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It's great having the experts here which enables the rest of us to ask the right questions... the second opinion and very much appreciated.
So, should I ask my mechanic to pull the whole bottom end apart or just the cylinder in question? Is it in fact possible to do just one piston and con rod?
thanks in advance.
for inspection purposes yes.
if the hydro locked pistons bearings are ok then its likely the rest are as well.
replacing just the one is doable but isnt generally considered best practice.
as part of the work (assuming it was just a leaky head gasket) have the head checked and double checked for flatness as well as the deck.
theres a line between best practice and cost that you need to draw and I suggest you draw it now.
check this out.......
the engine was hydauliced, so we pulled the head and checked it and the deck. while the head was off we did the injectors, valves, rockers and shafts including K lining and rehardening the face to go with the new camshaft we got new timing gear.
While the bottom end was out we inspected the locked rod and bearings, didnt like the look of the bearings so we pulled the crank and all the rods and then gave the block a bore alignment, rehoned the bores and then checked the crank for true, it was out by a thou so that was replaced, the hydrauliced rod was over tolerance by half a though so a new one of those was ordered along with a new set of gudgeon pins, big end bearings, little end bearings and mains. Naturally we got new oil seals and since access was a doddle also resealed the water pump, did all the welch plugs and core plugs as well as pulling and replacing the oil cooler and all its bits. The centrifuge housing bolt holes looked skew so they were drilled and helicoiled, the Fuel pressure regulator had a hose that looked weepy so we replaced that too. As the flywheel and clutch were of they were replaced as part of due process and we cleaned out the intercooler and inlet manifold, the turbo specced up ok so we left that alone but we noticed that the exhaust manifold was warped so we milled that, dewebbed it for you and then did the slotting mod, fitted ARP studs to mount it on and got sweet with that. We didnt like the noise the power steering pump was making so we replaced that and all the bearings on the serpentine belt path as well as the harmonic balancer. Just incase damage had been done to the starter motor we pulled that down and replaced its bearings and brushes as well as the contacts in the solenoid before we realised that the alternator bearings were a bit noisey, so that was pulled down, the vac pump replaced because we found some wear marks inside the housing and since it was all down the regualtor and brush pack got replaced as well. We replaced all the cooling system hoses as a precaution against premature failure caused by overpressurisation from the leaky head gaskted, had the radiator flushed and tested along with replacing the expansion tank for the same reason, We gave the heater matrix a chemical flush and tested that as well. While pulling the hoses we noticed some corrosiion on the block port as well as the heater transfer pipe and replaced them too. Theres a new gasket set in it as well as the knock in plugs for the timing cover, we replaced the engine mounts but didnt like the way the gearbox ones were so they got done to prolong the life of the engine mounts and exhuast coupling we also took the precaution of replacing the oil pump and relief valve as we noticed some abrasion in the toroid of the pump and some minor flecks in the spring of the relief. The MAF/MAP readings didnt come up to numbers so those were replaced along with the injector harness and the earth cables.
was there anything else you wanted us to do for you before we present you the bill?
Umm,how were the tyre pressures?:pQuote:
Originally Posted by Blknight.aus
Hi Dave,
that is as complete as I could ask for!
I'm getting a brand new head from Turner Eng'g so that should take care of that part. I've also got a new con rod and coming with that just in case. New water pump as the current one is original. Will see what else the shop finds along the way.
cheers