Engine just blew!!

Id be willing to wager money that if we had a little crystal ball about what caused this, it would be a slightly bent rod from the dyno pulls. Have you ever even data-logged the car with this "stage2" tune? Probably not monitored on the dyno either.

Was the maf signal tuned for the aftermarket intake?

These are not "play things"

You cannot just modify a car and put one of the max power "canned" tunes on a turbo engine thats running 23+ pounds of boost on a 1.5l and not be careful with the dam thing.

It saddens me your dealing with this if your as innocent as you say about it.

The load the dyno certainly put through the car and computer was probably something it hadn't seen anything like before and trust me that load never let up during the pull. Do that again 3 times in a row....poor car.

Just to exemplify this imagine you put a trailer on the car hauling ,lets say for the sake of conversation, 1000lbs behind you....let the car slow down to 2100rpm (in fourth gear even because thats the dyno gear most of the time)....floor it and let it struggle until rev limit....with little to no real airflow....then do it again....then do it once more.

They usually go wot very low in the rev range and the power your car didnt make was probably because knock control was through the ceiling. Clearly we will never know but that dyno episode is the striking difference between all of our cars still running with miles upon miles of monitored tuning (23k myself currently) and yours with a premature death; where the roughest day of its life was that dyno day.

Dynos are only good for heartbreak and engine carnage if they aren't being used as a tool. (And even sometimes when they are...)

I would like to know what fraction of blown engines are those with manual vs. CVT. Actually, the relative excess power (over nominal) from tuning/boltons may be often greater for the CVT’s than for the Si.

It seems like the OP believes the engine was not being abused because he didn’t drive often close to the redline and the speed and the rpm were low at the time of the failure.

But slow and steady redlining like on the dyno is not the only or the most effective way to abuse the engine. Opening wide the throttle at low rpm and high load is what will generate the most stress on the rods. That’s when a big explosive charge is crammed into the cylinders which can’t yield. The result is like a a hammer slam on the pistons. No extreme acceleration or high rpm are needed, only open throttle.

With plenty of torque available at low rpm the drivers may get used to it and not even realize they are lugging, because the motor can move the car effortlessly even in too high gear. As long as it’s all still holding together. But the rods can’t take the extreme force hits long term and one finally pops.

Hondata said in a video about these cars that when tuned and making that level of torque; its the equivalent of 1600+ lbs of pressure on top of each piston (which fit in the palm of your hand). And thats in a perfect scenario. Introduce any sort of decent sized knock event and metal starts failing.

amirza786 said:

Anyway, I don't want to pile on you, I feel bad that your engine blew, regardless of how. I hope you are able to get it resolved.

Maybe you can be that shining light to all those guys who come home fresh from the dealership, sign up for a CivicX account and start asking what bolt-on's they should get. Instead of asking how big of a turbo they should install, maybe they can ask what the best car wash soap is. One can only hope.

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I think it'd be a good idea for someone (who's more knowledgeable than me) to compile a list of abuse to avoid, with or without mods. Things like no WOT at low RPM, avoid high boost in 5th and 6th gears, etc. As it is, you kind of have to search through hundreds and hundreds of threads to find this info.

schrisi said:

I think it'd be a good idea for someone (who's more knowledgeable than me) to compile a list of abuse to avoid, with or without mods. Things like no WOT at low RPM, avoid high boost in 5th and 6th gears, etc. As it is, you kind of have to search through hundreds and hundreds of threads to find this info.

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Really I am not trying to be a prick but most of this should be common sense. It is odd to see people who are enthusiasts coming up that need to have all this spelled out for them...

To avoid stories such as this it is each owners responsibility to research the machine they are manipulating.

Its a simple case of I bought "w tune" and "x intake" and "y intercooler" and "z downpipe" and assumed everything would be happy without ever actually checking anything and then I strapped it to some rollers to let the car figure out how to operate all these things wide the fuck open, from crazy low rpms....in the heat of may....with incorrect airflow metering...with very little airflow...etc

Does any of that sound like a good idea?

PowerPerLiter said:

Really I am not trying to be a prick but most of this should be common sense. It is odd to see people who are enthusiasts coming up that need to have all this spelled out for them...

To avoid stories such as these it is each owners responsibility to research the machine they are manipulating.

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And someone reading a thread on here explaining the best Si driving practices could be the very research a future owner does to ensure they don't abuse their car.
Let's be honest, you cannot expect everyone on here to be a veteran car "enthusiast" who's been driving manual turbocharged I4s since the 80s. This is still a $24,000 Civic we are talking about, after all. If anything an Si may be the best example of the entry-level car for beginner enthusiasts, because of its affordability, reliability, and practicality over similar 'sporty' cars. We aren't talking about GT350s or GT-Rs here.

