Engine Failure Questions

[t2p]

I'm curious ........
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Question for VX owners that have experienced engine failure - failure in #1 cylinder ...... con rod bearing (or whatever) :
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Did you change motor oil often (3000-4000 miles)
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Did you use an Isuzu OEM oil filter ?
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Did you use synthetic oil ? Viscosity ?
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Did you notice increased valve train/top end engine noise prior to the expiration of the engine ?
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Thanks in advance for your replies.
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I am concerned about the number of posts I have read about engine failure - especially when the low production numbers (4153) are considered ...... it is disturbing .........
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[VX_PA]

Here's the link to my engine failure post:

Engine Failure

Oil was changed religously every 3K. That's probably what made my engine last until it was out of warranty. Mine was a main bearing failure and was going to happen no matter what maintenance was done. There was no warning before the motor went. No noise until after it was fubar'd. It's not something you can really worry about because it will either happen or it won't. There's no preventing it. Some owners have over 100K with no problems. Others, well you've read their stories here.

My other engine link

[psychos2]

it can be prevented. the oil can be tested for bearing material and other contaminents .so you could have the problem fixed before it goes completely. a lot cheaper than waiting til it blows. if it is under warranty ,let it blow . shawn

[AlaskaVX]

Originally posted by psychos2
it can be prevented. the oil can be tested for bearing material and other contaminents

How do you go about this? I'm just under 60,000 and would like to make sure it isn't going out at 60,002 miles.

[VX_PA]

My oil looked good running out of the drain during each change. I wasn't aware of the engine problem before it happened to me. So, in my case, it was unpreventable. There was no way I knew to have the oil tested for unseeable particles. With that said, anyone who now has the knowledge of the engine failures should probably get their oil tested. It's not something that my dealer would've even done though and I'm not sure there are alot of shops that could even perform those kind of tests. So now it comes down to---where can someone get those kind of tests performed??

[t2p]

Sounds like an oil pressure gauge may be a good idea.
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???
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My guess is the oil pressure would be low - and/or erratic - before a bearing is on the way out ..............
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Also sounds like the Isuzu engineers sufferred from low oil pressure ..........

[psychos2]

here is one place i found doing a search. looks like sample kit is free and the cost is $20 for a regular analysis. we send samples in to kendall for a few of our customers boats. they test for free because we use kendall oil in them. i will check with kendall to see how much they charge.
as far as an oil pressure gauge,it would not show low oil pressure due to worn bearings.not a noticable amount anyway. shawn
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/