The ruined engine that isn't

[EscaladeDiesel]

A couple of weeks ago, I had a mechanic take the engine out of my 98 Suburban (an oil line failure), getting it ready for a low mileage used engine I purchased. Once out (already partially apart) he said the only thing wrong was that the main bearing in for the #8 piston rod was bad, and the #8 piston could use new rings. He says the block is fine, crank was solid, other bearings good, he even polished the cyl. wall and it had no damage. Is it just that I was lucky (if you call this entire 8 month fiasco "lucky") that that is the only damage, and that it just was not run long enough to cause further damage? It is common for the #8 to take the hardest hit?

[ 07-06-2004, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: EscaladeDiesel ]

[grape]

figure out if you want to sell what you have left after you get your truck fixed. If you do, let me know, I'd like to come see what you have, I need a crank, and after I'm done sorting out my mods, I'm sure I'll need a few extra blocks. I'm in fort worth, not to far

[MTTwister]

Seems I read that #8 ( & #7) have larger piston / wall clearances due to the 'aerodynamics' of the intake, and the tendancy to ingest more particles than the other cylinders. Also, I believe they're the last or harder to cool ( coolant circulation). However, that's a cyl wall problem, not sure what would cause the bearing to go on just #8. ( lack of good oiling to that bearing?)
Anyhoo - Good luck with the beast.

[EscaladeDiesel]

yep, it lost oil when the line failed, drove it off the freeway to get to safety, but that was about it, the first mechanic took 3 months, and charged me $800 to say the engine was shot and I needed AT LEAST a long-block.

[markrinker]

How many miles on the old engine?

[EscaladeDiesel]

The "Old Engine" that is original to the Suburban has approx 50,000. The used engine I purchased has approx 80,000, but its from a 1993 so has a different block, IP and cooling. The latter I was going to change over with my IP and updated cooling etc.

[EscaladeDiesel]

Hi Sparky....I'll gladly "work-a-deal" with ya on what I have left over. I wish you were here to supervise so I'd actually have some confidence in whats going on with the engine.

[grape]

I work at the racetrack......the big one just south of you ;) So I'm not far at all, just email me sparkygrape@charter.net

[Randee of the Redwoods]

My 2 cents on an old post. When my headgaskets were changed, I told the guy to go ahead and change the nonleaking one as well. If I'm not mistaken, #8 is in front of the driver, right? Well, he check the cyls over and found the cyl wall to be scored a bit, even though the gasket was fine. A lot of hand sanding and he was able to sand most of it out. Just a bit coincidence that you had problems there as well. And I concur-my service manuals stated that pistons #7 and #8 are indeed larger but does not say why.

[Barry Nave]

# 8 Pass side close to fire wall ;)

[EscaladeDiesel]

Yep, mine is #8 the one on the pass. side close to firewall.