Drake said:

And someone reading a thread on here explaining the best Si driving practices could be the very research a future owner does to ensure they don't abuse their car.
Let's be honest, you cannot expect everyone on here to be a veteran car "enthusiast" who's been driving manual turbocharged I4s since the 80s. This is still a $24,000 Civic we are talking about, after all. If anything an Si may be the best example of the entry-level car for beginner enthusiasts, because of its affordability, reliability, and practicality over similar 'sporty' cars. We aren't talking about GT350s or GT-Rs here.

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I agree with you.

The list is short.

1) dont flash a car and not monitor it
2) dont throw a bunch of parts on a car, flash it, and not monitor it.
3) dont be suprised, if you never even knew the car was or was not knocking, when it blows up at some point and then proceed to expect the manufacturer to fix it for free


Yes I am being a smart ass but this is pretty basic.

Dont be sorry, be careful.

PowerPerLiter said:

I agree with you.

The list is short.

1) dont flash a car and not monitor it
2) dont throw a bunch of parts on a car, flash it, and not monitor it.
3) dont be suprised, if you never even knew the car was or was not knocking, when it blows up at some point and then proceed to expect the manufacturer to fix it for free


Yes I am being a smart ass but this is pretty basic.

Dont be sorry, be careful.

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Let's talk about #1. I remember when I first tuned I asked both Hondata and Ktuner about this. Early on all I wanted was a set and forget tuning solution with my stock setup. Both KTuner and Hondata said it would be fine to upload one of their base tunes and not constantly monitor it.

But, I hear you. And especially if you swap to aftermarket components, monitoring is essential. Even today (completely stock w/stage 1 intake only), I only datalog/monitor periodically. Like when I upload a new tune or want to check my numbers using fuel from a different gas station.

gtman said:

Let's talk about #1. I remember when I first tuned I asked both Hondata and Ktuner about this. Early on all I wanted was a set and forget tuning solution with my stock setup. Both KTuner and Hondata said it would be fine to upload one of their base tunes and not constantly monitor it.

But, I hear you. And especially if you swap to aftermarket components, monitoring is essential. Even today, I only datalog/monitor periodically. Like when I upload a new tune or want to check my numbers using fuel from a different gas station.

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I personally have never gone a single day of driving mine without checking fuel trims and recording data logs. Not that everyone should be this over the top about it.

Let me ask you this gtman. Knowing what you know now, would you say its wise for everyone to check at least a bit?

I know they say what they say. Of course everyone wants to sell product, not scare people out of buying.

Basemaps "should" be safe but there is still a higher risk than stock.

I heard audible detonation on the first hit with hondatas version of "stage 2", where they only warn about clutch slipping potential and it "should" be safe for the engine. Definitely wasnt happy in my car and I promptly turned it down and started taking the car a lot more serious. Thank God I wasnt at the mercy of a dyno operator who would have stayed in it and then I would be the op of this thread. Thats all Im saying.

I think the issue lies in giving the aftermarket the benefit of doubt and flying blind into increasing the power by a 1/3rd or 1/2 of original output

If anything there should be list of what number ranges are acceptable/expected overlayed next to a datalist screenshot of both flash device companies.

On the flip side of this coin; I feel the software and aftermarket bolt on companies rely on the assumption that most people buying their products will have common sense about all of this.

NikkoPH said:

** knock on wood **

if i am blowing my SI engine, ill make sure that it will be beyond 6500 RPM in full boost travelling more than 100mph

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Haha that's about where mine blew. 6100 at 31psi

kshawn said:

Haha that's about where mine blew. 6100 at 31psi

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Yours is a bit of a unique scenario to say the least lol

PowerPerLiter said:

Let me ask you this gtman. Knowing what you know now, would you say its wise for everyone to check at least a bit?

I know they say what they say. Of course everyone wants to sell product, not scare people out of buying.

Basemaps "should" be safe but there is still a higher risk than stock.

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Sure, monitoring things a bit is a smart thing for everyone to do. Truth is, if I ever was able to get Tunerview to work consistently, I'd monitor more often but that's another story.

I did a an extensive datalog the other day, actually.

gtman said:

Sure, monitoring things a bit is a smart thing for everyone to do. Truth is, if I ever was able to get Tunerview to work consistently, I'd monitor more often but that's another story.

I did a an extensive datalog the other day, actually.

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On that note I have to say I have always appreciated the functionality and reliable usefullness of the flashpro. 1 button and Im datalogging for hours without the laptop, while keeping an eye on things via their app. Which I have never had a problem with.

tunerview running on my head unit works pretty flawlessly. there is the odd time the Bluetooth doesn't connect automatically so i have to do it manually but other than that i'm pretty happy with it

kshawn said:

Haha that's about where mine blew. 6100 at 31psi

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Thats what i’m talking about! Blowing your engine at 3k rpm is like getting a ticket for speeding at 66mph on a 65 road