Is Amazon Blowing A Rod?

[GGD]

Racer X wrote:
You Blow a gasket, you Throw a rod, you Spin a bearing, and you Puke a transmission, and you "Deffecate" a rearend.

That explains why a Google Image search on "Amazon Blowing A Rod" didn't produce any interesting images, even with safe search turned off.

[Buzz]

Racer X wrote:
You Blow a gasket, you Throw a rod, you Spin a bearing, and you Puke a transmission, and you "Deffecate" a rearend.

No argument on the gasket (Mrs. Buzz is an expert), but I always thought a blown rod, was a broken rod, as in somewhere in the middle of the rod's shaft, and a thrown rod was when the rod let loose at its bearings, usually the crankshaft end. Neither blown nor thrown being good for the rod, or the engine it's in. A definite distinction when talking rods, which can either be blown, or thrown, or both... if the engine isn't shut down quickly enough after whichever happens first. Not gonna touch the other parts...

[eustacetilley]

Buzz wrote:
[quote=Racer X]
You Blow a gasket, you Throw a rod, you Spin a bearing, and you Puke a transmission, and you "Deffecate" a rearend.

No argument on the gasket (Mrs. Buzz is an expert), but I always thought a blown rod, was a broken rod, as in somewhere in the middle of the rod's shaft, and a thrown rod was when the rod let loose at its bearings, usually the crankshaft end. Neither blown nor thrown being good for the rod, or the engine it's in. A definite distinction when talking rods, which can either be blown, or thrown, or both... if the engine isn't shut down quickly enough after whichever happens first. Not gonna touch the other parts...
There are subtleties of the English Language and Mechanical Engineering at work here...
Yes, you can spin a bearing, but not just a rod bearing; due to the factors of temperature and pressure and lubrication and sometimes deliberate negligence, main and cam bearings can spin as well.
A rod can break, after all, it's only human and can only take so much. And maybe it's just as well. When encountering catastrophic piston failure, a rod flailing around in the lower end of the cylinder, or even in the crankcase, can cause no end of future expensive diversions of time.
But there is a subtlety-a rod can _stretch_. Stretch just enough so that at high temps and absurd running conditions, Mr. Piston meets Mr. Valve. (There is much old lore about the Lotus turbo'd 2 Litre engines that ran roughly, because the piston had pounded a spark plug shut.)

Rather than asking whether Amazon has blown a rod, or thrown a rod, it might be better asked if Amazon has lost its bearings. I believe that it had, a long time ago. And perhaps it has stretched just a little too far...

Eustace

[RAMd®d]

Yep, throw a rod.

[mikebw]

[spoiler=Adult theme text:]
Or is Amazon Blowing A-Rod?



[/spoiler]