As many of you are aware, I advised Liz to stop driving her car when I observed exhaust gas venting out of the oil tank on Saturday morning in Moab.

We flat-bedded her home just to be safe.

Looks like it was a good call.

Compression check (cold) reveals:

1. 105
2. 100
3. 105
4. 90
5. -0-
6. 105


The engine has not eaten itself, so we're going in. #4 will receive a check as well.

#5:

ouch.

zero compression is never a good thing. at least rings would show some compression usually. do the 6 engines lose seats too?

i can build you a SBC engine pretty quick if you like. =-)

Since exhaust was coming out of the oil tank, I'm pretty sure the valves are fine.


And, bite your tongue about the SBC.

I think Liz has the 'hard luck' trophy for next year behind door #5.

Uhg, i'll happily pass the "award" along to her after seeing those compression results.

Here's hoping for the best!

Ferg

looks super rich in there..... wierd... ZERO not even like 20 or 30?

interesting.....

what are you thinking about it? since its zero.. i doubt its my idea of "oil washed away by excess fuel".. and i bet you are right on a holed/busted piston

My rule of thumb with my Beetle engines was that when more exhaust gas came out of the crankcase ventilator than the exhaust pipe, it was time to rebuild.

After rebuilding, I'd back off the ignition timing and/or enrichen the mixture as this was usually caused the big holes in the pistons

$500 complete performance rebuild and back on the road again....

I'm sure it's just as easy and cheap with a 911

I'm pretty sure exhaust was coming out of the oil tank due to a big hole in the piston.
I'm pretty sure it looks 'rich' because there's a big hole in the piston.
I'm pretty sure the compression is zero because there's a BIG HOLE in the piston.

This is all starting to add up.

i think you are right....

so what caused it? lean or advance?

PING PING PING

seen it *many* times during my dirt-bike racing days ...
Andy

Suckorama bro! How do they say, unlucky in cars lucky in love?


This is a situation for shure.

Don't know the motor, but a bunch of things could do it. Too deep of valve reflief pockets. Too lean. Ping (as Andy said) and/or detonation. Timing issue. Weak Piston. On and on....

Sorry to see it. No real telling until you get the piston out. Make sure to pull a couple of other cyclinders off and check the pistons. If it was a lean / timing issue, there could be others ready to go.

You can get Zyglo (or equivalent) at the local Airgas to crack check.

Matt

'bout time someone else got it as Brad has won it 5 years in a row.

Jeez Liz, I thought you only lost a clutch cable....

Sounds like you've got something nice for the trophy wall.

Bummer Liz. Time to bump the bore.

It's not lean, but I was running it a little advanced.

I'm going with that or straight bad luck.

This should go in the official quotes thread but it is appropriate here as well:

Liz - "I hope the engine isn't shot. I can't afford to put in a 3.2 right now"

As if that was the only option!

I dunno Joe... I think it's a hole in the piston. Probably a big one!

How much is one of those nifty fiber optic camers so we can look inside the engines with out taking them apart? Somebody could probalby make a mint with if they made one with a light so we could poke around our motors with out taking them out.

The decent models are designed for examining aircraft engines and cost about $20K on the low end. I have a couple at work but I am definitely not in the right place to help. They pretty much all come with lights though. Here is a link to some cheap ones if anyone is so inclined. No guarantee on the quality.

http://www.fiberscope.net/servlet/the-Fiberscopes/Categories


Sorry to hear about the engine. That just sucks.

i saw one for about 1,500 a while back.

Harbor Freight has one for sale for $269

ITEM 91565-2VGA 36" fiber optic scope

fiber optic camera for $400

http://www.personalarms.com/surveillance/st403.htm


time for some JB Weld on that piston.

Looks like there is no need to look inside.. the 0 compression makes it really clear what they are going to find...

Anyhow, can you buy 1 jug and 1 piston for 911's like you can for a beetle engine?

Yes, you can get just one. You can probably get just the needed piston.

This is the "first" time I've ever heard of a 911 engine just plugging along and holing a piston. With zero compression it certianly seems to be the case but wow... I'd love to know what caused that. Those SOB's are T-O-U-G-H. It would take a lot.

