regarding the Back issues, I found that when ever possible I drive it up on the ramps and that adds enough height to take at least some strain off my aged abs...and low back. Taking a wheel off and standing inside the well area is also great for improving access. Pulling a tire is a whole lot less work than being bent over like that for the whole day.

I can get a midget to do my a/c programmer or the booster rod pin but he won't do engine work.....

 

Lol

 

The only scenario I can think of is that this lung went seriously lean for the full time it ran.....lean enough to generate massive heat. Look for a clogged or malfunctioning injector in that hole. Could have been a huge vacuum leak in that area as well. As for the warranty, I wish you luck. I'm thinking they will give you some pushback in that area.

 

I'm going to have the injector for that cylinder flow checked. I'm going to try and pull the pan by lifting the engine up. In fact I'm buying all new injectors.

I'll let everyone know the results of injector check and if I am successful in pulling the pan in place.

Thanks again to everyone.

 

Yeah, keep us updated. The melted piston is not the real problem, it's a symptom of the real problem. I'm anxious to see how this pans out. Could help keep the same thing from happening to your next motor, and keep other members on here from having the same thing happen. Sorry you had to be the....uh...."teacher" here.

 

yep, I second that.

I am very anxious to see what caused this....a new build, a very short run, and that much damage is unheard of. Even if (IMO) it were horribly lean that should have resulted in a dead hole..unable to ignite. I can see lean causing excess heat after a while....but 15 miles to melt away piston material? Thats odd...My vote is for a severe air leak at that edge of the head. But then again...why at the piston ring glan? why not in the middle or a more symetrical melt down?

CSI Corvette Forum?

Hopefully its as simple as a defective piston and GM (who ever) stands behind their product. I would think that a quality part would tolerate at least 15 miles of abuse..

 

 

I'm sorry Bus and everyone else...I get a little OCD with things I can;t figer out right away.
That being stated, I have a theory that I wanted to run past the experts...

The cracked ring in this burnt piston. Thats possibly the START of the problem and possibly some ammo to use in the debate with the warranty argument that will certainly come up.

What if, that cracked/broken ring was venting the super heated combustion gas past the piston edge thru that break? that gas would be accellerated and being super heated, its just like a plasma cutter...aluminum does not resist a plasma cutter very well...not at all.

Plasma cutters are simply super heated gas thats focused and concentrated in a very small stream...so tight that it cuts like a razor and almost as fast. Looks familiar doesn;t it? The chrome-moly ring acted as the orifice and the hot gas backed up over it to eat away the aluminum. (IMO) (Disclaimer to follow)

If that gas was being vented out past that small gap in the top ring it would be A. compressed and expanding during combustion. B. super heated C. super fast as combustion AND the escape velocity increased as the gas had to pass thru the small gap in the ring. Perfect for creating a plasma stream, isn;t it?

The shape of the damage, the fact that there IS a broken ring there, and not a spark plug or obvious air leak and the run time was so short. The cause had to be extreme and super heated gas is the only thing that I can think of and a leak that caused it to accellerate and condense or concentrate would eat some aluminum in short order.

That ring seems like it was the beginning of the problem, an assembly error that certainly should be warrantied.

Any thoughts?

Stuff like this is opportunity for learning AND something to talk about for years to come. Its not fun for the owner but the positive side to this is the education if you;re willing to follow thru and pay attention. Things like this don;t happen everyday...or every few years even...

 

Frizlefrak

You indicated that I can remove the 7 qt pan by just raising the engine slightly. Can I assume that I need to remove the "C" beam?? I can put the hoist on the block and put my Xmission jack under the tranny. If this works I'll be REALLY HAPPY.

Thanks for your input

 

You can just disconnect it from the tail of the transmission. Once your motor mounts are loose, the trans should swing away in the rear. Don't forget to pull the distibutor cap off....it won't clear the firewall.

 

I'll start on it tomorrow.

THANKS AGAIN

 

I've got a seven quart canton in my 96 and I pull it all the time ('nother story); you just have to jack it up an inch or so; just so the studs on the bottom of the motor mounts clear the frame mounting pads; slip a 3/4 or 1 inch chunk of wood between the motor mount and the pad, let back down. Thats all there is to it. No need to undo C beam, the batwing bushings easily accommodate the slight angular distortion.

 

If the cylinder is scuffed you are going to have to pull the block to have it honed.
If I was in your situation, I'd be pulling the block out and going through it.
When you have a catastrophic failure who knows where all the little particles went.

 

Out it would come, and into the tiniest of pieces.

Of course, if the OP is looking for GM to warranty the piece, it has to stay as together as possible.

 

You guys were correct on being able to remove all the bolts from pan while engine is still in the car. I removed starter and headers on both sides also.Tomorrow a guy a race against everytime we go to the track is coming over to give me a hand with the pan removal. I'll be under the car while he raises the engine a small amount and I try and get the pan out.
The problem for the failed piston appears to have been a torn intake runner gasket [ my error , costly %^^%^&^ ] on the Super Ram Runner for #5 cylinder. To be sure when reassembly resumes I'll put in new injectors also. I also or should I say the machine shop found corrosion on the heads where the head gasket metal ring at the cylinder bore area is. I therefore removed the other head also. Simliar corrosion. They are taking off 0.010" to clean up the heads. I stopped at the local Chev. garage and talked to a tech and they are aware of the corrosion requiring use of a different gasket. I'll be calling AFR this morning and checking what head gaskets to use. I was using Fel Pro and never had any problems in 9 years. I'll let you guys know the pan removal goes and what AFR says.

Thanks again

 

I don't know what is different about my engine and you guys but I lifted the engine up 1.5" and the pan doesn't come out. Tomorrow I'll take off the "C" beam and that way I can raise the engine more without creating any additional damage. Was really disappointed the pan would not come down and off.
I'll keep everybody posted.

 

Thanks for the update. You must have one hunkin oilpan. I've had my Moroso drag pan off without having to lift the motor. Good luck.

 

You'll smack the back of the engine into the firewall before you gain any more clearance by removing the c-beam. Sounds like you have the pan hung up on the pick-up. Just need to work it around.

Btw...why bother? The engine has to come out anyway, so at this point who cares about pulling the pan. Do it on the engine stand. With all the time you've spent futzing with the pan, you could have had the engine out, pan off, pics taken, warranty determination settled, and the rebuild underway.

 

I apologize to you guys, I went out to the garage today with a less than positive attitude and gave the oil pan removal another try. Guess what I tugged harder on the back and it dropped down so I lifited the engine up 1.25" and out it came. SWEET

This forum has the greatest bunch of guys there are.

THANKS AGAIN

 

That is good news!

The first time I removed the Canton pan on the car I did as above and raised the engine. After a few more times I found I didn't need to. I loosen the brake line that goes under there by the frame braces and also loosen those. These are the bolt on diagonal braces that I am not sure every year has ('88 Z52 car).

Good luck in ST3. I'll be trying TT3 just for fun. BTW after removing weight my budget 355 rebuild keeps pushing the pw/wt limit for ST3/TT3 so don't go overboard or you'll be to much HP!