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mccorry's engine rebuild thread - 185K miles


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Hey everyone. I haven't been on here for quite some time but thought this would be a great time to jump back on here and share my story. I've been racking up the miles on my 2005 LGT over the past few years. No major issues other than repeated brake caliper issues (seizing pistons).

 

I noticed two weeks ago that my cooling fans came on when I pulled into the garage. The temperature gauge seemed fine. This happened the next day, as well. After some inspection, I found that the coolant overflow bottle was full. I let the car cool down for about an hour then re-inspected. It never pulled the coolant back. When I opened the radiator cap, I could see the core. Ugh.

 

Refilled everything and started her up to see bubbles in the coolant. Either a cracked head, cracked block, or failed head gasket. Hence... the engine pull and rebuild started. I decided to go all the way down to the bare crank due to the miles. I'd hate to have just changed the head gaskets to have a bearing failure down the road. It's a good thing I did.

 

Here is the car with 184,xxx miles on it before the work, then the accessories off, and the engine out.

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Here is a picture of the Gates racing Timing belt with ~75K miles on it. Not wearing as good as I would have hoped...

 

The 10mm hex bolts that hold the cam cogs on are a B$*CH to get off. The intake cams broke free with a 3 foot breaker bar and a good amount of force. The passenger side exhaust cam came free with a 3/4" Impact running off 130 psig air pressure. The drivers side cam bolt had to be drilled out... it wouldn't budge.

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I pulled the intake off and cleaned out the TGV's, injectors, fuel piping, and intake... then installed all new gaskets.

 

The ORIGINAL FACTORY VF40 was removed with ABSOLUTELY no shaft play. This turbo has been running Stage 2 @ 17 psi of boost pressure its whole life (since 3,000 miles).

 

Inside of the heads had a little varnish, but the cams, buckets, and valves all look great.

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Next, I pulled the oil pan and other piping systems off the block. Again, there was quite a bit of varnish, but no sludge or deposits. This engine has been run on Valvoline Dino 5W30 most of its life. I switched to Rotella recently due to dropping oil pressure when cruising. The Rotella doesn't experience viscosity breakdown like the dino oil does.

 

Pulled the heads. DAMN the head bolts were tight. I was scared to break the first few loose. Seemed awfully tight.

 

Pulled the pistons one by one and cleaned them up as I went. All cylinders had minor scuffing of the walls from the piston skirts. Number 2 cylinder had one groove from the skirt that you can just barely catch a nail on. The machinist said he would see what it looked like after honing the cylinders.

 

All of the pistons looked fine, other than the skirt scuffing. No broken ring lands or anything like that. The machinist suggested I put them back in with new rings.

 

Here is a picture of the passenger side (#3) head gasket up close. I think this is where the combustion cylinder was leaking into the coolant.

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Here is where it gets interesting....

 

The oil pump was disassembled and inspected. No notable wear... so it was cleaned and sealed back up to be reinstalled.

 

The block came apart nicely with just a little persuasion. Again.. looked very clean with only a varnish coat.

 

The crank and rods looked good. The machine shop told me today that the crank just needed cleaned up a little bit. New standard main bearings will be needed. Also... standard rod bearings. However, the original rod bearings did show a significant amount of wear. #2 rod bearing was worn through the cladding to the copper layer. Fortunately, it didn't hurt the crank.

 

BUT... here is a close up shot of #5 main bearing. All other mains looked OK (other than expected wear). I can't believe this didn't chew up the crank. The machinist said I was extremely fortunate to pull the block apart to find this.

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As of now... the block halves, the heads, cams, crank, rods, and pistons are still at the machine shop. I've been cleaning up parts in preparation of reassembly / re-installation. I will try and post pictures during the build and install.
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Did some research and decided to go with studs... looks like a more secure way to fasten the head down... and I want as much confidence as I can get. For $185, it is worth it...

 

Thanks for the suggestion. ;)

 

Your welcome. I wouldn't think of putting one of these together without them. My click here link has lots of good ideas.

305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

Engine Build - Click Here

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You got lucky avoiding #YNANSB. That bearing looked to me initially as antifreeze damage. That was from my ancient memory. But after researching I think:

 

I think you're right rmoore5. I do feel very thankful I decided to tear it all the way down. Boy, I'd have been pissed to have a catastrophic failure right after doing head gaskets.... :lol:

 

I'd say that 185,000 miles might be due to the bearing exceeding its service life. Maybe not. I find it very strange that only the #5 main bearing showed this failure. There was one very small pit on the #3 main.. but nothing like this widespread failure.

Edited by mccorry
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I'd say that 185,000 miles might be due to the bearing exceeding its service life. Maybe not.

 

:munch:

Good luck on your part. To caught that bearing issue in time.

 

I vote for "not" :lol:. If so my bearing must be paper tin by now.

Mileage:331487 Retired/Sold

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