The ".....AND IT STILL RAN!" Thread

[decksetter 50]

Doesn't matter if it's your tractor or your buddy's truck or what, but let's hear some carnage stories about engines that still ran.

Today I started tear down on an onan p220 off my parts tractor. I had it running long enough to know the rear cylinder wasn't firing... Didn't know the rod was shattered into a million pieces!

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[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,527]

I bought a 416 one time from a teenager who said to motor ran but not good. I really did not care as I was buying it for other parts. I had it running but then took the engine parts I needed and listed the rest for sale. Well when the potential buyer came to look at it we discovered there was only one piston in the engine. I felt really bad and embarrassed that I could not sell it to him rather just gave it to him. I could not believe that twin ran on just one piston and the fact that the po actually reassembled the entire engine missing the piston!

[squonk 43,617]

Kinda un-realted but my B-N-L used to be a salesman at a Chrysler dealer. One day he showed a newlywed couple a mini van. A week later they called back and said they would take the van and wanted it the next day. He goes out and puts the sold sign on it and everything. Next morning clean up crew goes out to get it and it won't start and it's making a weird sound. They open the hood and the service dept. had taken the cylinder head off to put on another customers van!

[wallfish 17,973]

I had a VW dune buggy stuck in the mud and sand by the side of the Delaware river at low tide. By the time I got some help and dragged it out with a couple of ATVs, it was completely under water. There was no way those guys could drag it up the hill to the road and I wasn't leaving it there so I pulled the plugs, turned it over, put them back in, dried the water in the distributor cap and fired it up. I couldn't believed it fired right up. That motor ran for a long time after that even though it was running for a good 10 to 15 min. with the crankcase full of water. I blew up other engines under normal conditions faster than this one. Those old bug engines were tough!   

[squonk 43,617]

Same B-N-L's wife drove a Dodge 600 with the 2.2 turbo. Used to work 40 miles one way and always drove he NYS Thruway. Had the radio cranked all the time. Always was in the passing lane doing 80. One day she noticed the car slowing down so she just pushed on the gas harder. Got off to pay the toll and turned off the radio. Engine was ticking and clanking away. Had it towed to my house. I started it up and it's skipping rattling ect. Open the hood and I see the rear cam seal came out dumping the oil. Pulled the head and no.4 piston and rod were gone and no. 1 piston was only half there. Pulled the pan and no.4 crank journal was black as the Ace of Spades. I found the missing rod wrapped around the no. 1 rod.

[AMC RULES 37,194]

I got to see junkyard mentality at it finest when I was living down in south Jersey. A local pick a part lot I hung out at...had a 4 door, fawn beige, Hornet come into the lot...seemed to be in pretty decent, running condition.  

I said to myself...OH! Here we go.   

First thing the guys do is stab the two tines of a forklift through the drivers side doors, to move it across the lot, over to the crusher. It's at this point that they had a epiphany...let's start it up and see how much dirt  we can pour down the carb before it dies. I can't remember how many coffee cans of Jersey sand went through that little six banger, but I can tell you the process sounded a lot like a blender grinding up cubes of ice. It kept going, and going until the rpm's slowed down, and the engine finally seized up. Having had their fun, they lifted it up to place it in the crusher, at which point I had them stop and pull the oil pan to see how much material was in the bottom of it. When the pan came off, it looked like a sand mold the factory uses to produce the crank...no oil, all sand, full to the top before if finally stopped the crank from turning. AMC's 232 inline six, with seven main bearings, that's one tough little motor.    

Edited July 7, 2013 by Doc Giddy-Up

[JimD 3,347]

Next! It's gettin deep in here.

[Ken B 3,189]

I was at one of the Antique Outboard Club meets earlier this yr. I was over by the ramp gettin ready to call it a day. One of the guys was removing his pristine 1958 Evinrude Sportwin 10 from the transon of his row boat. I offered him some help and told him that it drops off pretty quick at the rear of his boat and he might lose his footing in the loose sandy gravel. He tells me, "Nope, I got this" alrighty then. He then lifts the motor off the transom, he slips and instantly baptizes it. After he dropped it it slid down the little underwater cliff and wound up in 6 ft of water. Oh, he wasn't happy. He then spends the next half hr. retreaving it and another half hr drying it out and taking it for a quick spin to make sure everything is ok. He gets back to shore and there I am. "Hey Don ya need a hand" "Nope, I learned my lesson the last time" "Really?" He then proceeds to loosen the transom clamps on his Beautiful 1958 Evinrude Sportwin 10....."You sure Don?" "Yup, I got this"  Well, you know what happens next! Into the drink it goes again!  I couldn't contain my laughter, I had to get outta there fast!

[953 nut 59,632]

In the late 60s I was a member of a Central NY Volunteer Fire Dept. As a part of our Field Days (annual fund raiser) a local salvage yard donated a 1954 Chevy and we sold squares ( one second increments at $1.00 each ) on how long it would run without oil and water. Once it was warmed up we drained the oil and water, started it and proped the throttle about half open. The only problem is we only sold ten minutes worth of squares, it lasted about 25 minutes, people got tired of waiting for it to quit. By the time it quit running the person who had the ten minute ticket had spent most of the $50.00 he won buying beers for everyone. By the way, a 1954 Chevy smells real bad after about five munites without lube and coolant.      

 

 

[clintonnut 126]

Just got back from the mountains tonight after having my dune buggy take a beating up there. Arctic cat fan cooled snowmobile motor out of a 1971 panther. Rained hard, filled the cylinders, pulled the plugs, pulled it over, got it running, ran 60 miles of paved back roads at full throttle in 90* then had some nasty back fires. Turns out the exhaust manifold split!

Charlie

[squonk 43,617]

In the late 60s I was a member of a Central NY Volunteer Fire Dept. As a part of our Field Days (annual fund raiser) a local salvage yard donated a 1954 Chevy and we sold squares ( one second increments at $1.00 each ) on how long it would run without oil and water. Once it was warmed up we drained the oil and water, started it and proped the throttle about half open. The only problem is we only sold ten minutes worth of squares, it lasted about 25 minutes, people got tired of waiting for it to quit. By the time it quit running the person who had the ten minute ticket had spent most of the $50.00 he won buying beers for everyone. By the way, a 1954 Chevy smells real bad after about five munites without lube and coolant.      

 

 

You would too if you had all your fluids drained!!