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Connecting Rod Failure

The connecting rod in an engine is under tremendous stress from the reciprocating motion of the piston. Failure of the connecting rod, known as "throwing a rod", is a common cause of engine failure. Connecting rod failure can result from fatigue near a defect, lubrication failure from poor maintenance, failure of the rod bolts, or over-revving the engine. Production auto parts have greater safety factors and quality control compared to parts used in competitive events, making connecting rod failures less common in normal road use.

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579 views4 pages

Connecting Rod Failure

The connecting rod in an engine is under tremendous stress from the reciprocating motion of the piston. Failure of the connecting rod, known as "throwing a rod", is a common cause of engine failure. Connecting rod failure can result from fatigue near a defect, lubrication failure from poor maintenance, failure of the rod bolts, or over-revving the engine. Production auto parts have greater safety factors and quality control compared to parts used in competitive events, making connecting rod failures less common in normal road use.

Uploaded by

axleburner
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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CAUSES OF FAILURE

The connecting rod is under tremendous stress from the reciprocating load
represented by the piston. Stretching and being compressed with every
rotation, and the load increases as the engine speed increases. Failure of a
connecting rod, usually called throwing a rod, is one of the most common
causes of catastrophic engine failure in cars, frequently putting the broken
rod through the side of the crankcase and thereby rendering the engine
irreparable; it can result from fatigue near a physical defect in the rod,
lubrication failure in a bearing due to faulty maintenance, or from failure of
the rod bolts from a defect, improper tightening or over-revving of the
engine.
In an unmaintained, dirty environment, a water or chemical emulsifies
with the oil that lubricates the bearing and causes the bearing to fail. Re-
use of rod bolts is a common practice as long as the bolts meet
manufacturer specifications. Despite their frequent occurrence on televised
competitive automobile events, such failures are quite rare on production
cars during normal daily driving. This is because production auto parts
have a much larger factor of safety, and often more systematic quality
control.
Fatigue
Fatigue is the main cause of broken connecting rods--especially in older
engines. The constant compression during the power stroke and stretching
during the exhaust stroke, over thousands of times a minute, eventually
wears the metal out and it becomes brittle and finally breaks. If the oil is
low or dirty it can speed up this process. Running the engine hot can also
speed up the process. Sometimes a fairly new engine can have fatigued
connecting rods if it is a rebuilt engine and the mechanic used cheap parts
or the wrong parts for the engine.

Pin Failure
The pin that connects the connecting rod to the piston gets a lot of wear. If
this pin snaps the connecting rod is no longer connected to the engine. For
some engines this results in catastrophic engine failure--the connecting rod
goes through the engine block or the crankshaft is bent--but for some
engines it just causes a dramatic loss of power. If the engine is stopped
immediately after the pin breaks it might be possible to save the engine.
Over Revving
Over revving is the main cause of connecting rod failures in new and high
performance engines. If the tachometer hits the red--even briefly--the
connection rods are in danger of breaking. This is because the forces acting
on a connecting rod increase dramatically at high revolutions. It does not
matter if the tachometer is going into the red because the car is traveling at
a high speed, is going too fast in a low gear or is simply going too fast
because the accelerator is pressed too far while the car is in neutral--the
stress is simply too high at extremely high RPMs.

Hydrolock
Hydrolock is a deformation of the connecting rod caused when water gets
into the piston chamber. Hydrolocking is the number one culprit for
connecting rod breakage. It happens when the volume of liquid that’s
entering the combustion chamber (water or fuel) exceeds the chamber’s
volume. Since liquids don’t compress, the piston stops before it reaches top
dead center (TDC). But the crankshaft keeps on turning from inertia, so as a
result, the connecting rod bends and gets shorter with each compression
and power stroke, that rod flexes.
This usually happens after the car has been driven through deep water
such as a flooded street. If only a little water gets into the cylinder the car
makes a knocking or tapping sound and it can be repaired (have the water
taken out and the gaskets replaced), but if enough water gets in the
cylinder that it takes up all the space available at spark time, the connecting
rod will bend or snap. Hydrolock is much more common in boats than in
cars because boats are always operated around water.
FAILURE ANALYSIS

Connecting rod failure can be analysed by using visual, metallographic


testing, finite element analysis method, scanning electron microscopy and
fractography.
The fractured surfaces and the internal surface of the failed connecting rod
are analyzed by visual and SEM observations and hardness measurement
carried out in the Brinell’s scale.
Finite element method (FEM) is defined as a new method used for
analyzing fatigue and estimating the component durability which is more
advantageous than other techniques. By the finite element analysis method
and the MSC Patran software, It is able to analyze the different car
components from varied aspects such as fatigue and consequently save the
time and the cost. Thus, by using this technique, it is possible to access the
distribution of the stresses/strains over the entire component to obtain the
accurate critical points by using MSC Patran software.
Thus, the observations and examinations are inferred to check if the
chemical composition of the connecting rod material, microstructure, and
macrohardness are within the range of the technical specification and if
any metallurgical defects were found in the crack origin regions and core
material.
The results are analysed to determine the cause of failure.

References

-Journal of Asian Scientific Research


-Wikipedia

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