jesusublime99

I was cruising in second gear last night coming off a turn approaching my friends house, when all of sudden, the oil pressure light came and at the same time there was a high pitched knocking or pinging that I've never heard. It seemed to come from the block.

Specifically, I was going from second to neutral @5500rpm precisely when it happened. Then I turned off the car immediately and let it roll to the curb.

Its a stock GSR block with 180k. Am I loooking at some kind of engine failure?

edit: I let the car cool down and checked the oil. Its full. All fluids were full.

perrotto

Did you check the oil? Perhaps you are low...

mberndt

Sorry to tell you but your block is most likely toast...

You must have had an oil pump failure if the oil level is normal. Unless you were cornering hard and for a long time, where there wasn't enough oil being supplied to the bearings, either by centrifugal force or oil pump failure.

No oil on the bearings = spun bearing (when the metal bearing surface contacts the crankshaft journal, and is "pulled" around the crank with the rotation). This will wear down the soft crankshaft material and will produce a knock, which is what you are hearing.

You must have the engine removed from the car to access the crankshaft, and put on an engine stand to have the work done.
In other words, either look for another GSR short block, or be prepared to pay out the ass to have it fixed.

Unless of course you have the time, space (garage), tools and experience to do it yourself. Although this is only recommended for someone who is very experienced.

Provocateur

First things first...pull the pan and rod caps to determine if there is any damage. A bearing isn't going to spin the exact moment the oil pressure light goes on.

Have you driven it any more?

jesusublime99

I installed a brand new Honda OEM oil pump exactly a year ago. Its been about 15k miles...I was driving normally when it happened. I hate toasted motors.

I turned it off right away and got it towed to my house. I turned it on one more time after I checked the oil level, about 20 mins. later - same noise so I shut it down.

...I'll remove the pan and rod caps as soon as I get chance this week, hopefully the damage is visible.

In 1.5 years, 2 engine failures; first timing belt, now this...

edit: Thanks guys, I don't know too much about the bottom end.

mberndt

Sorry I didn't mean to break the bad news... That sucks if you weren't beating it and this happened.
Hopefully its something minor, but be prepared for the worst...

If you put a brand new oil pump in a year ago, I can't see it being an oil pump failure... Is it an autozone part or OEM?

It is quite possible for the bearing to spin immediately, cause the crank is spinning, in your case, at 5500 rpms. That means the crank spun around 91 times in just one second. I'm sure it was at least 2 or 3 seconds for you to realize the noise and turn the motor off.

Remove the pan and girdle, if you see metal in the oil, its prob toasted. Move the conn rod with your hand, if there is any play it means costly repair.

jesusublime99

I drained the oil when I got home from work into a clean drain pan and I couldn't see any metal. I stuck a strong magnet into the oil and mixed it a little but nothing got attached to it. Although, there was more than the usual sludge on the magnetic drain bolt.

I removed the oil pan, but thats as far as I got.

jesusublime99

mberndt, you were correct. OEM Honda Oil pump failure after 15k miles, and it was full of oil. I think something caused this I just don't know what. I removed the oil pickup and a few pieces of metal came out. This is looking up at where the oil pickup tube connects to the oil pump:

dray

Man that sucks. So are you going to rebuild or buy new?

Provocateur

Damn, that sucks. How do the bearings look?