This Dodge Viper V10 Engine Was MUCH WORSE Than I Expected. I Bet This One Stung The ol' Pocketbook!

For many of us, its the Holidays. I really hope you all have a wonderful one surrounded with friends and family!
I was sweating bullets trying to figure out what engine would be best for a holiday teardown. I have lots of engines waiting for their 45 minutes of fame, but I wanted something special. In perfect timing I was able to pick up this blown up 8.3L V10 from a 2004 Dodge Viper. Huge thanks to my friend Hugh who sent me the link, to Jason & Kyle in Ellettsville Indiana for holding onto and selling the engine, and to my parents who amazingly were able AND willing to make the drive out to get this for me as I didn't have the time.
I knew this engine had problems, but like all blown up engines I purchase sight unseen, you don't really know how bad it is until its all in pieces. This is probably one of the most beautiful engines I've torn down on the channel. With how complete this engine was, the price was way too good to pass up even though it was hurt so much worse than I initially thought.
If you'd like to buy parts from this engine or anything else I've torn down, or you want to peruse our inventory you can visit
www.Importapart.com OR email us at [e-mail]
Why did I do this? I own and run a full service auto salvage business in the Saint Louis area, and part of our model includes dismantling blown up engines to salvage the usable parts. We don't rebuild engines, merely supply parts to those that do.
I hope you enjoyed this video and as always, I love all of the comments, feedback and even the criticism.
Catch you all on the next one!!
-Eric

[@oculusangelicus8978]

Years ago when I was a tech for Mercedes Benz in my hometown, a customer from a Dodge dealership came to us and asked us to tear down the engine in his viper and rebuild it for him, and he wasn't interested in how much it would cost him, so we did it. there was a considerable amount of damage in the engine, mainly the crankshaft bearings, we did some tests and found out that the engine had well over the .030" clearance that would keep the engine safe from problems of excessive clearance. the engine had less than 20,000 miles and it is likely that the engine had been built from Factory with the Maximum allowable clearance, so that the engine would be putting out lots of power, unhindered by tolerance that were too close. I knew that this was a tactic that many race crews used to make their engine perform well on the track, but those engines were always rebuilt after each race. But this is what Dodge did with factory engines! and the limit on the Viper power train warranty was 25,000 miles! they knew the engines wouldn't last and tried to cover their arses, and although this guy's viper was still under warranty, they accused him of excessive abuse of the engine and refused to honor the warranty, but this guy wasn't gonna have it. he told us to make every change necessary and not to spare any cost nor should we try and make any deals for him, he said he was going to sue Dodge for the repairs and make them pay for the bill. So we made that viper engine tight and within spec of .010" clearance on the mains and the various clearances of the standard 340 v-8 and the viper v-10 is just a copy of the 340 with two extra cylinders added to the rear of the block. we put it back together so well, in fact that the guy came back years later and said he had never had as reliable an engine from Dodge in his life, he had well over 115,000 miles of the engine and it was still going strong. it wasn't as powerful as it was before but he said that it was alright anyways because he had a good engine. He sued Dodge, and won, and the tab was picked up by Dodge, and that was during the years when Dodge/Chrysler was being dragged into court kicking and screaming for not honoring their warranties like they were bound to by law. one of the many reason why Dodge Chrysler was sold to FIAT to stop them from gong Bankrupt again! My advice to anyone is to stay away from Chrysler products entirely, the company has had so many times been such a poorly operated and terrible customer service driven corporation that it just doesn't make any sense to trust them. I could fill you with stories I have come across as an auto tech about Chrysler and how they operate that I would NEVER buy any Chrysler product, ever. The biggest problem is that they make nice looking vehicles, and that lures far too many people in to buy their junk. Hopefully Fist can turn them around but if Mercedes Benz couldn't do it when they owned them, I doubt Fiat can do it either.

[@Disprouv]

Only issue I've had is with the hemi, and the common lifter issue but I don't mind doing the work myself which I have. I'll always stick with their products. I run my stuff hard and I love the 5.7. Hearing all these stories though about the viper engine, no thanks

[@Jbainbridge5]

.030" is allowable? I build race engines that are .010 max... usually .003-.005 is allowable. That's nuts.

