Pajero Owners Club of South Africa

andrew.ashton wrote:@superairborne,

Have you removed / stripped your old engine yet?

Nope. Engine still intact. The hole in the piston was found by doing a compression test.

I don't think I'll strip the engine down. Once the "new" engine arrives I'll just do the swap and get on with life.

superairborne wrote:

CATS wrote:Did you get your complete replacement engine in the end? I am still struggling with the non satisfactory results on mine after the rebuild, so are weighing up options.

CATS

I decided to go with a second hand engine from an accident damaged vehicle from Gauteng. Hopefully it will arrive this week.

Why are you unhappy with your engine rebuild?

It has been an up and down affair and currently it is running and not using water but still using oil, smoking excessively and the temp gets hot when towing on uphills, which it never did before the rebuild. I am at wits end and also considering getting a second hand motor after all the money I spent. . Problem is even if you get a second hand one these vehicles are now going on in years and second hand engines don't come with very low mileage anymore.

I am starting to doubt the rebuild-ability of these engines.

CATS

I'm with CAT's There are more horror stories than successful rebuilds. Even with a "Guarantee" it is only as good as workshop that issues it.

There are certainly many horror stories, but I don't understand this "rebuildability" issue.

And I totally feel for CATS and his nightmare, so not trying to trivialise this.

The 3.2 Di-D is a basic 4-pot oil burner. There is nothing special or sophisticated about the bits that go round and round and the bits that go up and down. Pistons, conrods, crankshafts, twin overhead camshafts have all been around for years.

Diesel injectors - are available and for the Gen3 are also pretty basic.

Diesel pumps and their assembly / setup are a bit special - but again there are shops that can and do do it well.

If a diesel engine uses excessive oil after a rebuild, it is:
1. leaking (can be checked visually)
2. Losing oil at the turbo (how to check and not confuse with excess sump recirc caused by next issue?)
3. Has excess clearance between piston / rings and cylinder wall (piston / cylinder dimensions / out of round), rings are not installed properly (compression dry & wet tests and excess sump pressure)
4. Valve stem seals (smokes after running against compression).

What am I missing?

Andrew

I don't know why, but I was also all for the rebuild story, Lock also warned me, but I still persisted and took it to one of the most supposedly reputable specialist shops around and I am not a happy camper afterwards. Yes, the rebuilder has stood by their warrantee given, which was very generous, but one can only take a car back so many times before you loose all confidence in the fault finding ability of said workshop. What do you do then? fight? accept? forget?

I am tired, almost like my engine it seems

CATS

Back to the OP: How is it possible to hole the piston with a perfect injector? Low compression doesn't have to be a holed piston. What about something "stupid" like a burnt valve?

Sent from my GT-I9305

RoelfleRoux wrote:Back to the OP: How is it possible to hole the piston with a perfect injector? Low compression doesn't have to be a holed piston. What about something "stupid" like a burnt valve?

Sent from my GT-I9305

I have no idea! But I'll ask my mechanic when I go by the workshop later this week. I'm also quite baffled!!

Burned valve will cause funny sound at exhaust if outlet and probably back fire if inlet?

Hole in piston will let compression escape into the oil which then breath into the inlet leading to the oil vapour increasing in the inlet and oil burning on the healthy pistons leading to a cloud of white grey smoke as you drive. It will also sound like a steamtrain if you unscew the oil filler cap with the compression coming out there.

It can of course also loose pressure the same way if a gasket has blown.

CATS

CATS wrote: Hole in piston will let compression escape into the oil which then breath into the inlet leading to the oil vapour increasing in the inlet and oil burning on the healthy pistons leading to a cloud of white grey smoke as you drive. It will also sound like a steamtrain if you unscew the oil filler cap with the compression coming out there.

CATS

A lot of smoke. So much that you can't see the traffic behind you in the rear view mirror. Lots of vibration - feels like a wheel is about to come off. No power - reaching 60km/h takes forever and auto 'box gets confused and starts hunting, better to drive in tiptronic mode. Actually, better to not drive at all.

RoelfleRoux wrote:Back to the OP: How is it possible to hole the piston with a perfect injector? Low compression doesn't have to be a holed piston. What about something "stupid" like a burnt valve?

Sent from my GT-I9305

AFAIK it is perfectly possible.

Overrich mixture in #1 can easily be caused by the inlet manifold to #1 being blocked with gunk, so no / reduced air to that cylinder, but still a healthy dose of diesel every compression stroke.

That was why I asked above about pics of the inlet manifold.

Please, someone correct me if I am wrong.