Sad Day

socrswm

Member
:
2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege
So I was driving around today with my roommate and another friend of mine (one has a WRX, one has an STi) and all of a sudden I heard a rock throw up into my engine bay and she started to s*** a brick. Smoke out the back, lights flashing on the display, the whole nine yards. Managed to limp to a parking lot where I had to leave her, all the oil had drained out and the radiator leaked out all of its fluid too. I think that, best case, the oil pan and the radiator are cracked. The nearest dealership is about 30 miles away, so I won't know for sure until I get it towed out there. My question is, if it's the radiator and the oil filter, how much do you guys think it'll cost me and is it worth repairing? Thanks all.
 
im not sure you heard a rock. its very unlikely. not to mention the fact that the odds of it not hitting your J pipe, transmission, or the underside lining is almost impossible.

you probably threw a rod... which has a knocking sound like on a door which you could have thought was a rock.
 
^^ I'm not sure about the oil .. but as far as a rock puncturing his radiator, it's entirely possible if the rock was big enough. I had my radiator punctured 'bout a year and a half ago, and pulled over to watch all my coolant drain out all over the asphalt. It was sad.

Anyhoo .. I was away from home when it happened, and the new radiator plus labor wound up costing me around $500 at the closest Mazda dealership. Definitely not cheap, but it could've been a lot worse.

Any pics?
 
If its a busted rad and an oil filter just buy a new car. But if you threw a rod I would def go forged!!!!!!!!!
 
To lose oil and water you probably poked a hole in the block. Time to get a new motor with forged internals and 25psi!
 
I found a piece of granite a little bigger than a golf ball right at the point in the road where oil started to dump, so I'm pretty sure that's the culprit. The car's parked a couple of miles away right now, I'll try to get out there tomorrow and take some pics. I can't afford to go forged with a new engine, so if it's the rod what're the odds the insurance will total the car?
 
I found a piece of granite a little bigger than a golf ball right at the point in the road where oil started to dump, so I'm pretty sure that's the culprit. The car's parked a couple of miles away right now, I'll try to get out there tomorrow and take some pics. I can't afford to go forged with a new engine, so if it's the rod what're the odds the insurance will total the car?


I don't think they would total the car over an engine going bad. It happens all the time to all kinds of cars. I've seen a few times at the honda dealer where I worked. Cars came towed in often with cracked oil pans and broken radiators, very rare did they have extended warranty cover it. Usually came out of the customers pocket.
 
how do you know its just not leaking oil from the pan, or maybe the oil return from the turbo? If you werent beating on the car during the failure, maybe u did hit something and just need some simple repairs.
 
Yeah that's the thing, I wasn't doing anything crazy at the time, so I'm hopeful the damage isn't too bad. Tow truck'll be out here in the next hour or so, then I'll be able to figure out exactly what's wrong. Pity, I'm in line for Turbolife's FMIC, guess my money for that is going to go into fixing whatever ends up being wrong.
 
any idea what happened yet?? i guess this is why you don't hang around subbie owners lol j/k man. I hope it is nothing to seriouse aka blown motor.
 
I've experienced what you've discribed exactly...and that's no rock buddy, that's a rod flying through your block.
 
To lose coolant and oil you would have to hit something that carries both liquids so if it isn't a rod through the block/pan then I'd guess it was an oil cooler that got smoked.
 
Just got a call from the dealership I took it to...she threw a rod. Other than the answer "forged," where do I go from here?
 
Ok, so there's about a tennis ball sized hole in the engine, and the dealership wants 7K to fix it. I think I may have to scrap the car :(
 
lol 7k

you can get a used motor from protege garage for $1k and a mechanic to do the work for a hell of a lot cheaper than that...
 
Just got a call from the dealership I took it to...she threw a rod. Other than the answer "forged," where do I go from here?

You need to start with a good engine so that means you need to get one from an engine supply or a dismantler. Unless of course you want a new block then just order from the dealer, most of us can't afford that though.
 
Ok, so there's about a tennis ball sized hole in the engine, and the dealership wants 7K to fix it. I think I may have to scrap the car :(

Why the hell would you scrap the car?

HTow it home as is or have Mazda rip out the blown motor and tow the carcass home.

Save up your cash for a new/used/forged motor and other parts.

Once you have them all, find a shop or someone to do the labour.

Scrap your car?
 
Debating between getting a new engine from protege garage for around $1200, or just letting the car sit until I can scrape together 4K for the forged engine. I'm planning on keeping the car awhile, but really just want it as a daily driver. Any recommendations?
 
Any idea of the cause? How much boost were you running? If you plan for it to be reliable with a stock block don't go over stock boost! With supporting mods maybe up to 10psi?!
 

New Threads and Articles

Back