[@233kosta]

Sounds to me like the inginerds did their part, but then management got involved to help uhh... "fix" things. For the marketing department, you see! Because middle managers with MBAs _always_ know better...

[@mojoblues66]

What differences in power are we talking about?

[@233kosta]

@@mojoblues66 I wouldn't be surprised if it's as much as 10% or more. Parasitic loads are a huge thing in engines. That's basically where all your engine braking comes from. That and a little bit of entropy in the compression cycle, but that's negligible compared to the parasitic loads. I'm sure you've heard about thermal efficiency of combusion engines, and that the Otto cycle is 15% while the Diesel cycle is about 45%. That's foe the thermal cycle only though. In other words, it's all the energy you could ever possibly get out of the fuel you put in. Then come the parasitic loads. Oil pump, water pump, valve springs, HP fuel pump (if present), all the friction from the sliding contact inside the cylinders, plus all the auxiliaries - alternator, AC compressor, power steering pump... hell, even the bearing grease inside the idler pulley's bearing. These things all add up to sap a bunch more power out of your engine. Then there's a 10% loss from the drivetrain components on top of that (assuming a manual gearbox, more if it's a slushbox)... By the time you get to the wheels, you're looking at closer to 10% from the Otto cycle, 30% from the Diesel cycle. If you can do something about those parasitic loads (such as loosening up all the bearings), you'll get some measurable benefit. Probably even measurable by your average arse dyno.

[@Cartier_specialist]

Thank you Eric's mom and dad. First for making him and raising him to be a fine upstanding citizen and for going to pickup the Viper engine for this week's video.

[@kristensorensen2219]

I think this is a run on sentencing effort🤔🤷

[@Cartier_specialist]

@@kristensorensen2219 Possibly.

[@imnotthatcreative6894]

Really weird comment

[@Jakiirr]

Legendary comment

[@tommykane4621]

I like the zoo....

[@lendirk902]

"re-gapped" spark plug! Priceless!

[@davebenedict7986]

Piston nuggets, bearing foil, and multi-cylinder connecting rods! Eight cylinders seem pretty good looking; maybe someone will want a Viper V-8?? Honestly, I'm impressed this engine didn't completely grenade with tennis ball size exit holes in the block. Thank you for sharing; it was interesting to see how this engine is assembled.

[@thomasfletcher760]

Gone from V10 to V8 in the blink of an eye 👀

[@colchronic]

More like a v0 theres no way that ran

[@mtut]

@@colchronic The owner told Eric it still did....

[@colchronic]

@@mtut yeah i wrote that before that part. Anyways like eric, i find that hard to believe 🤣

[@LimitPro1]

@@colchronic hard to believe indeed

[@enjoyingend1939]

@@colchronic i've known about v8s that ran with 2 cylinders having 0 compression for some time so it's not unlikely it could be still running but it's definitely not going to be running good Edit: upon completion of watching the video i have revised my opinion on this engine... it definitely did not run

[@axispowerdiesel]

At Christmas time we can all agree on one thing, red locking tab chrysler connectors should be outlawed

[@chungusamongus519]

F I A T

[@ToAstYNaChO]

@@chungusamongus519 no?

[@09corvettezr1]

Locking tabs on electrical connectors are hardly just a Chrysler phenomenon, and I personally don’t understand the hate for those specific connectors considering how easily they come apart relative to other types of locking connectors.

[@BigRedtheGinger]

Agreed. Cummins uses them too on some of their engines. I deal with a lot of B/ISB/QSB6.7 engines, and they're always on the EGR and valve cover, and a few other things. They really suck.

[@aidanbrooks771]

I drive a 2010 Pt and usually I just unscrew or remove whichever sensor rather than messing with those locking clips, trying to undo those things is like trying to separate two pieces of tissue paper that are superglued together without ripping either one

[@Jeep4Wrk]

After watching a few of your engine teardowns, I'm going to start checking my oil more regularly!

[@johnfoulk3448]

1997 Dodge Ram 2500 with V10. I was driving down I-35 going South. This truck never gave a single problem. Pulling an empty 16 ft trailer and was going downhill. A quick rattle and boom. It was still running as I pulled over. My wife came down in my 1991 chevy suburban. Trailer on the chevy I started and drove the ram onto it. The keepers on one intake valve had stripped off the locking lands so it ate a valve. I started it and drove it off the trailer. 4 pistons were destroyed. One head had a valve shoved through it. Everything was too damaged to repair. Had 167,000 miles on it.

