Originally Posted by McJaguar

Y'all are swell. I mean that. It's nice to come here and hear your empathy, as opposed to my older children, and my neighbors who immediately ask me "How fast were you going?"....

(of course... I WAS going a little ... ahem... F-A-S-T at the time )

So a little narrative, I guess:
It was a sunny day, humidity high because it was going to rain, so I took it out for a spin yesterday evening. I told my wife I was headed to the grocery-store (less than 1/4 mile away) and headed for a fun cloverleaf on the freeway a few miles from my home.

This particular clover has some fun decreasing-radius turns, and one of them is off-camber at the exit. It's a hoot to turn-off the TCM and let it all hang-out on the exits (when nobody else is around, of course).

About mid-way through the 2nd ramp, I caught up to a "playa" in a new-ish Audi RS4. He saw me coming and went for it. I hit my marks and was on the gas and headed around him when I heard the turbo spool next to me, so I knew I had him. But he was going to make me earn it.... So I stayed in it. The trans shifted just as the motor banged off the rev-limiter, and I was doing about 120 when the "rattle" (which I previously decided was a S/C coupler, and would've fixed this spring) got louder. It didn't go away when I let off the gas immediately. There were a few seconds of "well, I guess now I HAVE to fix it"... and then it felt like the S/C locked-up: severe loss of power, a bit of a shudder, then a noise, then a cloud, and then a bang-bang-bang-bang- clunk....

The motor was still running (sort of) when I pulled off the road, but died immediately when I shifted to park. I got out and the smell of hot oil was VERY bad. I popped the hood and all looked fine, but the trail of oil behind me was telling.

So I called the tow-truck and got it home last night. I'm trying to make sure I don't even touch it until I've calmed-down and can look at it objectively. But to me, that's all the signs of a rod through the block or the pan. Yes, I'll disassemble enough to be sure, before I do anything else with it, but I need to prepare myself for the eventuality that I will find what I think I will find.

So what caused it? I dunno. I'm betting that the rattle was NOT a S/C Coupler; I'm betting it was a wrist-pin. And then banging it off the rev-limiter, it probably came undone.

CBHarley, yes, I saw that motor on Ebay too. I wish I could find a good short-block, as opposed to a complete motor. If I could find a short-block for $1k-ish, this would be a no-brainer. But buying a complete motor for $3500 is less obvious.

Question: did any other vehicle share this block / bottom-end?

Originally Posted by tbird6

So you are keeping the STR? Will you drive it?

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