So i have been having head lift and i finally got around to changing the head gasket. Took off head and there is head walk all over the gasket...which was expected

BUT then my friend were looking at my pistons and realized there are pieces missing! You can see lots of the rings on both pistons.

cylinder 1 and 2 have parts missing from basicly the same spot! I have never run lean im not sure what could of caused this. My friend told me this was a problem amoung CP pistons or at least were.

I slapped a new head gasket back on and car runs fine i havent pushed it but i m not smoking really cept for some rich gas smoke.

how long will this last? im not sure how long it has been like this but i have been driving it daily like this for a while. where did all the pieces go!? they had to go some where.

sorry i only had my cell phone when i took the pics.

 

you had pieces missing from your pistons and you put a new HG on and called it a day?? good luck!

 

the piece are probly stock in your cata now !

 

ha yes. i figured why the hell now its been running fine the past 2 months. At least now i dont have head lift...


thats the thing the only place for it to go was my turbo manifold or turbo! and its not there!

my head is fine too.

 

they melted away most likely and exited the exhaust.

the engine will probably not last much longer especially if you push on it hard. those top compression rings will not take a beating since they look like they are exposed.

save up for a future rebuild.....and pick a diffrent brand of piston.

 

melted away? and through my turbo exhaust turbine?

ya the rings are exposed...im not going to push on it hard anymore since i dont have the money to buy new pistons.

 

yes pretty sure........if those chunks broke off then you would have noticed/heard/seen something in the head while it was off and other engine/turbo damage would have been more evident.

high egt/pre-ignition/dentonation could cause that....

 

First pic looks to me like a clean break, seen this happen before. It definetley got too hot, always seems to happen on the intake side, but liquid on a hot piston will also cause similar issues if it is a clean brake

 

JE SRP pistons do that to, its from teh sharp thin edges they get hot and melt. some people grind them down before installing so there is no thin edge.

 

did you build this engine the first time?

 

im begining to think it is detonation...cause of the head lift i would blow my coolant into my overflow and it sometimes run a lil hot but never to "H"

ya i cant believe how thin it is there near the valve reliefs...

they grind that edge away? wouldnt that show rings then?

 

eh?

 

buy 2 replacement pistons perhaps

 

^ya thats probably the most logical choice...

this is my 4th built motor...that has gone to *****...

so to say the least im a bit down...

 

The design on the cp's are designed different and have a much thinner edge, I have not seen a similar problem with JE pistons

Whats head walk by the way ? Head lift you mean ? I'd replace the pistons before you do some damage to the cylinder walls.

 

head walk on the gasket means that on the gasket you can tell the head has been moving all around it.

and ya im going to replace the pistons soon.

 

crazy...is this the very first signs of detonation? those pictures are worth gold!!! rare find!!

sell those pictures on ebay! lol

 

i wish i had my real camera on me so i could of gotten better pics.


i just catn believe the motor runs perfect.

 

Thats a bummer. I love cp pistons always had good luck with them, but also ive never had head wallk problems either Hopfully it gets you around for awhile!

 

there's nothing wrong with cp pistons.

 

i don't see how the head would "walk around" on the gasket. the head is dowel pinned to the block.

if this is your 4th blown motor, obviously you're doing something wrong.

 

how is the combustion chamber area on your head? does it show any dings/scratches etc from the debris?

 

From what I hear from a lot of fast guys out there CP pistons are a great route to go. I hope they're right =/

 

SRP's had a bad rep many years ago. I have them in my B16 now with 9.9:1 CR. I don't think there is anything wrong with them since they fixed the issue. My pistons are 40K miles old w/ 17K boosted.

Your issue seems to be detonation, but you may be getting preignition now since you have many sharp edges with those chips in the pistons. The areas could be getting hot and this will cause more damage by preigniting the combustion event before it is supposed to. I would certainly buy new pistons and rings, investigate what may have caused this to happen and then retune.

 

My old JE's did this same thing in all 4 cylinders from some pretty nasty detonation, I ran the motor for several thousand miles after and even tried to blow it and couldnt get it to quit, rings were melted to the ringlands and everything.

One thing I would definately do if I was you is check for bent exhaust valves and take your turbine housing off and look at the wheel, I would be suprised if it was undamaged..... my turbine wheel was destroyed.