[@ThatBum42]

I can't even imagine the frightful noise this thing would have produced in its final moments.

[@therealstubot]

I dunno. A viper engine is making quite a bit of noise at 7000 rpm. I'll bet there was a sickening jolt though. Maybe even a locked up drive train at 100+mph, which would have been exciting. At the fast end of a 1/4 mile strip, anything can turn your day bad. I saw a mustang that was going 145mph through the line, when the car started going sideways. The driver, an NMRA regular, was test and tuning, when his radiator overflow hose somehow got routed to within the track of the passenger side rear tire. This was missed at tech inspection. At the fast end of the track, the catch can burped out probably a teaspoon of water that got on the slick, and the tire lost traction. He was just lifting off the throttle when it happened, or he most certainly would have lost control of the car and ended up in the opposite wall.

[@krisholt]

I once was a passanger in my wifes car, a 2l Peugeot doing 130km/h on the freeway when a exhaust valve broke and made the engine internals look much like this one. The biggest suprise was the lack of big bangs, only a sudden absense of power.

[@kenibnanak5554]

I once saw a Ford Pinto piston blow through the engine block and hood at 70MPH. It made a terrible BAM

[@therealstubot]

@@kenibnanak5554 At the drag strip, these kind of failures are pretty common, although the most common would be broken axles, driveshafts, u-joints. Smoked clutches are pretty common as well. A dramatic failure I saw once was when a harmonic balancer broke the front of the crankshaft off, hit the ground at 8000 rpm, bounced back up through the hood, and completely over the spectator stands ( which were empty ) and landed outside the fence of the track.

[@shanemarcotte2062]

@@therealstubot i call bull shit!

[@vitaminalm]

It's pretty incredible to think about the amount of energy that was released when it failed to create that kind of carnage.

[@kristensorensen2219]

This is something akin to amusing sentence structure?!👍🤔🤣

[@wbass243]

On the 5th day of Christmas "I Do Cars" sent to me....5 spun bear- rings 4 stickey carbs 3 bent rods 2 cracked blocks ...and a VIPER with a Tree Leaf !!!!!!

[@jeteater1]

@@dav1dsm1th This is what I was thinking... Can you imagine the sound as it happened?

[@Backroad_Junkie]

@@dav1dsm1th You'd think that someone would have a dashcam or a GoPro running that could catch the... interesting metal on metal internal conflicts...

[@rushthezeppelin]

I would pay money to have witnessed that thing grenading

[@jjcaruso44]

Great camera work and video editing. Fun to watch you and learn. Dry humor and double-entendres make it even more fun. Thanks for all you do.

[@11RICKSTER]

Eric you are really good at what you do sir. Every time I watch the breakdown of a engine with you I know in my heart you are the guy that belongs in this type of business and at this time we also want to thank your Mom and Dad for doing a super job raising you. God bless.

[@toddanderson5378]

Piston Nuggets and Special Sauce! As a retired mechanical engineer, I truly enjoy the diagnosis, failure analysis and possible root cause failure points. I enjoy your running commentary on disassembly procedure. You are fun to listen to and a great instructor. I have learned much from your videos. This channel rocks!

[@grizzlygrizzle]

It would be interesting to clean up the internal debris and arrange it in as-close-to original positions as possible, as they do with some crashed-airplane reconstructions. He did some of it with the exploded rod, but I would like to have seen the pieces of the piston laid out too. A bit of a jigsaw puzzle. -- Also, I think in tear downs like this, it would be good to have a little slab made of 2x4s, to slip onto the base of the engine stand for the moments of last-bolt removal, when a part is likely to fall onto the base or the floor. Just something to soften the initial impact. A couple of short 2x4s could also have supported the intake manifold when he was trying to sort out the last electrical connections.

[@KECOG]

@@grizzlygrizzle I like your comment. It brought to mind that wooden pallets like the ones shippers use. Cheap, reusable, not hard to store.

[@gooseknack]

I agree.. Eric makes the videos worth watching with his expressions of surprise and shock at what he finds.

[@TheMadTube]

What we really need is an engine with all kinds of carnage that comes complete with video of either the noise it was making before, or the noises it made *when* she blew.

