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Cracked Piston

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Cracked Piston

Postby mlepyro » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:58 am

Hello,

I've got a 140ps Mk 7 SWB 2008 transit with 97,000 miles.

Recently the engine over rev'd and had to be stalled. Took it to Ford and they said new engine needed. £4k. It was 20 days out of warranty, but unfortunately missed 2 services during the 6 it should have had in 3yrs. So they said no to good will / sorting it. Took the van out to my trusted local garage and they stripped and sorted the engine - changing the piston (which I have). It has cracked from left to right and a small piece is missing. The crack is parallel to the "gudgon pin?" below.

I am being told it is caused by over fueling / faulty injector.

So I have spent £1.5k getting it sorted elsewhere, and now after some research it seems this is a known issue?

I realise missing 2 services won't help, but I'm being told they would in no way cause this issue.

So what do people advise I do? I'm looking to buy 1 or 2 more transits but this is certainly putting me off Ford.

Many thanks

Mat

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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby garrie m » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:31 pm

same thing happened to my mk7 140 swb van, my local dealer quoted me 7k to repair it, since found out that over fuelling seams to be a common fault, after i had another engine fitted by my local dealer i had to send my van to an independant injection specalist as ford were unable to tell me if the injection system was working properly
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby winterheating » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:42 pm

unfortunatly because of the fine tolerances of 2nd generation diesel common rail injection sytems this is something that will happen when they fail.

If the fuel filter has not been changed when it should have then that could have been the cause of failure of fuel system.

And engine that is not serviced at any milage has the potential of failure.
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby kulataz » Wed Oct 12, 2011 7:45 pm

well I think I have the same problem with mine. It lost power in 5th and then 4th gear, when I slowed it revved its head off(scary) and wouldnt switch off. A first I thought it was the turbo but there was not any oil coming from the exhaust. There is a little play in the shaft but only about 2mm. I found about a cupfull of oil in the intercooler but not as much as I expected. After speaking a local Transit mechanic I got the injectors tested today but they did not show a fault.

basically I need to test the compression now to see if a piston has cracked.

A couple of questions I have.

Is it best to repair mine myself by putting in a new piston?
Anywhere else trustworthy to supply a bottom end?
If it is the engine, should I trust my injectors( been tested today) or could it be something else?

Could it be the fuel as I do use Supermarket fuels?

Graham
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby kulataz » Fri Oct 14, 2011 8:22 pm

Well piston number three has no compression....sad times for me and my van
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby dieseldel » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:46 pm

hi
i rebuild these all the time and typically its no3 that cracks, dunno why but it is, if piston falls suddenly then theres a good chance engine is salvagable, if its long term then its probably burned a indentation in the bore, what usually happens is the crown cracks and the burning gasses exit at the oil control ring as the piston gets to the bottom of its stroke and stops before rising again, it burns a groove in the bore, then a rebore and sleeve and bore back to standard is nessasary, sometimes the piston spreads in the bore and scores the bore again sleeving only answer, if its a sudden failure a light hone and new piston will sort it, i know over fuelling can cause this but why no3 ??
it was like that before i touched it !!
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby kulataz » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:51 pm

Very interesting I was thinking a trend on No3. I wonder if its a design fault of the system? Do you ever need to change the injector or do you just "slap" (pardon the pun) a piston in etc and move on? How often do you see some oil in the intercooler when you do this as well? I want to rule out a turbo fault.

Mine came out of nowhere as it was running perfect and it all happened within 30 seconds from it missing to stop. It over ran for max 10 seconds, i reckon a lot less but its hard to say when panicking.....lol.

Do you remove the engine to do it?

Many thanks for the advice

graham
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby winterheating » Sat Oct 15, 2011 12:29 am

When a turbo goes oil can be forced into the injectors ruining them....
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby dieseldel » Sat Oct 15, 2011 11:18 pm

hi
difficult to say whether turbo is ok or not, might be turbo went, engine runs away and cracks a piston, or maybe piston cracks and oil finds its way thro breather system and into engine that way, its a guessing game without seeing engine but i would change injector anyway, its an awfully big job as engine definetily has to come out to get piston out, its a complete strip down im afraid
it was like that before i touched it !!
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby winterheating » Mon Oct 17, 2011 12:39 am

A picyure from the top of piston would be good, then could see how the spray pattern looks....
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby kulataz » Mon Oct 17, 2011 7:09 pm

Once I get it out and stripped I will get a picture.

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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby cornishpasty » Mon Oct 17, 2011 8:27 pm

We had piston cut through on 2 vans and both no 1.
Changed piston and injectors and on again, proper job
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby kulataz » Mon Oct 17, 2011 11:17 pm

How easy was it to replace the piston and did you remove the engine?

Graham
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby cornishpasty » Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:29 pm

Yes we removed engine as easier to work on.
Bit of a fiddle to release big end bolts and replace but no dramas really.
Collected parts from dealer reassembled engine refited and was back down dealers with van next morning with the exchange injectors.
Dealers said not enough time to do it but or the van was outside for them to see!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: Cracked Piston

Postby kulataz » Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:38 pm

hehehehe i bet they were judging the time it takes their own mechanics to spin the job out....lol.

Did you buy all four injectors then? I have had mine tested and are OK but still wary of them. However I dont want to throw money at it.

Graham
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