I'm looking into the engine failure of my sisters 177k mile '01 SOHC Escort. After pulling the head and finding the carnage wrought on the pistons and cyl head I was dumbfounded as to the cause. The valves seemed to operate properly and pistons were still securely attached to the rods and crank. I began wondering who sabotaged her car by putting aluminum nuts through the intake. Well, after removing a few of the valves it became apparent. Now after some research I find this is a common malady of these heads.
Now, my real reason for posting...
The vehicle owner has no funds whatsoever. I'm curious if anyone here has ever slapped a new head over top of pistons in this condition (or worse) and had a happy story to tell?
The cylinders show no scoring. Since these pictures were taken I've cleaned up the pistons and they have no cracks on the outer lands (that I can see). The #4 piston does have a chunk taken out of the dome at one of the valve reliefs. My hope is I can get away with just lightly deburing the piston top to remove all sharp edges. The trickier thing to do I believe will be satisfying myself that no foreign pieces of aluminum get trapped down in the ring lands causing problems down the road. I'm also assuming no rod damage (i.e. bending) as all pistons look to measure the same TDC.
While we're on the subject...
1. Are these head bolts TTY and not reusable or can we torque them back down after inspection?
2. Do any of the head bolts require sealant?
3. And out of curiosity, how much meat is there from the top of the piston down to the first ring land?
Btw, NO, I never would have contemplated continued use of pistons in this condition when I teched at a dealership (unless express written consent was provided by the customer in addition to no guarantee provided). Unfortunately this is family and an exceptional case at the moment.
Additional images:
Piston #4 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/cly_4_a.JPG
Cylinder #2 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/cyl_2.JPG
Head #4 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/head_cyl_4.JPG
Intake Valve #4 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/int_valve_cyl_4.JPG
Any opinions or real life experiences appreciated.
Cheers!
Now, my real reason for posting...
The vehicle owner has no funds whatsoever. I'm curious if anyone here has ever slapped a new head over top of pistons in this condition (or worse) and had a happy story to tell?
The cylinders show no scoring. Since these pictures were taken I've cleaned up the pistons and they have no cracks on the outer lands (that I can see). The #4 piston does have a chunk taken out of the dome at one of the valve reliefs. My hope is I can get away with just lightly deburing the piston top to remove all sharp edges. The trickier thing to do I believe will be satisfying myself that no foreign pieces of aluminum get trapped down in the ring lands causing problems down the road. I'm also assuming no rod damage (i.e. bending) as all pistons look to measure the same TDC.
While we're on the subject...
1. Are these head bolts TTY and not reusable or can we torque them back down after inspection?
2. Do any of the head bolts require sealant?
3. And out of curiosity, how much meat is there from the top of the piston down to the first ring land?
Btw, NO, I never would have contemplated continued use of pistons in this condition when I teched at a dealership (unless express written consent was provided by the customer in addition to no guarantee provided). Unfortunately this is family and an exceptional case at the moment.
Additional images:
Piston #4 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/cly_4_a.JPG
Cylinder #2 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/cyl_2.JPG
Head #4 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/head_cyl_4.JPG
Intake Valve #4 - http://home.comcast.net/~golem/temp/int_valve_cyl_4.JPG
Any opinions or real life experiences appreciated.
Cheers!