[@carlhokanson9160]

Like a real video of last few minutes of when it was last run in stereo.

[@tommykane4621]

Maybe a cool b/s, to possibly Include. 5w's who,wut,wen,where how?..heh.

[@LongBoy.0]

I'd love to see a teardown of that runaway diesel that's been going around on YT/social media, the one from some car show where you can see the block literally glowing from the wheel wells. found it - this one kzbin.info5CBKDP6BqYU

[@427max]

That exhaust manifold is a work of art ❤

[@danmartinez9497]

And to cover it with that heat shield 😢

[@joeuser111]

The smallest things can cause the biggest problems. That leaf was wedged deep in the oil pickup where most people would never have found it. An amazing discovery and a plot worthy of the best crime drama!

[@johnsullivan937]

That block cleaned up would honestly make a pretty good coffee table, You could probably sell it for a pretty penny too.

[@archieharrison9433]

Top gear did. I bet he could sell it for some pretty good money. Strange but true.

[@Rafegaret]

I'd buy it

[@toobalicious]

I’d buy it too, but the wife would not let me put it in the family or living rooms.

[@Komeuppance]

@@toobalicious The bedroom it is then!

[@jaykellett2327]

I was thinking it would make a "one of a kind", expensive boat anchor.

[@johndesaavedra1040]

I find it amazing that an engine that is so clean on top has fatal sludge in the oil pan.

[@TheBeingReal]

Maybe the oil never made it to the top. lol

[@polarys425]

I wonder if given the low miles, the oil "expired" by time rather than mileage. Maybe thickened/sludged in the pan. Improper oil flow, a spirited drive, kaboom.

[@wyattsyverson8603]

@@polarys425my thoughts exactly

[@MrDrmorbid]

The sludge at the bottom end is typical of oil just left sitting for years. From the way the engine looks, it's just likely condensation and such.

[@davidpowell3347]

@@MrDrmorbid Also the sludge doesn't appear to be stuck to the metal,if that were normal unchanged oil sludge I would think it would stick,probably formed after the engine sat with antifreeze water down in the oil.

[@hashbrownz1999]

I've replaced most of my "burn time" with your channel's content to slowly make myself more confident around engines as I slowly work towards my first swap. World class content :)

[@matthewhopkins7042]

That sounds suspiciously like something a chicken would say! >_>

[@3OBTPA]

🐔

[@WarriorsPhoto]

One of your best tear downs. I enjoyed how this engine seemed simple compared to some of the OHC engines you've taken apart. I hope you make some good coin selling the parts. (:

[@nigelman9506]

Yes, scrap metal

[@michaelhofer9149]

In my tenure in the shop I rebuilt close to 400 engines and I’ve never seen that much carnage in an engine. Merry Christmas to you and yours Chris! Tell your parents thank you for bringing this Christmas present to your shop!

[@TheBeingReal]

This was never a rebuild project. lol

[@Nostradamus_Order33]

Owner never changed the oil, once.

[@aSinisterKiid]

If you think this much carnage was bad, head over to the Steve Morris channel and check out his video on his 4k HP engine where all 8 rods exploded at the same instant.

[@v12alpine]

if you want to see carnage check out steve morris's channel where all 8 rods exploded.

[@ryanbrochu3336]

@@aSinisterKiid Link?

[@Baaddu]

Merry Christmas Eric. I'm not a mechanic or a car guy but I'm glad I found your channel. Love your content and you have made me think about how I'm taking care of my car.

[@gjobrod]

Good post and great final recap of what could have happened. All of us who love to take on challenges, whether cars, machinery, guns, clocks, etc have like experiences with the items and every challenge is a learning experience. Happy new year!

[@ernietauber5950]

thanks for making these videos ,, i find them very interesting watching you find out what went wrong with them .. keep them coming ,, thanks again

[@QueensGTO_Viper]

NICE! These engines are so badass! Merry Christmas to all the fans of this channel.

[@streetcat957]

Elwood: Oh no. Jake: What the **** was that? Elwood: The motor. We've thrown a rod. Jake: Is that serious? Elwood: Yup.

[@crankychris2]

Yeah, but that old 440 still was doing 116 mph. Not too shabby... ;))

[@Davo_1991]

If he's having that much trouble with the intake manifold with the engine out of the car, then having to take it off in the car would be a nightmare.

