Blown engine ?

Hello,
Very likely I have on my 2002 Sprinter a bad engine. I think I cought it early and it did not break anything. The engine was still running but with increasingly louder knocking sounds. I when checking I found that I had blow-by and exhaust coming out out of the breather valve. When holding shut the valve the crank case would pressurize and push oil out the small tube where you check the oil level. So I suspected worst case scenario and talked to Dr A. as well. So I ordered me a bore scope, removed all the injectors (they came out very easy) and looked at the pistons. I think that #2 is shot and is showing signs of overheating due too much fuel? #3 and #5 look much better but already show some pitting or grooving. How can that be on top of the piston. #1 and #4 look pretty good.

I was hoping somebody could tell me more about the possible cause and the condition of the pistons. Is the replacement of the piston only a smart idea?? What would that cost and who could do it? The van has 213000 miles on it. Not to much I would think. I will ad some more pictures and hope some one can give me some good advice.

Thanks.

Sven

Here some more pictures.

Sven

More pictures.

Sven

ouu... ouu ... ouu!!!! (hand raised high, bouncing out of my little grade school desk seat) I can answer this one.


It's difficult to tell with pictures. (I'm quoting Doktor A here.)

There are skilled and experienced techs on this forum who will help you out. Doktor A is certainly one of them so being in contact with him is the right thing to do. Were I in your situation I would keep bothering Doktor A until he tells you to stop, and that is unlikely given how helpful he has been here and over at Yahoo Sprintervan.

You really won't know what you have until things are disassembled. The oil filter needs to be removed and at least visually inspected for particles among many other things. Then you can make some informed decisions. Good luck. vic

Aqua Puttana said:

ouu... ouu ... ouu!!!! (hand raised high, bouncing out of my little grade school desk seat) I can answer this one.


It's difficult to tell with pictures. (I'm quoting Doktor A here.)

There are skilled and experienced techs on this forum who will help you out. Doktor A is certainly one of them so being in contact with him is the right thing to do. Were I in your situation I would keep bothering Doktor A until he tells you to stop, and that is unlikely given how helpful he has been here and over at Yahoo Sprintervan.

You really won't know what you have until things are disassembled. The oil filter needs to be removed and at least visually inspected for particles among many other things. Then you can make some informed decisions. Good luck. vic

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Thanks for your reply. I did drain the oil and inspected the oil filter. All looks good. I even filtered the drained oil - and found no residues in the filter paper. I think I caught this in its very early stages of failing. I am the only one driving the van and noticed right away the difference in sound the engine made.



Sven

schwarzwaldsprinter said:

I when checking I found that I had blow-by and exhaust coming out out of the breather valve.

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What valve is this?

Seems to me excess blow-by and knocking could be due to too low oil pressure.

talkinghorse43 said:

What valve is this?

Seems to me excess blow-by and knocking could be due to too low oil pressure.

Click to expand...

I meant the crankcase vent valve.

Sven

schwarzwaldsprinter said:

I meant the crankcase vent valve.

Sven

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The crankcase vent in mine has no valve. My crankcase vent line (just a tube, no valve) runs down from the top of the engine to the turbo inlet and is about 1" in outside diameter.

talkinghorse43 said:

The crankcase vent in mine has no valve. My crankcase vent line (just a tube, no valve) runs down from the top of the engine to the turbo inlet and is about 1" in outside diameter.

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When you take the plastik cover off then you see the thingy where your hose is connected to.

Sven

Ami-Sven said:

When you take the plastik cover off then you see the thingy where your hose is connected to.

Sven

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Ami Sven = schwarzwaldsprinter???

The thingy the hose is connected to is not a valve, it's an oil separator - basically a wide spot in the line to collect oil entrained in blow-by. If you plug the outlet from that thingy, then blowby has nowhere to go and pressurizes the crankcase resulting in oil out the dipstick tube. Even an engine in perfect working order would react the same - maybe not as quickly as yours.

talkinghorse43 said:

Ami Sven = schwarzwaldsprinter???

The thingy the hose is connected to is not a valve, it's an oil separator - basically a wide spot in the line to collect oil entrained in blow-by. If you plug the outlet from that thingy, then blow-by has nowhere to go and pressurizes the crankcase resulting in oil out the dipstick tube. Even an engine in perfect working order would react the same - maybe not as quickly as yours.

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Yes Ami-Sven = Schwarzwaldsprinter
I used to get spam mail every time I had been visiting this forum, so I registered under a different user name. The problem is that on the computer where I registered with, I cannot log in anymore under my old user name??? So What to do there I do not know??

Regarding the oil separator- it blows out exhaust fumes like it is an exhaust pipe. I think looking at the piston # two explains why. I am in the process of removing the engine and will take it apart for further evaluation. I will post more pictures probably next week . I really would like to find out the cause of the failure in the hope to avoid it to happen again.

Sven