My Slingshot just died

    white smoke usually means coolant in the combustion chamber, which would typically mean head gasket.

    Now that you have it back, check the oil, check the coolant level. Easy to do. Are they low?

    After talking to the service department at Ride Now Powersports in McKinney, I found out that the head is warped and there's a lot of coolant in the oil. I'm going to check with a local mechanic that I've used before and see how much he'll charge to swap engines. My brother-in-law doesn't have that much time to work on it.

    Quote from Scanman

    After talking to the service department at Ride Now Powersports in McKinney, I found out that the head is warped and there's a lot of coolant in the oil. I'm going to check with a local mechanic that I've used before and see how much he'll charge to swap engines. My brother-in-law doesn't have that much time to work on it.

    I have to admit that as a person who knows very little about such things, I have to wonder how a good running engine suddenly gets a warped head? what exactly has to go wrong to cause something like this to happen? Did you ever have any over heating problems?

    Cage Free - 2016 Pearl Red SL

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    Quote from Edward Neal

    I have to admit that as a person who knows very little about such things, I have to wonder how a good running engine suddenly gets a warped head? what exactly has to go wrong to cause something like this to happen? Did you ever have any over heating problems?

    my bet is the head gasket failure caused the warped cylinder head. When it happened it was not noticed. If it was driven a fair bit after that, with the coolant in the cylinders burning and in the block mixing with oil, it would have generated excess heat, due to the cooling system not working, which is what can warp a cylinder head. It doesn't seize up instantly, but its only a matter of time.

    Pull out the dipstick and see if you have a beige colored milkshake on the stick. If you're getting coolant inside the oiling system, that's the first sign of an issue. Without a removal of the head, to say the head is warped is a wild guess. It's just as easy to say you have a cracked cylinder liner or cracked block. But with only 9,000 miles and not being boosted. you'd probably be the first to have it happened from anyone on the forum.

    Nobody gets outta here ALIVE

    If the head gasket is bad..... A quick compression test will certainly be an indicator of head or cylinder problems ...


    Can I Drive With a Blown Head Gasket?

    If you have multiple blown head gasket symptoms, it is important to drive your vehicle as little as possible. The hot gases and cold coolant moving through the hole in the gasket can quickly erode or warp the metal head or engine block leaving you with costly machining bills or even having to purchase new heads or a new engine and having water in your engine oil can destroy bearings quickly.

    When the going gets tough.... Downshift.

    Quote from Edward Neal

    I have to admit that as a person who knows very little about such things, I have to wonder how a good running engine suddenly gets a warped head? what exactly has to go wrong to cause something like this to happen? Did you ever have any over heating problems?

    I'm still wondering how it just dies...no sputtering, missing, smoking, etc. and has all this damage. Until it died, I didn't have any indication of anything being wrong. As far as I know, it never had any overheating problems. I don't remember if they said it was the head or the block that is cracked as well.

    Quote from Funinthesun

    Pull out the dipstick and see if you have a beige colored milkshake on the stick. If you're getting coolant inside the oiling system, that's the first sign of an issue. Without a removal of the head, to say the head is warped is a wild guess. It's just as easy to say you have a cracked cylinder liner or cracked block. But with only 9,000 miles and not being boosted. you'd probably be the first to have it happened from anyone on the forum.

    I'm going to assume they checked the oil to say that it has coolant in the oil. When I go pick it up Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll check to see if I can confirm their diagnosis. I guess somebody has to be the first to have their engine destroyed with less than 10,000 miles. I really can't afford a new engine, but it's cheaper than another Slingshot. They did offer me $3,000 trade-in on the 2017 I was looking at, but that would leave me owing about $18,000 on mine plus the price of the newer one.

    I read through this thread and noticed that the ECU wasn't mentioned.. just another thought which would be quite an easy fix...


    Wrong Signal Sensors -

    There are several sensors in modern cars that are in charge of engine management. These sensors continue to read the movements and send commands to the ECU. The ECU then sends signals to actuators such as spark plugs and injectors in a specific order and at a specific time. If the sensors fail, the ECU receives incorrect information about the engine's status. As a result, the actuators will receive incorrect commands, such as no sparkplug signal or no injector pulse. It eventually leads to poor performance and a car that shuts down while driving and won't start again.



    When the going gets tough.... Downshift.

    Quote from Scanman

    I'm still wondering how it just dies...no sputtering, missing, smoking, etc. and has all this damage. Until it died, I didn't have any indication of anything being wrong. As far as I know, it never had any overheating problems. I don't remember if they said it was the head or the block that is cracked as well.

    I'm going to assume they checked the oil to say that it has coolant in the oil. When I go pick it up Tuesday or Wednesday, I'll check to see if I can confirm their diagnosis. I guess somebody has to be the first to have their engine destroyed with less than 10,000 miles. I really can't afford a new engine, but it's cheaper than another Slingshot. They did offer me $3,000 trade-in on the 2017 I was looking at, but that would leave me owing about $18,000 on mine plus the price of the newer one.

    Good talking to you on the phone earlier. When you get the Slingshot back into your possession, let me know and I can help walk you through some things to check. Definitely do not sell your Slingshot for $3000, its worth more than that, give me a call before it comes to that, I will give you at least $3001 ;)

    Quote from Dave@DDMWorks

    Good talking to you on the phone earlier. When you get the Slingshot back into your possession, let me know and I can help walk you through some things to check. Definitely do not sell your Slingshot for $3000, its worth more than that, give me a call before it comes to that, I will give you at least $3001 ;)

    $3002 and a case of New Glarus Spotted Cow!

    Actively looking for another sling...It is time...

    I remember a day a few years ago when we had a party in South Carolina and swapped all the plastic on two Slingshots.. With all the food and beer flowing and both looked good and ran when the job was done. What year Funinthesun ?