**Engine Teardown: The Final Step**

(Jazzy piano music)

We've torn down the engine pretty well and now it's time to do the final step - pull the heads off so we can see what went wrong with Low Car's engine.

(Drill whirring)

All right, here we go, the moment of truth. We've pulled off the right side head; looks perfect. Doesn't even look like it's got 50 miles on it. This is the trouble head. This right here, this cylinder is the one we had zero PSI.

(Smooth jazz music)

Oh, look at the old pancaked piston. Now we'll check my envelope so I'm not lying. What I said at the start of this was that we had a failed piston and failed rings. And that looks like a failed piston and some failed rings.

So what causes something like that to happen? Well, too much heat. You can see that it literally mushroomed the piston over. So it kind of folded over on itself, almost looks like lava flow. You can't feel it but I can feel it. The inside of this cylinder wall where that piston is destroyed is just totally etched up. Got a real bad groove in it.

Because of that we had no compression in this cylinder. See cylinder three, super healthy piston; looks great. Cylinder five also looks good. So those three had good compression, these two had good compression. This one right here, totally effed.

So for a piston to melt like this, it's gotta get hot. Much, much hotter than the normal combustion temperatures. And about one of the only things I can think of that could cause this would be an extremely lean condition. And when I say lean, I mean the air-fuel mixture has a higher concentration of air to fuel.

A lean air fuel mixture can cause detonation, which is combustion inside the cylinder after the spark plug fires. And you can actually hear it; it's called knock. That knocking sound is the pistons smacking around inside the cylinder.

That causes more heat to build up. When you have more heat, you have more detonation. And in no time quick, things can get super hot and pistons can melt. Not only that, if you have a ring failure, oil can get past those rings. And when you burn oil and gas, you lower your octane level, which creates more detonation, which creates more heat.

You have a snake eating its own tail. But what caused the lean condition? Well, there are two things to think of. You either have a faulty injector or an improper tune. Now I know for a fact that Low Team didn't spend a whole lot of time getting their engine properly tuned.

Every time that Low Car was tuned, it was in a rush to get the car on the road and to the track. Also, it's really not the tuner's fault for this car. It's our fault. When you tune a car, it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience to get it right. And patience and time where things we didn't have.

Also remember this is a turbo car. The turbo is adding a bunch more air. And if you don't match the fuel requirements for that increase in air, you get a lean air fuel mixture, and then you get detonation. And it just so happened cylinder one was the cylinder that broke first.

Whether it was because it was right by the turbo and there was a lot of excess heat there, or this engine just had 100,000 miles on it and maybe that piston already had some previous damage and we didn't know about it. Who knows? No one will know. But I do know one thing. Nolan broke this car and it was Nolan's fault.

So that's the answer. (Smooth jazz music)

**Thank you guys so much for watching!**

(Trap beat)

You could slide with me if you feel like... Ride with me, if you ride with me... You could slide with me if you feel like...

Stick around for that series; it's gonna be absolutely great. Check it out. Thank you guys so much for watching. Bye for now.

**Hold on, hold on!**

Coming at you, Phil Oh (bleep). (Laughing)

