How many of you have crashed due to engine failure?

NOT ENGINE FAILURE BUT ONE TIME I GRABED TO MUCH FRONT BRAKE AT CYCUL RANCH AND TIPED OVER IN THE MUD

Yes.

Clutch failure on a roughly 80 foot step up and over. Rear over front, three stories up.

Dealt with it by trying to walk it off, rubbing a bit more dirt on it, and waiting a couple three days before finally being convinced/coerced into going to the hospital.

Turns out I had a few broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

They cut a hole between the ribs and shoved a tube in there right away in the waiting room, sans any numbing agent, and rolled me straight into surgery.

A week in a decent room until I could blow hard enough into the tube to raise the little plastic ball, but eventually they sent me on my happy way.

Ehhhh. Wasn't my worst hospital experience. Probably not even my third or fourth.

You'll be all right man. Shit happens. Try not to overthink it.

1974 my Elsinore 125 seized just as I went over a jump. When I landed the rear wheel was locked up and the guy just to my left hit me as he went by. Because of this, my bars were turned hard to the right and I crashed hard.

I had a 450 blow up on the landing of a jump at Glen Helen (REM track). I was tossed over the bars and into the face of the next jump. 

I broke the chin bar of my helmet and fractured my C2, C5 and C6.  I was VERY lucky that I had no damage to my spinal cord and no lasting effects.  I spent 2 days in the hospital and then 8 weeks in a C Collar. But I was back racing a few months later. 

Mine wasn't engine failure but dust related, I wrecked at hare scramble back in Nov '23. Came down a straight away and didn't see a baseball bat sized limb laying half way across the trail. I just nicked the end of it enough to cause the bars to jerk out of my hands and I went over the bars. Severely dislocated my shoulder (ended up out of place and under my collarbone) and broke my upper arm. I started riding again after 3 months, PT said no dirt bikes for 6 months. I couldn't wait. I've ridden probably 6 times since Feb and its still in my mind every time I wick it up going down a straight away. When I wrecked I was standing up, I think had I been sitting down I would have been able to control the bars better vs being a passenger. I'm not ashamed to say I'm gun-shy now about standing up going fast, I notice myself unconsciously sit down once the trail opens up. I've been fighting the urge and trying to stand up again but its just going to take time. That's my best advice to you, don't push yourself to hard in the beginning. None of us are pro's we do this for fun so keep it light and steady and you'll get back to your old ways. 

does running out of gas count?

Yep,  my yz250f had just been rebuilt by a dealer maybe 2 hours before my accident.  Hit a downhill triple, on the face I push down to preload and pull my legs of pegs.  At the same time I relax my palms on the jump to help with arm pump.  Once all this starts the valve hits the piston locking the bike up.  I continue on without a bike now.  Hit the ground tumbling, get hit by the bike also.  Some how I broke my tib fib into 25 pieces.  Had an external fixator for a couple weeks, then a surgery to try and save my leg.  The doctor put more screws and plates inside, pulled the external off and saved my leg.  

Not in the 4t era, I'm way too old for that...  But my worst ever was on the 1979 Red Rocket.  Imagine a tall, about 10ft but short distance table top with very steep ramps both sides (kind of wall jump'ish just not that steep and much taller).  On the bottom of the downside was an instant hard 90.  It was not a high speed jump at all...

Morning practice and I had an incident with a feeling of whiskey throttle about half way through the first lap.  Rode it easy for a couple corners and everything seemed fine, so I picked up the pace again and right at the base of this 'jump" it revs hard and launches me Chad Reed style to a hard flat landing off track.  Ended up compressing my L4 and L5 and has been a problem for me for the rest of my life...

Turns out I had a crankcase seal failure and it was a lean rev...  I got lucky.

Not a crash but back in ‘87 I had a Suzuki 250 - I know wtf was I thinking - hauling ass down a straight and bike just died.

Pulled over and find the carb is disconnected from the intake. WTF ?? Further investigation revealed a hole in the top of the cases just below carb.

Gearbox blew up and shot shrapnel through the top of the ‘box hard enough to take the carb off the intake.

Switched to a Kawasaki the next weekend.. problem solved . 

I ran out of gas once, just as I was trying to wheelie over a ditch. My front wheel went all the way down into the ditch and I endoed - hard! Both my thighs struck the far end of the ditch and my bike hit me in the back. I thought I broke both femurs for a minute. That shiz hurt!