[@reganmahoney8264]

I bet that the former owner of this engine must’ve been horrified about the amount of damage in that engine.

[@colchronic]

The wristpin is by far the most amazing thing about this engine

[@jfan4reva]

And might have been the source of a lot of the destruction - high speed industructable object meets stationary immoveable object(s).

[@oliverford9325]

What I said. They usually don't suffer that kind of damage. Don't know if those are full float pins or not

[@LtJackboot]

I thought the more interesting thing was that for most of the video there were two wrist pins but only one rod. My imagination goes wild with things like that. Where the fk is the rest?? It has to be here somewhere! 🤣

[@oliverford9325]

@@LtJackboot reduced to atoms

[@jx14aby]

That engine was like a crime scene.

[@sierrachief117]

It was a bloody murder

[@grahamejackson6015]

Crazy Man....what a tear down surprise. Love the content pls keep it coming. All the best for 2023. 🤟

[@teet8345]

That was very enjoyable to watch. Someone like me is always interested in what the inside of an engine looks like. In this case, a Viper. Thanks for the awesome video.

[@gwick358]

Whoa! I haven't torn down anywhere near the engines you have. That's the first wrist pin I've ever seen that was damaged at all let alone broken.

[@Hokieredneck]

Thank you Eric for your channel; love your sarcasm and the teardowns. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

[@drats1279]

First-time watcher of your channel. I did a bunch of wrench work when I was in high school, 1961-65, on mostly Chevrolet engines and I really enjoyed your comments and humor as you went through this teardown. I was amazed at the size of the viper engine. You are informative and fun to listen to. I have subscribed and will watch again. Thanks.

[@JamesSmith-op7yc]

I love this stuff. The time lapse is very good. Takes quite some to disassemble an engine especially when you're diagnosing the cause of failure. You never know what issues the thing had when it stopped running. Nice to know what's good or scrap. Excellent work.

[@morrisg]

As a retired engineer I love watching these videos! I've loved cars and racing them for the past 20 years and getting to see the internals of a bunch of different engines really tells me a lot about the engineering that went into them. You can just about see the philosophy that went into the design. With the Viper we have an old school V8 that they want more power out of but have hit the limit of the block design, so let's just add two cylinders. But let's keep it old school simple: single cam with pushrods, no oil squirters up the bore to cool the pistons which would complicate the block casting. Just a 25% longer block and cam. What could be easier? Thanks, Eric, really enjoy these videos!

[@sfbfriend]

You just answered my piston oil squirter question, thank you

[@kkapalle]

This was exactly my thoughts when I compare this to a 12 cylinder Mercedes engine you already have difficulties dismantle the engine it is so complex

[@randr10]

I watched a documentary on Ford's Formula 1 engine development from just a few years earlier than the Viper was conceived, and it makes sense to me now why companies used to do silly stuff like this (or what seemed silly to me). Cosworth tried using an existing factory Ford engine block to develop the race engine out of but the webbing turned out to be too weak and the crank would distort at high RPM. They had to go with a clean sheet design and the movie went through the whole engine development process of a new V6. It was so expensive to CNC machine a casting mold in that era that they still opted to have people hand carve them out of Brazilian mahogany. Needless to say it was insanely expensive to go through this process, not to mention all of the tooling they would inevitably have to adapt the design to in order to mass produce any new engine on the same assembly lines as other ones in the fleet. Slapping an extra pair of cylinders on the end of a truck V8 starts to make sense now. Same with the 90 degree V6's that were based on V8 engines. I still think as a long term strategy it hurt all of the domestic OEMs to design engines this way, but at least you can see their line of thinking. They were concerned with quarterly and annual reports, the short term profitability that effected their images and bonus pay in the short term.

[@kensnyder9372]

@@randr10 Reminds of a Henry Ford story , all his bean counters came to his office and Mr.Ford you are losing thousands and thousands of dollars, on this farming stuff and if you keep doing this you will go broke Mr.Ford . He was looking out of his office window turned around and said , that is the best news i have heard all year ....

[@kensnyder9372]

@@randr10 Oh on the farm stuff . Ford was a farm boy growing up and he hated how the farmers had to work , and he was gone help all farmers come hell or high water.So point out some one like him today ...impossible ...........................

