*** 960 - blown engine

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (zagat) wrote in news:9425f27d.0504131935.4375405 @posting.google.com:

I'd probably sell it for parts, unless I was sentimentally attached. If you could get a used or rebuilt engine installed cheaper, then I'd be more tempted to keep it as a second car etc. In this part of the country, I suspect you could pick up a running

960 (but with way more miles) for around 3000.

Depends, do you intend to keep the car long enough to get $3200 worth of use out of it? Can you find a good used motor?

just get the parts/engine on eBay...i'll bet if you are patient and "smart about it" ... you can get it back on the road for < $1,000...(do the labor yourself).....

the 960 series is worth the $ to keep running...

If you don't mind my asking, how did it blow up - we've got a 960 and I don't want ours to suffer the same fate, if at all possible. (it's a 1993 as well... sorry, not selling the engine, ours has only 160K Kms on it)

Thanks for the suggestion but I would be reluctant to buy another person's used car, especially if it had "way more miles." If the car could be put back into very good+ condition then I'd be tempted to keep it. Otherwise I just might pop for a new car. My mechanic is looking around for a good used engine and the cost might actually come down a bit. Thanks again for your response.

Zag

Thanks for the response. I agree with you on buying someone else's problems.

Zag

If the car can be brought up to very good or better condition by the engine replacement (ie, if there are no other major problems that need to be fixed), then I would probably keep it for maybe another 4-5 years. My main concern is all the other things that will start going wrong now. By the time I include all the upcoming scheduled maintenance (90K soon)and all the other things that go wrong on an older car (engine mounts, joints, suspension, aircon, etc, etc, etc), I'm thinking that I can lease a new car for more than a year for what I am likely to spend this year on a 12 year old car. Also, in 3-4 years I'd probably consider a hybrid.

Anyway, thanks for your response. I guess it all depends on how much the repairs will actually cost.

Zag

If I had to guess I'd say he didn't replace the timing belt on time, if that happens there's usually not much hope of rebuilding.

snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (zagat) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

I sympathize, it's a tough decision. If it could be put on the road for less $$$, then I'd keep driving it. Another option might be to do a 5.0 Ford conversion. If it were my 960, and I didn't worry about having to have it fixed ASAP so I could drive it to work then I'd consider something like that. I think the company is Converse that makes parts to help.

I spoke with my mechanic today and he said that the clips holding the piston to the connecting rod had broken off. This evidently caused large/deep gouges in the cylinder wall (from the piston hitting the wall, I guess). He said he had never seen this happen before. He does not think it is due to coolant leaking into the engine but can't really give me a good explanation of how this occurred.

The sequence of events went something like this:

1) Noticed slow coolant leak. The resevoir tank would drop down to the min position. No pools under the car, no clear indication that coolant was leaking into either the engine or transmission. Heating coil was not affected. Filled the resevoir tank and about 4 days later noticed the same thing.

2) Took car to mechanic #1. He performed a pressure check and replaced the thermostat/housing and sent me on my way.

3) 4-5 days later, the coolant light comes on and the resevoir is back down to "min". I take it back to mechanic #1 and he does a pressure test overnight and also does a compression test. He says that everything is ok and there might be an air bubble in the coolant system (which makes no sense to me). He tells me there is a chance that the gasket has a small leak but it will cost over 2K to replace it. I decide to take it to another shop to get a second opinion.

4) Next day, my wife is driving the car home and tells me that it is shaking. I check it out and it is idling very rough. I have an appointment to take it to another shop in a couple of days so I just let the car sit in my driveway until then.

5) I take it to the other shop. They tell me that the first thing they did was a compression test and there was no compression on cyl #5. OK, that explains why the car is shaking. They open up the engine and find that the cylinder has been gouged and the pins/clamps holding the piston to the connector rod have failed. Again, they say that they have never seen this and "it shouldn't happen."

6) Result is a new engine. Evidently the gouges are really deep and cannot be machined out. I am going to the shop on Friday and see exactly what they are talking about.

I don't think it was the timing belt as I am pretty careful about having the scheduled maintenance and I believe that it was done not that long aog. Anyway, the second mechanic checked that and didn't note any problem there.

Well, that's my whole sad story and I hope can learn something by it.

-Zag

Yep, it kills me to spend that much on an old car. But I guess I can get another 4-5 years out of it (my mechanic says it'll run for more like 10). If nothing else I suppose I can sell it and get back most of the money I am putting into it.

Well, maybe I'm just paying off some karma from a prevoius life.

-Zag

I'll take that bet!!!

Seriously, I do not have the tools, the time, or the talent to swap out an engine. This would be soooo far beyond anything that I am capable of doing.

-Zag

Not sure if this engine uses Circlips on the gugeon pins to hold them central in the piston, but whichever, sounds like either the circlips came out or the gugeon pins tried to come out- and were then in contact with the cylinder wall as the piston went up and down thus scoring it and eventually scoring it sufficiently deep to get into the water jacket.

Tim,,.

It was probably just a fluke, either the clip was defective or it wasn't properly installed at the factory, not much you could do to cause that.

If you put a new engine in it you practically have a new car aside from the cosmetic stuff.

If you like the car and it's been trouble free, replace the engine and drive on. Just note that you'll soon have to start replacing suspension components (mainly bushings, shocks and struts) and other high mileage wear items. BUT... the car will last forever with care and, considering your aversion to buying a used 960, irreplaceable. However, note that I just purchased a creampuff 1996 960 wagon (70k miles, one owner with records) for $6400 and there are several on ebay right now.

Goodluck!