The valve might have failed but I wonder if it never had the valve lash set right.  After much bitching Yamaha paid for some of the parts but I had many dollars in medical bills and I still pay for the pain in my leg every day now. 

All my crashes were skill related...a lack of it.

Keep your bike squared away and hope for no more bad luck.

I know it's not the same and the stakes aren't the same generally, but even in your truck, car, van, whatever... you could have a blow out on the freeway or have a wheel bearing / hub failure and bail a wheel off, motor/box/diff seize up hard and slide you into a tree, etc, etc.

Shoot even your phone battery could freak out and burn half your face off...

I totally get that this will stick in your mind for a while, but 'what ifs' don't help anyone bro 👍

my question is, how do the bikes always know to explode on the face of the jump and not mid corner or on a nice uphill straight. 

Guilty as charged my friend!

Very close, cr125 seized solid on landing a decent sized table top, just slid off the side of the track locked up. 

After reading some of these replies I got very lucky. 

Had a throttle cable snap in some sand whoops. I think I cleared the next two upside down with the bike flipping over me. 

4-stroke engine failure? Over a jump? Resulting in injury?

Paging Doug Henry to the house phone.

Been there. Happened so fast my legs were under the bars extended, and my seat pounded my head into the ground. Both quads were purple an hour later. They were almost black two days later. 34 years later I still can't believe my femurs didn't snap. It was a 87 KX 125 and started finding false neutrals way to often. 

I've had a throttle stick at an AX and that cost me a dislocated hip.  That was 2 stroke.  Only time I've came close was a few years ago.  I lost oil to a cam and it seized just as I was going off a step up.  I didn't crash but if it had been 3 seconds later I would have been over a big table and it would have been bad.  I know what you mean though I've had a few crashes and things the last few years that have given me the questions too.  Biggest scare for me right now is my kid being on big bikes now and decent speed.  That scares me more because I know how quick it can go south and don't want to see him hurt.

False neutral on my 12 crf450 off an uphill double. Knew I didn’t want to stay on for that nosedive. Stepped through the bars. Got lucky the hike missed me and bruised my arse. I think your reaction is totally normal when you hit the deck but give it time. It’s unfortunate that even if you’re riding in your limits, someone else’s mistake or a mechanical failure can cause you to crash but it’s part of it. 

Was trialling gearing for my KTM 505 to get top speed (desert racing) was doing around 110mph ish and the engine genaded completely. Locked rear wheel instantly. Thankfully it was flat terrain and I just had a wtf moment as the bike started drifting around. Clutch still worked so pulled it in and stopped as normal. 
it always surprised me how long it took to realise what was happening and pull the clutch. Maybe a full second or even 2. Made me realise that when something happens outside of your normal expected parameters, your reflexes don’t know how to respond.

Yep. 450 clutch basket broke (not stock basket) locking the motor in the air on the main table top at Cahuilla. Bike did a hard nose dive and I went over the bars ejecting me into cartwheels down the landing and out into the flat. Sort of hurt. 

I bet you pulled that clutch in a lot quicker than 1-2s. I had a crf250r lock up going through a field section in a hare scramble and I managed to get the clutch pulled in before I ate shit. It felt like forever to get it pulled in but I don’t think I would have kept it upright if it took 2 seconds. 

Does not turning the gas on count as engine failure?

Had a -07 sxf450 with 4 hours on it drop a intake valve at the face of a table but manage to sort that one out on two wheels.

and then in 2010 the gearbox broke on a crf250 at the launch of a jump resulting in a neutral.

Had to jump over the bars mid air, taking a nice 20 meter trip in the air without the bike and landed on my heels before my ass hit the ground.

Had a nasty compression on my back with that crash.

Normally just crashes my bank account. I’ve never had one blow up causing a worst case scenario like the rest of you.

I got lucky today, 22 yz450 just quit on a straight away after a few decent sized jumps.  Still don’t know what’s wrong with the bike.  Bummed that it quit for no good reason at 45 hours, but not upset considering if it had quit 10 seconds earlier I’d be pretty banged up. 

Sorry to hear, did you do the work yourself? That is highly suspect right after a rebuild.  Were valves said to be in spec? 
I’ve gotten somewhat lucky, old yz250 shattered gears landing a pretty big table and a 125 bottom end seized right before a big jump.