[@South-Central-TX-WX]

Merry Christmas Eric!! Thanks for the content that is exceptionally well made!! *edit: now that i know that eric's parents got him this, i gotta say a huge thanks to his parents for raising someone so awesome!*

[@grahamthomas2435]

Hi Eric. Great post - really enjoyed the excitement of exploring the Viper and finding the devastation as you stripped her down. I muttered a few expletives myself as you stripped her down. Just subscribed for more. 😊👌

[@SkyrockettSquirrel]

I've never seen any of these videos before. Thorough, knowledgeable, humorous. I actually learned quite a lot!

[@justsumguy2u]

For me, the money shot was at 41:29---I have never, ever seen a piston skirt look like that. I'm sure this one was dead silent when it came apart....NOT! Happy holidays, Eric!

[@Mike-pr8hx]

I love that your parents help with bad decisions. BTW Merry Christmas to your family and all the viewers! Edit: I spy a RX-7 FB in the background, I ran one into the ground from 55K to 175K before the list of problems just didn't make economic sense. I drove it like I stole it for five years (1990 to 1995) with only small problems. Good times all in all.

[@noble6791]

The only proper way to run an RX-7

[@kyzor-sosay6087]

Looks like the leaf was the killer. Your editing is fantastic,man. Thanks for your time and effort,thanks to your parents, I knew they’d done an excellent job from watching the first video I watched on your channel.

[@javig5045]

Holy shit, I've seen you tear down a lot of engines, but this one takes the cake, and I think the person who was driving this when it happened knew how extensive the damage could be, this much damage makes a lot of heart stopping noise, it was very generous of you to say what you did, but like you said you pulled the trigger on it and this is all parr for the course of your business. I really enjoyed this one...thanx

[@moman0166]

I was a technician for 17 years before I bought a Snap On Tool business. I have seen some really bad engine detonations but by far this Viper V10 engine was just mind boggling with hundreds of questions. I only wish I could have heard it explode. Rainman sent me to your sight and by far you do such a great job I will be watching you channel.

[@future62]

Snap On tool business? You must be a rich man!

[@jimbrooks5496]

I was at a tractor pull one time. The particular tractor had kind of a rail configuration. Engines hung way out front. On the end where a rad would have been, there was a steel block atou 3 to 4 feet square and 2 or 3 feet thick. Really heavy. The drive used a clutch. Every time the the driver revved the engine, it would lift the front wheels. The driver would then push in the clutch and it would drop the 3 or four feet down to ground level. This happened three times. The fourth time the engines said enough and started to disintegrate inside. Nothing really to see on the outside except the whole front of the tractor making left, right, up, down movements like a dog playing with a toy. Considering the mass of the steel block, engines, frame wheels etc I can't imagine the forces that were exerted. It was the hit of the show for us! Perhaps not for the driver.

[@mobius-1503]

I Still have 2 ratchets of my wrench days with their internals busted and been wanting to get new gear sets for them lol. Is that somthing I could just order myself with the model numbers? They around 2008 year slim neck models.

[@crazycoffee]

@@jimbrooks5496 Was at semi drags a few weeks ago. Old 60 Kenworth K100 cabover with a big cam cummins money shifted. Shook the stands. It was loud and was like staring into welding arcs

[@The3chordwonder]

Gen 3 viper engines are known to have poor oiling to the mains when cornering hard (You can see videos of people dropping oil pressure in the curves). The 4th gen 8.4 engines switched to a swinging pickup design which more or less fixed the issue. Funny thing is the viper V10 basically started life as a stretched LA v8 engine, so let's just say that engine was getting back to it's roots. I really dug the anti-wear skirt that one piston had!

[@psk5746]

Cornering hard ... is that possible?

[@HenrySomeone]

Always great when the engine doesn't lubricate well in a situation it will find itself very often in...like hard cornering in a Viper...

[@pixy8897]

@@psk5746 Vipers can turn, man :v

[@steakandkidney3142]

Allen Millyards' Viper bike doesn't have that issue.

[@CrazyPetez]

Back at ya, I love all your tear downs. The Viper was a special treat👍.

[@frankmiller95]

Nice job. Very entertaining, informative and clever, as usual.

