deere 8430 - broken exhaust valve rocker arm, then the extremely high cylinder pressure pushed the head gasket out.

Several John Deere engines rebuilt due to wear from tons of hours of use.

1980ish Ford Ranger diesel - cracked head that eventually lead to catastrophic failure from water in the oil.

First gen Dodge HD trucks - several differentials and transmissions - they couldn't handle continuous pulling with the torque from 5.9L Cummins.

2003 Dodge Cummins - NV 5600 overdrive gear came lose.

2007 Dodge Cummins - spun main bearing at 107k miles. No obvious reason could be found.