Tuning an R35... not a good idea

[vexor]

Imagine, driving your new Nissan GT-R just a month after you've had the transmission rebuilt and strengthened to overcome its well-known gearbox issues. You're cruising along and you decide to kick down from third to second to pass a slower car. The engine sings up to 1,000 rpm short of redline, then you hear an odd sound and see smoke filling your rearview mirror. Your engine just blew itself apart.

For one unlucky resident of Beirut, that's exactly what happened just over a week ago to his U.S.-market Nissan GT-R. Of course, thanks to the gearbox mods and a tune on the ECU, his warranty was voided, and he's now looking at coming out of pocket for over $35,000 in repairs. That's actually an improvement over the $55,000 he was expecting to pay for a new engine, but it's no comfort to his freshly ventilated VR38 engine block.

So what happened to cause the problem? It's still not entirely clear, but it looks as if the AP Stage 2 tune was written for higher octane fuel than what is available in Lebanon, leading to detonation or pre-ignition that then caused the crank to break, sending rotating parts out through the aluminum block. The photos show a hole in the block and what appears to be a piston rod end protruding as well.

It's possible that the problem was a combination of detonation and pre-ignition. The lower-than-tuned-for fuel octane would lead to detonation--unburnt fuel spontaneously combusting after the spark--which, over a period of time, could wear the piston and eat away the heat-resistance of the spark plug electrode, eventually causing the spark plug to overheat, effectively becoming a glow-plug-like hotspot, causing pre-ignition, which is combustion of the fuel-air mixture before compression is complete, and before the spark plug fires. Unlike detonation, which creates a very short high-pressure spike, pre-ignition causes a much longer high-pressure condition, placing engine components under much greater stresses--typically enough stress to break things. The result: a broken piston or crankshaft (or both), smoke pouring out the exhaust and a hole in the block as rapidly rotating parts fly free of their moorings--just as we have here.

Whatever the cause, it's a sad story, but it serves as a caution to those owners out there that already have or may be thinking about slapping a tune on their favorite supercar-killer: due to Nissan's (NASDAQ:NSANY) hyper-vigilant ECU monitoring and the engine's already high-strung nature, you're playing a risky game that may lead to a voided warranty and a huge repair bill. You can catch the full details, including the owner's write-up, over at NAGTROC at the link below.

MotorAuthority.com

Original forum topic @ NAGTROC
http://www.nagtroc.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=36946

[Kim Jong Un]

LOLPWND!

[Blinky]

The thread title is a bit misleading.

Move along. No news here. Do a half-assed tune of the car and expect to break it. (in this case, modifying timing/boost other variables while not ensuring the fuel system is taken care of with what it needs). It's not really Nissan's fault.

but it looks as if the AP Stage 2 tune was written for higher octane fuel than what is available in Lebanon, leading to detonation or pre-ignition that then caused the crank to break, sending rotating parts out through the aluminum block. The photos show a hole in the block and what appears to be a piston rod end protruding as well.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

GT RAWRRR once again

[ajax]

Isn't it his own fault for not running proper fuel?

[Konvict]

tuning your car badly..blowing your engine cos of it = nissans fault cos GTR sucks???....

[TOPEC]

fking dumbass, Nissan should charge him more for the repair just because of his stupidity.
how hard is it to use an ap for reflash a OTS map onto a car, the maps CLEARLY states what octane its ment for.

[Jackygor]

More like being a dumbass is not a idea

[Z3guy]

everyone likes to blame the car for blowing up, but most times the reason GTRs blow up is due to stupid owners turning the boost up too much or doing burnouts left and right.

another example of.....if you don't know what you are doing, don't do it!

[RE-Jo]

^^^ this is a reason why people think rotary's are bad. They don't mod their car properly and causing it to blow up, then they blame it on the design of the engine.

[Leopold Stotch]

Am I the only one who isn't reading the part where anyone is blaming nissan? I don't see anything slanderous towards nissan at all. They blamed it on low octane. The article doesnt bad mouth Nissan at all. So I don't know what half you guys are talking about
Posted via RS Mobile

[apexracer]

Originally Posted by Leopold Stotch

Am I the only one who isn't reading the part where anyone is blaming nissan? I don't see anything slanderous towards nissan at all. They blamed it on low octane. The article doesnt bad mouth Nissan at all. So I don't know what half you guys are talking about
Posted via RS Mobile

u're not the only one~....

[hotong]

brutal shit

[shenmecar]

lol

[Meister1982]

title is misleading.

[E-40six]

title is very misleading, its clearly the owners fault on this one

People need to comprehend more of what they read lol

[Z3guy]

Originally Posted by Leopold Stotch

Am I the only one who isn't reading the part where anyone is blaming nissan? I don't see anything slanderous towards nissan at all. They blamed it on low octane. The article doesnt bad mouth Nissan at all. So I don't know what half you guys are talking about
Posted via RS Mobile

the pt is that idiot owners are responsible for most serious issues with the GTR blowing up....who put in the low octane fuel? you can bet 99% this owner is blaming nissan......who in hell puts in low octane fuel even in a stock turbo car anyways?

[Roach]

I don't understand where MotorAuthority is getting the information for their article from.

The owner claims he was using 98 RON octane. That translates to around 93 in AKI which is used more typically in North America.

Kev

[Expresso]

This doesn't beat filling up the R35 with diesel

[VSBB6]