Conrod Destroys Pug Engine!

[Ollie82.]

A guy i work with had to abandon his 406 Diesel in a layby on the A3 yesterday morning citing a major oil and coolant leak.
We retrieved the car with a trailer and went about putting it on a ramp to inspect the underneath.
It turns out one of the conrods had decided to leave the engine at about 80mph and 3500rpm, and seeing as there really isn't a hole big enough to fit a conrod it decided to create its own....well 3 of them actually.
The pics tell the story!
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Bottom of the sump. Hole goes all the way from one side of the sump gasket to the other.
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Here you can see the rather lonely big end minus its conrod.
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Pic from the bulkhead side of the crankcase. Big end is upside down showing where the conrod sheared off!
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Pic from the front of the crankcase. It did so much damage that its literally split the gearbox from the engine....you can move the gearbox around.
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Where it decided to thump the starter motor on the way out. It then sheared a coolant pipe before leaving the engine bay and bouncing off down the carriageway!

 

[Josh@Renparts]

good going that, what sort of mileage was it on?

 

[Ollie82.]

Not sure. 70-80k i think.

 

[Has]

Nicely done!

Must have made quite a mess of the road as well.

 

[Ollie82.]

The amazing thing is he had to turn OFF the engine when he pulled over. It was still running apparently!

 

[Dan@SJM]

ive seen a few do this recently... the other one i saw destroyed the alternator lol

 

[Ollie82.]

I was pretty amazed to see that much damage if im honest. I know there is alot of energy involved when something like that lets go but to split an engine from the gearbox.....thats somethin else!

 

[rs250nut]

Did this once grass tracking with a fiesta apart from the rod left through the front of the block.

 

[Ollie82.]

Yeah we can't really tell for sure which hole it left!

 

[Marky_]

Was it a Hdi engine?

 

[SBV116]

I changed an engine in one of those last week! Same problem! they seem fairly common for it!