"The 'what-ifs?' increase exponentially when your heart is walking around outside of your body wearing Buzz Lightyear light up shoes."
- BlestWithSons
Thursday, September 28, 2006
What's the correct phrase-- to say that you "threw a rod" or "blew a rod?"
Trackbacks:
Trackback URL: http://thinklings.org/bloo.trackback.php/3325.
Comments on "A Guy Question":
2. salguod
- 09/28/2006 5:14 pm CDT
Assuming it's an engine, a rod is thrown. If so, my condolences, that's gonna hurt the pocketbook. :-(
3. GL
- 09/28/2006 5:56 pm CDT
As a suburban helpless twit I don't know for sure but I've heard "throw a rod" and "blow a gasket".
4. Alan
- 09/28/2006 6:25 pm CDT
No, it didn't happen to me. It has happened to me, a long time ago. I just heard someone recently using the other term to describe the same phenomenon, and I wondered which, if either, is the preferred usage.
10. Alan
- 09/29/2006 6:28 am CDT
That's pretty much the way I've heard it in the past.
Sad that the corruption of language is now in full force within the esteemed mechanical community.
11. codepoke (Kevin)
- 09/29/2006 6:34 am CDT
The most common failure scenario:
The rod is going up and down as many as 100 times per second when it suddenly decides to "let go" of the piston to which it was attached. Either the piston was torn in half, or the top of the rod split.
Either way, the conn rod is still going at 100 rotations per second - it's just not necessarily going up and down any more. It's now going pretty much wherever it feels like going, and going there with all the horsepower the other rods can give it - enough hp to push a 3000 lb car up a hill, for example. At some point, your free-thinking rod is going to decide to try branching out into other directions, like sideways and down. When it goes sideways, it blasts through the cast iron (or aluminum) engine block, scattering shrapnel and oil all over the place. For the first half second or so you just had a thrown rod, but now you have a genuine blown engine.
The oil that hits the exhaust manifold begins to deploy a smoke screen. The rod next tries going down for a little while to see how that suits it. When it opens the new oil drain hole, your engine deploys a protective oil slick behind you. You are now the proud owner of a James Bond car.
I have seen engines come to us that were completely cut in half, except for the cylinder head that was still holding the two halves together, and the crankshaft.
At that point, we recommend the engine be moved over into "marine applications" (as in boating.) It's not hard. Just pick up a sufficiently heavy piece of whatever's left, and use it as an anchor.
13. Milly
- 09/29/2006 8:31 am CDT
I know I’m no dude but it’s threw. Thank goodness I have never had that happen. Kevin did a great job of explaining what happens. I guess if you have a boat then you have and anchor then you can fish you just need to throw a line using your rod and reel.
15. Milly
- 09/29/2006 5:11 pm CDT
Hey what is up saying it’s a guy question? I’ve had grown men ask me my opinion about stuff in the hardware store. I give it. Darn is the 1700's again. Nope. (Milly is still in pants and she has been educated.)
We know stuff.
I am by no means a mechanic but I've always heard threw and that is the term I would use. You didn't did you?