"engine breakdown" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
It is typically used to describe a situation in which a car, plane, boat, or other machine has stopped working due to a mechanical problem. For example, "The pilot had to make an emergency landing due to an engine breakdown."
My companions and I would traverse nine states on our way from the cool highlands of Assam to the beaches of Kerala, battling engine breakdowns, bouts of diarrhoea and exhaustion.
And although Raikkonen challenged Schumacher for the title until the last race last season - with only one victory, but more consistency - this year began disastrously for him, with multiple engine breakdowns, and he did not win a race until the Belgian Grand Prix in August.
The Hubbards reached Ketchikan on August 30, 1940, after many delays following repeated engine breakdowns.
Galena arrived in Hampton Roads on 24 April, after having suffered several engine breakdowns en route, and was assigned to Flag Officer L.M. Goldsborough's North Atlantic Blockading Squadron.
Expect the unexpected: job loss, a new baby, car breakdowns (engine, transmission?), and such responsibilities continue.
In 2014, Protecteur suffered an engine room fire and breakdown 340 nautical miles northeast of Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
Only a sudden series of engine blowouts and mechanical breakdowns by other cars eight laps from the end of the race prevented Schumacher's achievement and the race itself from looking like a formality for the driver and the team that have everything.
Following a long period of uneventful development flying trials and the fitting of a modified Proteus 765 series engine that greatly reduced breakdowns, a full Certificate of Airworthiness was awarded at the end of 1955.
And every once in a while there's a breakdown in the engine… I guess that's the price you pay".
A big concern for us is "engine surge", which is a breakdown in the airflow through the engine.
