Help! 1HZ head has fallen apart.

[Andy-m]

Hi

I'm not sure of all the technical terms but the head on my troopy has crapped its self and damaged a piston.

The engine started making a knocking noise so I turned it off straight away and got towed to the work shop. When we took tke head off the round deisel port things (combustion chambers?) that the injectors squirt into were all loose, cracked and one had broken dropping a peice down the bore.

The sections were that loose they even carved circles out of the head gasket. It looks like they have been bouncing around until one had fatigued and broke.

When I purchased the Troopy (just over 6 months ago) I was told the engine was one they had reconditioned themself and only had about 15,000 km on it. The company gave 6 months warranty because they knew the engine and told me they have a good reputation for their reco engines.

My question is what could cause the bits to come loose (I don't know how they are secured into the head) and how long would the damage have been caused over. My 6 months warranty ran out 20 days ago .

I am not mentioning the company as they are having a look at the head to see if it is their problem (even though one of their comments was "shit happens, not our problem")

Thanks for your help, will post some pics soon.


Andy








As you can see by the pics even the locating pins for the chambers are flogged out.

[Andy-m]

Another couple of pics.

Has anyone seen this kindof damage before. The engine is normaly aspirated and has not been thrashed since I have owned it.

The Troopy is a 94 and only has 244000 km on the clock. The original engine apparently over heated and that is why it had a reco one when I purchased it.


Cheers Andy

You can see where the chamber has worn through the head gasket.

[Dzltec]

What has happened is the precomp has had cracks in it and the lost ist interference fit with the head. It has been allowed to move and eventually caused this damage.


I would be pushing very hard for warranty.




Good luck


Andy

[giantracing]

100% agree with andy

[howesy]

They are an interference fit as stated but one of the biggest sins is that a lot of people just machine the head with the old chambers in and re-use them all re-surfaced instead of removing them and fitting new ones after which the maximum protrusion has to be checked.
When you machine the head with the chambers in place it actually loosens them ever so slightly and they have a tendency to rattle about only being held in by the overlapping head gasket until it cant hold it and it drops down and bang goes the piston. The chambers before fitting the head should be centre punched lightly close to the edge to spread the chamber and tighten the interference fit and this usually works.

Dont worry your not alone my wife got sick of me working on cars and made me put the hilux in to get done and they did exactly what I just described . I knew straight away I heard the rattle from a recon engine what he had done but as usual deny deny so I just drove it hard up the mountain with 2 bottles of nulon in it (dont know if it helped) until it blew up and said "hey bud you owe me a new motor now" he was spewin but he treated me like an idiot and refused to pull the head and hoped the warranty would be out before anything happened. My wife lets me do my own motors again now.

[Andy-m]

Thanks guys.

I am hoping the business does the right thing or it will be a trip to the small claims court. Any reasonable person would expect the engine to last longer than what it did. The reason I went for a 1hz was becauseof their reliability.

I am pretty sure any machine shop will say this started well before the warranty was up!


Thanks again Andy

[SCANAS]

Your 20 days out of warranty on a used car? SCT will be a waste of your time. Hope they pay for you or contribute something, but from what you have posted here there is no reason for them to so legally.

[trains]

What has happened is the precomp has had cracks in it and the lost ist interference fit with the head. It has been allowed to move and eventually caused this damage.


I would be pushing very hard for warranty.




Good luck


Andy

Andy, what causes precomp chambers to come out, apart from machining the head with them fitted.
And what noise do they make, and at what time, load, coast, all the time etc?

I have a 2.8 lux, and when I change gears, when I lift off the pedal, there is a rattle as the motor's revs drop, rpm related.
I put it down to injector rattle, as the motor is smooth on throttle.
The rattle is not loud, but a sharper noise, simmilar to tappets loose, but I did the shims 30k ago, and they were nearly spot on when I checked them then at 230k.

Realise diagnosis over the net is not easy, but appreciate your thoughts.

Trains

[howesy]

Andy[/quote]

Andy, what causes precomp chambers to come out, apart from machining the head with them fitted.
And what noise do they make, and at what time, load, coast, all the time etc?

[/quote]

They can just plain come loose sometimes as well. Get a stephescope they are cheap as chips and you will know for sure after placing it on the injectors as its revved if its the injectors or not and if you narrow it to the head and not the pump and its not injectors it can only be valves or chambers but dont worry about what might or might not be get a stephescope.
If you pull the head off the 2.8 to do it up dont throw away the head gasket they are marked. there are 3 different thickness gaskets and fitting the wrong thickness id not good.

[Dzltec]

Precomps crack over time, generally due to excessive heat. This means they are then not an interference fit in the cylinder head. With heat and an explosive flame front touching them, they loosen. The worst is when the crack goes the full distance. The noise will be a pretty loud mechanical noise.



Andy