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[mkaminski100]

I am looking for 8 bolts used in connecting rods. I know that can’t get them anywhere else than GM, so I would like to ask TC owners if it’s possible to get their price.  
Thanks in advance

[TheBoy]

Won't be a TC item.

[mkaminski100]

Thanks, TheBoy. I think I will stay with old ones. I was advised that I can reuse them, but have to clean them from oil.

[Kevin Wood]

Thanks, TheBoy. I think I will stay with old ones. I was advised that I can reuse them, but have to clean them from oil.

Depends if you're doing a "money no object" overhaul or fixing a problem on the cheap - or something in between.

You can normally re-use such bolts if they haven't streatched beyond a certain limit but that's not much use because I'm guessing you don't know how long they measured when they were new. If it doesn't appear as if the engine has been in parts before I would re-use, but check the price of new bolts in case they are so cheap that it doesn't make sense.

When rebuilding, make sure everything is spotlessly clean and take note of whether the bolts should be fitted and torqued dry or be lubricated with grease / oil first. It makes a difference to the accuracy of the tightening torque.

Kevin

[mkaminski100]

Hi Kev. Thanks for your advice.
This engine is not old, not worn, juts burning oil in 3rd cylinder. There is no sign of the cause. I assume that is't oil ring which was moved when cambelt snapped. Funny thing is that the 2nd piston hit valves, and its burning oil in 3rd...
A set of 8 bolts cost ca £25-30. I know that it's not much, but comparing to set of piston rings (£20 for 3x4 Goetze) it's a lot.
You know that the theory is different from life and mechanics are not always doing things they should. In theory, engine head should be skimmed every time it’s out. You know that this is not happening that often. Next thing - this engine head has been taken out in Vx garage (when cambelt snapped), but there is no sign of new bolts on the invoice! That’s why I bought new set of head bolts, as there is just too high torque to risk.
Connecting rod bolts are different. These should be tightened only by 35 + 45° + 15°. Bolts should be dry, without any oil so I will clean them using petrol and that’s it.

[Kevin Wood]

If you haven't found anything conclusive (rings free to rotate in grooves, still plenty of "spring" in them and bores not glazed but relatively dull and original honing visible?) it might be worth giving it a light hone before rebuilding. :-/

Alternatively, could it be inlet valve stems / seals on that cylinder? I'm assuming it's obvious by the state of the piston crown / head that that cylinder has the problem?

I wouldn't say a head should always be skimmed. If the surface is flat and  has no nicks in the surface around the fire ring area I would just clean it up thoroughly and re-fit. It'll seal OK.

Kevin

[Marks DTM Calib]

Do you know if the head re-fitted after the cambelt let go is the original?

Might be worth a close inspection of the valve guides.

[mkaminski100]

Thanks guys for your help.
Please find a link to my gallery with some photos of the car. Head was fixed, but I found that valves were changed in 2nd cylinder, not in third. These look different to others. After taking the head off, I found that there are only marks on 2nd piston as only this one was hit.

Burned oil is mainly in 3rd cylinder; Inlet manifold is clean so I can assume that none of the valve guides or seals is leaking. I am only concerned about the “mayo” around 3th inlet from the manifold (shown on photo). It might be from the oil coming through the valve guides, but why the engine oil is coming black within few days? It looks like it has to be in contact with exhaust gases.

When the engine was running, fumes were coming from oil top up hole and dipstick pipe and main breather (engine to rocker cover)
Exhaust is only covered in black thing in pipe coming from 3rd cylinder. Head around valves are also covered in burned oil only in 3rd. So it cannot be an exhaust seal (how the oil would get into the cylinder?).
Head gasket – it is clean and no sign of oil coming through it.
Pistons – I took 3 out and found that there’s a lot of burned oil underneath the oil ring and this ring was hard to turn round. Not very hard, but I would say, harder than it should be. I have also found some burned oil in oil ring grove on piston no 2, but not as much as in 3rd. 1 and 4th are still in the engine.  Pistons are ok, no sign of damage.
Have a look at these photos. Your comments are most welcome.
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/kaminski.marcin1/Omega20Y22XEVEngine?authkey=6XS3vBQVe2o
Thanks once again.

There is one scenario i could think of: oil wasn't changed very often and it slowly damaged valve stem seal (fan sensor is broken so engine might been overheated which is also not good for seals). It was burning oil for a long time. Cambelt snapped and Vx mechanics only changed valve stem seals in 2nd cylinder and that's why it's clean. Oil was getting in the cylinder and underneath the rings. Piston no 3 was the first on in which this damaged oil ring, as this is the weakest one.
That's why I think I have to replace all rings together with valve stem seals and this might help.  

[markey mark]

definatly burning oil bud three is the worst i would light hone on bores new piston rings clean head up and fit new stem seals ! when you take valves out check for play on valve guides too  

[mkaminski100]

What do you think about 1 and 2nd cylinder. I think that, it might be less, but these are burning oil as well.
It might be a silly question but is there any way to do a DIY honing? I am not able to take the engine out.

[markey mark]

i would do all four bud yes you can get honing stones wich fit in a drill so you can do it in the engine bay !!

[Kevin Wood]

I agree that a hone and new set of rings would be a good move if there is no other explanation of the burning oil. Sometimes rings can be sealing poorly with no obvious clue.

If you do hone in-situ wrap the crankshaft journal below the cylinder in clean rags or something to protect it from falling debris and make sure that the cylinder is thoroughly cleaned with a rag soaked in paraffin or similar (until it no longer discolours a clean rag).

If you use new rings check the end gap before fitting to the pistons just in case.

Kevin

[mkaminski100]

Unfortunately I haven’t found any particular reason why it was burning oil. I am sure that cooling fan sensor plus was not connected and it might have caused valve stem seals damage. To be on the safe side, I took pistons out – there was a lot of burned oil inside the grooves. It is clean now.
Rings are in place. Y22XE piston rings are different from the ones from X20XEV and I had to send them back!! X20XEV Goetze cost me £30, but Y22XE were for £64 (Shottle Motorsomething…).
New bearings are on place (Glyco). All is left is a heed (engine now and mine if it won’t work – does anyone know where I can skim engine hear around Reading? I was quoted £70 for skimming which I think is rather expensive.
I made a lot of photos which I will show when finish this car.

[Kevin Wood]

Thinking about this again, and the fact that the valve damage wasn't on the same cylinder as the piston damage, I wonder if this had a cam belt failure, the pistons were removed during the repair and replaced in the wrong bores?

That might explain why one clearly wasn't sealing, but there was no evidence of a problem...

Anyway, skimming.. Does sound expensive. There's a place called Roe engineering in Fleet I've used before and found to be very good. I'm sure you can find somewhere closer to Reading though.

Kevin

[mkaminski100]

Pistons are the same (same size), same as bearings and rings. There are valve marks on 2nd piston (intake side) and clearly only intake valves were replaced together with the guides – these look different. I think that oil wasn’t  been changed very often and that’s why oil rings failed. Another explanation is as mentioned, that due to overheating (fan sensor was disconnected) valve stem seals were damaged. You may find that all cylinders weren’t OK so I think this might be a reason as well.
But I couldn’t take the risk to do the head only and stay with the problem. This was also a challenge for me [ch61514]
I will try to find somebody to skim the engine head (mine will be skimmed by my wife if the engine wont work: ))