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- This is our 2005 Nissan 350Zthat we slapped a turbo on.(heavy metal music)And it was absolutely great until-(engine revs)- Uh oh.- Oh no!- You hear that?- Yeah.- Low Car broke.- We blew it up.But the question is, how did it blow up?Was it 'cause of the turbo?Was it 'cause of the install?Was it 'cause of Nolan?(dramatic synth sing)Today we're gonna get to thebottom of what killed Low Carso it doesn't happen to you.Let's go.(smooth jazz music)Thanks to Omaze forsponsoring today's video.My name's Jeremiah Burton,and giving you the chance towin this car is my business.I'm out here at the Peterson Museum in LAto give y'all the exciting newsthat the good folks overat Omaze are giving youthe chance to win thisSuperformance MKIII-Rwith taxes and shippingincluded for US winners.Just go to omaze.com/donut22to enter for your chance to win.This iconic AmericanRoadster is modeled afterthe iconic Shelby Cobradesigned by the legendCaroll Shelby himself.You ever heard of him?It's got a 7.3 literFord Godzilla V8 engine,a five speed manual,and slithers down the roadwith a striking 650 horsepower.Not to mention if youwin this you get to pickwhatever rootin' tootin'beautiful color you want.And to top off this happy sandwich,donations benefit thePeterson Automotive Museum.That's where I'm at right now.A nonprofit that preservesautomotive historyand its impact on the world.They work with underserved communities,boasts educational programs,and lead preservation activities,and your donation will help themcontinue to build automotive history.So head on over to Omaze.com/donut22 todayto enter for your chance to win.Good luck.All right, now who do I have to talk toto get my catfish Camaro in here?Huh? Anybody around?You ma'am with the blazer.Nope?Nope, you're not, nope.If you watch our channel,you know that we took a stock Nissan 350Zand put a bunch of cheap parts on it,most notably this Rev 9Turbonetics Turbo Kit.And to be honest,we didn't exactly dothe most professional job installing it.- Nice little trip down memory lane.We used these zip tiesso the intake would clear the radiator.Powerade bottle as a catch can.This is how we do it.We really (bleep) this car.- So our plan of attackto diagnose Low Car's engine is this.First thing we're gonna dois we're gonna crank up theengine and take a listenand look to see if that willhelp us in the right directionwhere our problem is.Next we're gonna do a compression testand see which cylinders mightbe causing that problem.Then we're gonna use some actual scienceand send the engine oiloff to a lab for analysis.And then finally, I'm gonnafully tear apart this engineand see what broke and why.And to have a little fun,in this envelope I wrotedown what I think happenedand we'll see if I'mright at the end of this.If you wanna play along,leave a comment down belowif you think you know what happened.Don't skip ahead to the videoand then come back and comment.I'll know.(upbeat rockabilly music)Before we even touchthe engine on Low Car,we have the luxury ofbeing able to start it.Nolan's in there, he's gonna crank it up.We're gonna listen to the engineand we're gonna see what kind of smokeis pumping out the back.Nolan, crank her up.(engine starts)- Already some smoke coming out the hood.It smells. Yeah.- Now one thing you can do todiagnose a potential problemis looking at the colorof the exhaust smoke.So right now this is bluish gray,which is a good indicatorthat we're burning oil.If it was black it would meanwe'd be running too rich,so maybe some sort ofair-fuel ratio problemor a clogged injectoror a clogged air filter.If it was whiter and smokier,it's a good indicator that it's coolant.So you look for a head gasketleak or something like that.But because this is blue and gray,we know that we're burning oil.Also, it sounds like total dog (bleep).Which is a very good indicatorthat one of the cylindersis probably down.Don't put your finger in there, dude.Yeah, I know, But what ifit went unseized real quick?The last thing we need isAaron to lose a finger.It's getting worse as itgoes and the engine is,sounds like it's about to die.So we're gonna pull it into the shopand we're gonna do a compression testand find out which cylinderis giving us the problem.- There's oil on the bottom-- Nice residue.- That's like an antirust kind of coating.Keeps the carbon from rusting.- So compression testis a way to check outhow much pressure is beingcreated inside the cylindersas the piston moves up and down.So what we can dois test the compression ofeach cylinder on Low Carand determine if any of themare low or have no compression.After we know the badcylinder or cylinders,we can take it apart and assess the damageon those particular areas.Well, that's great.There is a ton of oil on this plug.Either the rings arebad or cylinder's bad,but that much oil on a plug is not good.Got a little cardboardpiece that Jimmy gave me.the heart and soul of Donut,so I could write down each cylinder.Okay, ready Nolan?(engine cranking)Hold up.- That was weird.- That was a weird noise.- We're gettingzero PSI on this cylinder.- Well, I thinkthat's our problem.