[@harryh5620]

okay, that was carnage-tastic. I kept imagining the moment of failure - all that motion and kinetic energy all going pear-shaped. Pretty awesome.

[@christopherweise438]

Merry Christmas to you and the family Eric. Thanks for all the awesome content.

[@jsfbay1]

Ok, this is engine teardown #3 that you somehow got me to watch! Your mannerisms and expressions absolutely crack me up :-) Thanks for doing this video - on Christmas Eve no less! My favorite parts are when you speed your voice up. Keep up the great work.

[@robertcochran7103]

I hope you had a really nice Christmas with your family. This is the first time I've seen a Viper engine. It certainly opened my eyes.

[@jlo2017]

You do a great job editing the time lapse to keep the video moving without losing any detail! Well done!

[@jeffryblackmon4846]

Thanks to Eric's Mom and Dad! It's very nice of you to pick this engine up for Eric. He did a great job of ripping it apart and analyzing the damage. Eric- you're the man when it comes to tearing down engines. God bless you entire family this Christmas.

[@doguecreek]

This is about the sixth of your videos that I've watched so far since finding them yesterday. From "come here, spark plug" in one to "you guys know the drill" in this one, I knew I'd found my kind of place. The teardowns are fascinating, too.

[@geraldfrieberg7921]

Great video ! I learned a lot just viewing it. Thanks for adding it to KZbin !

[@claytoncoolidge992]

Most certainly happened at idle just after startup 🤣

[@mikefoehr235]

So real low rpm

[@davidb6576]

During cranking. On a weak battery...

[@Backroad_Junkie]

@@davidb6576 Yeah, they come with a heck of a starter motor, lol...

[@jfan4reva]

Gotta be gentle with these delicate high perf engines when they're cold ( lol!)

[@bobbyvarnell9350]

The broken wrist pin absolutely surprised me, I’ve never come across a broken one, I’ve seen them beat up, but never broken.

[@MrGGPRI]

right, very strange...

[@paulthoward]

Your editing is great. You fast forward through the exact places I would wish. Terrific.

[@cardonman]

Love your videos and the humor you add is awesome! The more I see your work though - the more my desire to drive electric increases.

[@TheMrBarso]

Really appreciate the time spent making these videos for us.

[@salepromo]

Merry Christmas my dude! I’m looking forward to another year of content from ya

[@peetre]

Thanks, nice work! I was amazed how much metal thickness in the viper. Also amazed how short the piston skirts are.

[@samuelmorado70]

I’m a New subscriber. Hello from Lubbock Texas. I find these very interesting. Your parents are a Blessing. God Bless you and your family. My Dad passed away last month and he Did so much for me .

[@vernchaput6368]

It's amazing how much damage an engine can take and still run! Awesome video!

[@falcon8553]

That was a treat of a tear down. It takes some heat to have look like it was melted down the side of the piston skirt.

[@LowOnCash]

Dude you have this tear-down thing to a silence that is priceless to watch - That Viper engine is a one of a kind wish I could have been sitting in the seat and hear that pup come apart - bet you could hear it a mile away! Thanks Mike

[@timcunningham6854]

First time I've seen this show. A great show, Eric knows a lot! Will watch more of this for sure!!!!!

[@ChiefLink]

I think you're onto something with the leaf and oil starvation/low level. However it got in, if it happened to flatten out on the screen, that's a pretty big part of the pickup being restricted. But that's all speculation! In any case, loved the video. I hope you have a great holiday with your family!

[@HumbleHonkingEnthusiast]

Seeing as almost every single bearing surface looks to have been oil starved, along with the blueing on the small rod end, im willing to bet it got oil starved on a full throttle pull and just obliterated itself. I think someone was changing the oil on a windy day and missed a leaf falling into the oil fill!

[@smasica]

@@HumbleHonkingEnthusiast You must have read my mind. I was thinking the same thing before I read your comment.

[@samfeldman1508]

Can you imagine a 26K Viper engine being taken out by a leaf? I think I’m going to cry.

[@Doc52697]

Awesome gift Eric! Thank you for all the hard work on the channel. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your family!

[@Kwaka28]

Eric, your such a cool dude and keep up the good work mate. Hats off too your parents as well. Thanks to them for picking up the viper donk. Happy Christmas to yo All..✌️

[@utuber348]

My thanks to you and to your Mom and Dad. I have a hunch they're pretty special people.