Anxiously waiting.

I'm curious as to the conditions of how this happened. How fast was she driving? Climbing a hill? My experience is that you need a lot of heat to melt down a piston. Are you concerned about all the in the oil system now? Do you think the filter will take care of all of it? Sorry for your bad luck.

Many a rebuilt engine has been ruined by oil coolers letting particles loose that were accumulated when said engine died. My experience is that the oil cooler and whole system needs to be high pressure flushed with HEATED cleaning solvent. Some of the guck won't cut loose at room temps, but add 150 degrees and particles of "plague" start moving.

It's a good idea to put a coffee filter into your oil drain funnel and try to "rebuild" all the pieces you can find of the aluminum piston that weren't vaporized. This is where a good "bean counter" is handy...

Bummer, Liz. You 're obviously in capable hands for the fix.

Thanks for all the condolences, but I think she'll be fine.

We were going to pull the engine anyway to fix an oil leak, so it's not really that big a deal. I just want to find the missing piece (hopefully just one) in the sump.

Sorry Liz! That totaly sucks! And I thought my car problems sucked.

Sounds like its time for a NM "Lets Fix Turtlegirl's Engine" get together.

Bummer on the motor guys.



This is gonna be a good thread though...

You won't know till it's apart, but if the piston just cracked and then burnt, there won't be much to find in the sump. From your dexcription, it didn't just grenade.

Matt

Wow, that's a buzzkill on a car party weekend.

Hope it's a simple fix that doesn't require an engine rebuild.

One hour flat. I think that's a new record for me removing a /6:

Last. I had a look in #5 with a flashlight, but couldn't see any hole.

The leak-down gauge shows 100% bypass.

Man, that is just a shame. I hope you are lucky and it's just a bunch of time ansd a few parts. I don't think anyone mentioned an oil filter autopsy but, I sure would want to see what's in there. Joe could you hear where the air is escaping to?

Good luck

Dave

Definitely into the case.

Not a bad idea, that. 'course, Liz doesn't often find time to drown her sorrows much, not having that much time or inclination to get totally wasted ... but this might be the time and the inclination for such a rare occasion. Maybe after she gets it fixed would be the time for a very relieved

I strongly suspect that Joe can fix it without too much fuss and cost - not a new engine, certainly. After all, Joe's pretty handy with a as I can tell you after working on my ex-1997 VW Jetta.

Actually, I thought I'd be the one who developed such a problem, even though my engine is "new" by many of you teeners' standards having been made in 1992 - since I was the jackass that missed a downshift from 5th to 4th trying to put it in 2nd instead. I plead the fifth on the reasons behind that one, and no, Andy, it was well before we started drinking so my brain was still on. More or less. Kinda.

- Jon

I'm gonna go with my original gut feeling... broken rings/ring lands

my original guess was a broken ring due to lack of oil due to fuel washing it away for being rich...

i dunno....

only joe knows.

Are we putting money on our speculations?

That was my thinking back in Moab. The only weird thing is zero compression. I'm still inclined to think rings and such.

I'll try a different guess...

scored cylinder....oily sparkplug, zero compression.....seen it once or twice including a loose wrist pin that scored the shit outta the cylinder cuz the engine builder didn't install a clip.

I'm going to guess either a cracked or burnt piston; or a burnt/bent valve.

Just my guess, it could be a handfull of different things. Those are just the two that I've seen firsthand.

Either way a bummer.

Much less embarassing than the owner dropping a screw down the intake. (not me, a customer)

btdt--a helper dropped a carb wingnut down a carb (have a ever said how much I hate carbs) and didn't tell me. Drove the car and chipped a small spot in a exhaust valve which when the engine get hot made it have a miss. Only when it was hot, drove me nuts especially when I was told about 2 weeks later about the dropped nut.

Okay, if this is gonna be a guessing game, my money is on a very small hole in the piston, a hole about the diameter of a ......



























chopstick.

If it's really at -0- compression, it's more than just rings. Think about standard skirt clearances and how much air can get by. It will make compression with bad rings. Leak numbers are a different story.

Shoot, we've run turbo motors with no rings. High RPM race motors only run 1 ring - thin too - about 1mm.

Matt