- Let's check the next cylinder.(car cranking)We're about 145.(car cranking)160.We have our first non oily plug.Everyone clap it up.(everyone clapping)(engine cranking)150.(engine cranking)- Where are we at?- 150. Whew.- The final one, Nolan.(engine cranking)Almost 150, 148.All right, so the right bankof cylinders is pretty good.We're at 150, 148, 150.When we move over to the left side,160 pretty good,145, pretty good,then zero, which is a pretty big problem.You know you have a problemwhen you pull the plugand there's chunks of metaland a lot of oil in it.So once we get this engine pulled,we'll break it down,and that will be thecylinder that we focus on'cause likely that's where the problem is.- All right, so obviouslythis thing is broken,but got some reallycool stuff in the worksto make it unbroken.Maybe not with this engine,so make sure you likeand subscribe this videoto see that when it comes out.- So cylinder one duringthe compression testgave us a reading of zero PSI.Pretty good indicatorof where our problem is.And there are a coupleof ways a cylinder can gofrom 150 PSI to zero PSI.So while Nolan and Aaronpulled the motor part,we can talk about them.In order to keepcompression in a cylinder,you have to keep a sealbetween a bunch of parts.And if any of those partsfail you lose your seal,and with it your compression.So let's talk about some ofthese parts that could fail.You got holes or cracks in the pistons,the valves don't seal and leak,the head gasket could blow,damage to the cylinder wall,a bad timing belt or chain in our case,or missed timing in general.Also, the rings on the piston could fail.So already there are seventhings that could be wrongsolely based on our compression test.But in our case, we canrule some of them out.For example,a blown head gasket on a VQwill drop compressionon multiple cylinders.So we know it's not that.Now a bad timing chain or beltwould also imply othercylinders have bad compression.And again, we only gotone problem child here.Which brings me to my next point.We don't just have low compression,we have no compression.So I would guess that wehave some sort piston damageand/or ring failure.And when you get those failures,you typically also get cylinder damage.All of which can lead to zero compression.And I can confirm thatwithout even taking asingle bolt off this engine.Well actually just one bolt.We're gonna drain the oil.So just by looking at your engine oilis a good way to figure outwhat could be goingwrong with your engine.The purpose of your engine oilis not only lubricate yourengine but also clean it.The a combustion process,that's really dirty.Just like soot residue beingleft over after a bonfire,there are byproducts from burning gasolineand the detergents in engineoil remove those byproducts.Now this right here is new oil,and you can see that it's Amber in color.This is old oil and it's black in coloras a result of thehydrocarbons in the engine.Now this Milky looking oilis a result of a head gasket leak,meaning coolant mixed with the oil.Color is one thing butwe also give it a whiff.You can smell the oil.Does it smell like gas?Does it smell burnt?Either of these can lead us down the pathto figuring out the health of our engine.But my unsophisticated human eyes and noseare only so accurate.So we're gonna needsome highly specialized scientificequipment to help me out.Now there are a few companies out therethat can take a used oil sampleand using a method called spectroscopydetermine what's goingon inside your enginewithout you having to do a full tear down.It's like sending your blood or pee peeto the lab for tests.So I went aheadand sent samples of LowCar's oil out to a laband here are the results.(frantic electronic music)Now the main one we wannafocus on are our wear metals,particularly aluminum iron and lead.Now aluminum, we have50 parts per million,which is well over the averageof 32 parts per millionfrom all other hundreds of samplessent into Blackstone Laboratory.The next one is iron, which is higherjust a tad bit at 37 parts per million,and then lead, which is 29 partsper million compared to 16.Lead indicates we have a bearing failure.So based on this report,I think it's fair to say wehave some piston ring damageand some cylinder scoring.But I'm not gonna leave youguys hanging with just a guess.Let's tear this engine downand see what really went wrong.(chill hip hop beat)Now so far, nothing we've talked abouthas anything to do with a turbo.So let's talk about what a turbo even doesand why it could, in theory,cause damage to an engine like this.Now obviously the end goalis to get more horsepower,but there are some drawbacks to it.A byproduct of a turbo is heat.Now because exhaust gases are hot,this sucker gets really, really hot,like 1,000+ degrees Fahrenheit hot.And when you take something that hotand you put it in an engine bay,it's radiating a ton of heatthat the engineers who've builtthis car didn't account for.Now there are ways to manage that heatlike a turbo blanket or heat shielding.But Low Team, they didn't do that.Guess where this hot turbo was placed?Right next to cylinder one.the one with no compression.Very interesting, Nolan.Also to make matters worse,the oil being supplied to thisturbo to lubricate the shaftis the same oil used tolubricate the engine.So that means the oil's getting hotter,which means it does a worse jobat lubricating the internals.Add the fact that this engine hadover 100,000 miles on it to begin withand it wasn't intended to withstandthe added heat and power of a turbo,it's no surprise that something failed.I'm not saying it's impossibleto turbo a car like thisbut Low Team definitelytook some shortcutsand time crunch played a big rolein why heat management was skipped over.Here's Nolan talking aboutall the things he did wrong.