It's been years since I last posted a topic on the forum. And as the subject line states; I believe this has to be the most bizarre way to destroy an engine.
I'm writing this while sitting out on the balcony (overlooking the pool; and the scantily clad wildlife, GRRR!) of my hotel room in Boise. I arrived late last night for a weeklong business trip. However, the Amigo is parked at a strip mall two miles away; dead.
The list of (known) parts that were destroyed.
1. Entire clutch fan assembly
2. Water pump
3. Radiator, BRAND NEW!!!
4. Alternator, maybe.
5. Assorted belts & hoses, BRAND NEW!!!
On the final leg of my road trip to Boise, I had to drive a 28 mile stretch from Mountain Home while fighting a 40+ mph headwind. My 1st gen Amigo weighs less than 3200 lbs, is 2.5" taller and wears 31's. I was white-knuckling the steering wheel with both hands just to stay on the road, and 65 mph was all I was willing to ask from her. Not fun...
I was about two miles from my hotel, when steam began to pour out the hood, and the engine just stopped. No warnings, no idiot lights, temp gauge down low (too low in retrospect) NADA.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. 4ZE has now left the building! After consulting with Jerry Lemond, aka "Mr. Isuzu", this is what we believed might have happened. The combined wind speed (Amigo 65mph/wind 40+mph) stalled out the fan, but the water pump continued trying to spin the input shaft. Where the fan shaft fits into the water pump, it looks like someone took a drill press and hogged it out.
"But wait Travis, how could you see into that fitting?" Good question grasshopper, shut-up and listen <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
After pulling over when the engine quit, I popped the hood and much to my surprise; I found the now free flying clutch fan had decided to carve up my radiator (did I mention that is was BRAND NEW <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/angry.gif" alt="" /> !) like a Thanksgiving Turkey!
Both the upper & lower radiator hoses and alt belt provided a Martha Steward like garnish for the feast.
The clutch fan shaft is 20mm of pure aluminum; not anymore. Now it's 20mm of sheared aluminum. Damn thing looks like it was sliced by a sake-swilling samurai.
Try to forgive my clichÚ-laden rant; writing this out is very therapeutic.
Mr. Isuzu has seen similar instances of this before, though not on an Isuzu, and it's extremely rare.
Hopefully, the engine has not completely seized up, because if that's the case, I'll just part it out on E-Bay. With almost 200k miles on the chassis, a new/used engine is not a smart investment.
There ya have it folks! The most bizarre way to suffer an engine catastrophe!
Hmm, think it's time to wander down to the pool and perform my best Croc Hunter routine on the local wildlife.
"Be Careful Steve, the floral-print bikini flasher can very dangerous!" No worries mate! Just as soon as I can wrestle these 6-pack goggles over her eyes, everything will be alright!
Travis