[@tct9mm151]

Merry Christmas! All the best to you and yours. Keep the great content coming

[@blown572hemi]

I just want that piston pin. I imagine that the rev limiter was unplugged and at 10,000 rpm with a hundred psi oil pressure with a leaf indy pick-up, could've cause this damage. The oil starvation theory looks very legit.

[@Omgninjas2]

Yeah she was at full send and then some when she blew. Must have a glorious noise upon destruction

[@fatihomur5731]

Could imagine someone money shifted it

[@nomuff2tuff87]

Badass channel brother. First time here. As a parts replacer myself this was a treat.

[@MarkGeraghty]

"Nugget to sauce ratio" had me. Love your content Eric - keep 'em coming.

[@markmark2080]

I'm here by myself on Christmas Eve and I enjoyed this teardown, very informative...Merry Christmas to all...

[@MDBenson]

It’s a Christmas Miracle! If there’s one thing I’ve noticed, it’s that when a “performance” oriented engine lets go, it usually lets go BAAAAADDD. Like, super bad. This was certainly no exception to that rule. Have a great holiday period, Eric and best wishes to you and your family. This channel’s been a weekly go-to for me for well over a year and I love the content.

[@edifyguy]

That's because when things go bad, engines direct the power they're making at themselves. Performance engines can make a lot of power, and things usually go bad when they're doing it really well ;)

[@johnfrank4558]

Love your channel and watching what went wrong with an engine

[@patrickcooper2760]

Loved the video! Very entertaining.

[@jaycook4242]

Love the videos man

[@randymcdonald1419]

Very interesting teardown. My teardown of a 10.5 hp B+S engine paled in comparison, but had comparable damage.😀 Happy holidays!

[@bobm2331]

New name for Channel. The Engine Detective. Fascinating channel and description is clear and funny. Well done.

[@InsSwdev]

Awesome people in your life, that's some great gratitude! Props!

[@graemegourlay4559]

Would be interesting to see if the crankshaft is bent as well. That may explain the difficulty in removing it from the block.

[@steveb6103]

Judging by the condition of this motor you'll probably have its replacement for next year! Marry Christmas to your whole family and especially your new addition!

[@GunRunner3]

Excellent video and very instructive.

[@iDuckman]

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. Thanks.

[@davidtecklenberg5597]

What a gorgeous looking engine, such a waste. Thanks for the tear down merry christmas and happy new year to you all. P.S. Eric you know how we all hate to see the carnage and bits in an engine that has had a miss hap.🤨😉 it would be a fascinating tear down of one of these highly tuned tractor pulling engines that let go under full power. be impressive to see just how many parts it creates.(diesel)

[@Sakhmeov]

Yeah, that part where he put his hand over the one damaged crank... God damn but that is sad, because I mean, just look at the rest of the surfacing, the oil, inside the cooler pump, the cam drive... That engine was properly built and looked after. Such a tragedy and unfairness to the owner.

[@Mittencarpentry]

Merry Christmas!

[@kurtboesger5103]

That was amazing, How did you kept your cool with all the surprises.

[@BenNemec]

So many twists in this episode! The broken wrist pin, the perfect water pump that did not get yeeted across the shop! What an emotional roller coaster. ;-)

[@Kevin19700]

Another great tear down. I’m going to take a guess that after the initial explosion the driver attempted to keep driving the car even though there was zero oil pressure. Thus the extent of main bearing damage in addition to the initial detonation.

[@Map71Vette]

As bad as it might look, it's likely still salvageable. I just did the exact same thing on my car (shattered a rod), and I just finished rebuilding it. You can resleeve them and fix most of the damage as long as the oil galley is okay

[@STSbrah]

There's two holes on each side of the block

[@davesusek3330]

Great video you have the best job.

[@grudzien9784]

Thank you dad and momma. This is a treat! Also sweet channel bud

[@CheeseWheel03]

Best Christmas ever

[@jimking9205]

Merry Christmas, Eric! Thank you Eric's mom and dad for picking up the engine!

[@Ranbo5]

Awesome forensic analysis and great commentary.

[@CrazyPetez]

Excellent subject engine, excellent tear down.