- Just opened up the exhaust boxand our exhaust doesn't fit.We have missing hardware,the (bleep) don't fit right.- We're kind of on a time constraint,so we'll see what we come up with.- Maybe we didn't requestthe right part, whatever.- Our pan is steel.We're definitely not gonnabe drilling any holesin the block of our VQ.So we're gonna have tofigure something else out.- I don't know if theircar's gonna run. Ever.- You good, Nolan?- No.- Freaking Nolan.I knew it was Nolan. I knew it.So now that I have thisengine torn down pretty good,I'm gonna do the final step,and that is pull the heads offso we can see what wentwrong with Low Car's engine.(jazzy piano music)(drill whirring)All right, here we go,the moment of truth.we've pulled off the rightside head, looks perfect.Doesn't even look likeit's got 50 miles on it.This is the trouble head.This right here, this cylinderis the one we had zero PSI.So we're gonna pull this head offand see what the damage is.(smooth jazz music)Oh.Look at the old pancaked piston.Now we'll check myenvelope so I'm not lying.What I said at the start of thiswas that we had a failedpiston and failed rings.And that looks like a failedpiston and some failed rings.So what causes somethinglike that to happen?Well, too much heat.You can see that it literallymushroomed the piston over.So it kind of folded over on itself,almost looks like lava flow.You can't feel it but I can feel it.The inside of this cylinder wallwhere that piston is destroyedis just totally etched up.Got a real bad groove in it.Because of that we had nocompression in this cylinder.See cylinder three, superhealthy piston, looks great.Cylinder five also looks good.So those three had good compression,these two had good compression.This one right here, totally effed.So for a piston to melt likethis, it's gotta get hot.Much, much hotter than thenormal combustion temperatures.And about one of the onlythings I can think ofthat could cause this would bean extremely lean condition.And when I say lean,I mean the air-fuel mixturehas a higher concentrationof air to fuel.A lean air fuel mixturecan cause detonation,which is combustion inside the cylinderafter the spark plug fires.And you can actually hearit, it's called knock.That knocking soundis the pistons smackingaround inside the cylinder.That causes more heat to build up.When you have more heat,you have more detonation,and in no time quick,things can get super hotand pistons can melt.Not only that, if you have a ring failure,oil can get past those rings.And when you burn oil and gasyou lower your octane level,which creates more detonation,which creates more heat.You have a snake eating its own tail.But what caused the lean condition?Well, there are two things to think of.You either have a faultyinjector or an improper tune.Now I know for a factthat Low Team didn'tspend a whole lot of timegetting their engine properly tuned.Every time that Low Car was tuned,it was in a rush toget the car on the roadand to the track.Also, it's really not thetuner's fault for this car.It's our fault.When you tune a car,it takes a lot of timeand a lot of patienceto get it right.And patience and time wherethings we didn't have.Also remember this is a turbo car.The turbo is adding a bunch more air.And if you don't matchthe fuel requirementsfor that increase in air,you get a lean air fuel mixtureand then you get detonation.And it just so happened cylinder onewas the cylinder that broke first.Whether it was becauseit was right by the turboand there was a lot of excess heat there,or this engine justhad 100,000 miles on itand maybe that piston alreadyhad some previous damageand we didn't know about it.Who knows? No one will know.But I do know one thing.Nolan broke this car andit was Nolan's fault.So that's the answer.(smooth jazz music)♪ Out with me, if you're out with me ♪♪ You could slide withme if you feel like ♪♪ Ride with me, if you ride with me ♪♪ You could slide withme if you feel like ♪♪ 550 on the five stick ♪♪ That's a deal right,that's a bet right ♪♪ That's a bet right ♪♪ That's a deal right,that's a deal right ♪(bouncy trap beat)- Thank you guys so much for watching.We got High Low coming in.This engine is dead but it doesn't matter,'cause we got two other enginesgoing in High and Low Car.Stick around for that series,it's gonna be absolutely great.Check it out.Thank you guys so much for watching.Bye for now.- Hold on, hold on, check this out.Nope. Let me get this right, Phil.Oh (bleep).Coming at you, Phil.Oh (bleep). (laughing)