New owner - Hopefully I've made the right decision

[paul2012]

Pistons can be replaced without taking cylinder head off.

BUT a proper job, head should have been removed cylinder honed out etc
New piston fitted complete with new rings, gudgeon pin & new bearing shells for big ends (All of them) Pointless just to do one

PS There will be tell tail signs if any work has been done recently.

As for "Common Problems" check Faults & Fixes list here viewtopic.php?f=54&t=124877&p=1304608&hilit=

[liteace]

Pistons can be replaced without taking cylinder head off.

No they cant !!!! there's a few major engine components that are in the way, like crankshaft and ladder frame, to get them out its g\box off and then a major stripdown, even if they wasnt there how you going to get the round piston\s past the square 5 x crankshaft bearing seats ?????????????????????

[blue estate]

Ask for money back this van looks a bag of trouble !

[davew2]

Ask the garage how they fitted a piston from below i'd love to know how

[alix76]

My 03 tc is on 212 and still going strong. And runs fine on supermarket fuel

[connect4kev]

look like you've bought trouble mate , just run it till it either dies or goes bang

[alix76]

Replacement engines won't be too much and there's plenty of connects about

[liteace]

Ask the garage how they fitted a piston from below i'd love to know how

So would I, anyone that thinks pistons can be changed without removing the head are either full of it or a magician

[paul2012]

Ask the garage how they fitted a piston from below i'd love to know how

So would I, anyone that thinks pistons can be changed without removing the head are either full of it or a magician

Didn't say it could be done with engine in situal

Remove engine, turn it upside down. Remove both timing belts, oil pump assembly. Them remove sump, ladder frame & crankshaft.

Magic

I would do a proper job. remove cylinder head as well, hone all cylinders, fit new rings, pin, bearing shells etc etc. Hey presto one rebuilt bottom end

[davew2]

Its the garage who said they had fitted the piston from below but lets be honest there just talking bollocks

[liteace]

Pistons can be replaced without taking cylinder head off.

BUT a proper job, head should have been removed cylinder honed out etc

Didn't say it could be done with engine in situal

Remove engine, turn it upside down. Remove both timing belts, oil pump assembly. Them remove sump, ladder frame & crankshaft.

Magic

I would do a proper job. remove cylinder head as well, hone all cylinders, fit new rings, pin, bearing shells etc etc. Hey presto one rebuilt bottom end

As already said, piston\s CAN NOT be removed unless you take the cylinder head off, even if you remove engine, removed ALL of the bottom end then turn it upside down, so the bottom is now the top, and here's the reason why:

This engine block is out of this Connect:

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=156009&p=1316219&hilit=hole#p1316219

All stripped down

Looking DOWN the cylinder from the top of the engine (CYLINDER HEAD REMOVED) you can see 1 of the 4 ROUND cylinders that 1 of the 4 ROUND pistons fits in, the piston fits in there very tight, there's hardly any clearance between piston & cylinder:






You can see the ROUND cylinder BUT look down the ROUND cylinder and you can see the main bearing seats, they are SMALLER than the cylinder & are part of the engine block AND CAN NOT BE REMOVED

Here are the main bearing seats from the BOTTOM of the engine, 5 of them that get in the way if you try and removed the piston, it CAN NOT BE DONE



Here's another engine block from different make and model, is the same, main bearing seats in the way





As I said anyone that thinks or tells you they've done it as full of it

[paul2012]

I give you that one.
Never stripped down a bottom end of a connect engine. Just replace them instead, saves time & cheaper.

Although I know some engines where you can drop a piston out through the bottom
(Which is what I should've said in the first place )

[JayUK1974]

Hi guys,

I really appreciate all the feedback and help

I am off to have a chat with an independent garage about the situation and get some costs.

The dealer I bought it off is a "one man" back street type place, when I raised my concerns (before I found out what exactly had been done or not done), he was very reluctant to even broach the subject of returning it.

I will also pop down to CAB/Trading Standards and have a chat with them today.

Once I have done the above I will get back on to the guy I bought it from - I am not expecting this to be/go easy

J.

[mrtn]

Is there some kind of consumer protection act available for such cases?

[JayUK1974]

I'm off to see the CAB tomorrow (they were closed today)

I did pop in to see a local garage and pick their brains. Quite puzzling/worrying they claimed you could change the piston from below (but they have never done it and always did it via removing the head with rehoning/new rings/etc). But they went on about wet liners, and you undid a few bolts that allowed you to remove the piston from below... *shrugs*

Having a good look at the top/side of the engine, it doesn't appear any of the parts/bolts/etc have been removed, there are no signs of spanner marks or things being in a different place (this work was claimed to have been done late Feb). This is what is puzzling me, if the bottom (wet) belt had been replaced, I would expect to see some indication of components being removed. And why if you had removed all the belts to do the wet one, why not replace the remaining 2?? (grrrr!)

The only thing that I have noticed, is that the bolt that holds injector 4 down, has a larger head/spanner size than the other three, but this does not look like a recent change.

Lets see what CAB have to say.....

J.