Nothing to be proud of but I managed to kill my engine.
02-24-2006, 09:21 AM
#1
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Nothing to be proud of but I managed to kill my engine.
I quess five years of abuse can do just that to a modded 1.8T 225 engine. Strange thing is, it's been months since I last gave it some stick and I've been driving very concervatively lately.
To cut a long story short: The past year I occasionaly filled the coolant tank up from min to max every couple of months. Two weeks ago I noticed the coolant level dropped an inch again. I filled it up but the same thing happened after a couple of days. The engine sounded a bit rough and I could feel increased vibrations at idle. When cold, clouds of white smoke would come out of the exhaust. Last Sunday I cold-started her and she misfired badly. The misfire was gone after a couple of minutes. All the above led me to the conclusion that either the cylinder head gasket was blown or the cylinder head itself had a crack. Turned out it was the latter. Unfortunately, the exhaust manifold and turbocharger had cracks as well so I'm honored to say that half my engine is now brand new. Engine block and pistons were in excellent condition, three of them with the usual high-mileage (100k kms) built-up while piston in cylinder No1 was totally clean due to coolant leaks. This also suggests the problem must have taken place quite some time ago.
Here are the pics of the engine block, the exhaust manifold, the crack in the turbocharger, the old cylinder head (take a good look at those deposits caused by Torco oil) and the old cylinder head internals (camshafts, timing chain, valves etc) respectively. I clearly had some overheating issues, probably due to agressive software and heavy foot. Today I just picked up the car and it's amazing how much stronger yet quieter it is. Guess deterioration was progressive so I couldn't tell soon enough.
Forgot to say: Cylinder compression tests were carried out earlier today and I'm happy to say that pressure exceeds 11 bars in all cylinders.
Sorry for the crappy cell-phone camera pics:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00220.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00224.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00222.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00225.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00226.jpg">
To cut a long story short: The past year I occasionaly filled the coolant tank up from min to max every couple of months. Two weeks ago I noticed the coolant level dropped an inch again. I filled it up but the same thing happened after a couple of days. The engine sounded a bit rough and I could feel increased vibrations at idle. When cold, clouds of white smoke would come out of the exhaust. Last Sunday I cold-started her and she misfired badly. The misfire was gone after a couple of minutes. All the above led me to the conclusion that either the cylinder head gasket was blown or the cylinder head itself had a crack. Turned out it was the latter. Unfortunately, the exhaust manifold and turbocharger had cracks as well so I'm honored to say that half my engine is now brand new. Engine block and pistons were in excellent condition, three of them with the usual high-mileage (100k kms) built-up while piston in cylinder No1 was totally clean due to coolant leaks. This also suggests the problem must have taken place quite some time ago.
Here are the pics of the engine block, the exhaust manifold, the crack in the turbocharger, the old cylinder head (take a good look at those deposits caused by Torco oil) and the old cylinder head internals (camshafts, timing chain, valves etc) respectively. I clearly had some overheating issues, probably due to agressive software and heavy foot. Today I just picked up the car and it's amazing how much stronger yet quieter it is. Guess deterioration was progressive so I couldn't tell soon enough.
Forgot to say: Cylinder compression tests were carried out earlier today and I'm happy to say that pressure exceeds 11 bars in all cylinders.
Sorry for the crappy cell-phone camera pics:
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00220.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00224.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00222.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00225.jpg">
<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/8717/dsc00226.jpg">
02-24-2006, 09:31 AM
#2
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wow, sorry to hear this...What kind of mods did you have on the car?
Did you take the engine apart yourself?
This would be a good time to beef it up.
I was referred to this site to have it done by
Darren at Streetwerke <a href="http://www.levelten.com">Link</A>
Good luck with the repairs.
This would be a good time to beef it up.
I was referred to this site to have it done by
Darren at Streetwerke <a href="http://www.levelten.com">Link</A>
Good luck with the repairs.
