Found the limits of 2LTE! Shade tree repairs question.... (1 Viewer)

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GTSSportCoupe

GTSSportCoupe

2LTE abuser
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
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241
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Location
Victoria, BC, Canada
I'm pretty proud of myself. I couldn't find a single other reference where anyone has managed to do this to a 2LTE!

I've had blow-by from my engine since a long hard tow this last summer where I pushed things much harder than I should have for hours on end. Haven't had time to deal with it, and it still started, and ran fine with good power, haha.

Despite having a crappy cold (thanks kids!), I pulled the head yesterday to see whats up. Cracked two pistons! Pretty impressive, as these pistons are factory forged and have a oil cooling gallery in the piston crown. My EGTs at the time read 1000F pre turbo max. But I guess running the motor so hot (coolant and oil temps) took it's toll.

Soooo... Looking for advice. I have zero interest in a proper rebuild. I'm done putting money/time into this thing. I do happen to have extra pistons/rods. Here's what I'm thinking. Drop oil pan, disconnect rods of bad pistons from crank, and pull them out.

I'll put my spare pistons rods in, just reusing bearings. Spare parts are all the same size specs and wear as original. But I don't want to hone or buy rings. Condition of spare pistons/bores is about the same with same kms; so the wear is very similar. Bores are in great shape and pistons did not damage them.

So, question for this shade tree repair:

- Do I just use rings that are on my spare pistons, or should I try to swap rings on from the cracked pistons I remove? ie. would it make any improvement for sealing to bore to retain the original rings over different ones?

My goal here is just to get the truck moving again and semi-reliable. I'm not looking for perfect compression or lack of blow-by.

Time to move onto a newer daily driver that can safely and capably tow our camper trailer (Tundra or 200 series). Maybe will keep the 70 cruiser as bush truck only....we'll see.

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Sorry to hear that. I can bring the truck down if you want to take a picker home and pull the whole block out now.
Maybe end of the week I'll come down after boxing day have a visit and look it over with you.
Would you consider a 13BT replacement, maybe find a donor vehicle?? Might know of one
 
cruiserpilot said:
Sorry to hear that. I can bring the truck down if you want to take a picker home and pull the whole block out now.
Maybe end of the week I'll come down after boxing day have a visit and look it over with you.
Would you consider a 13BT replacement, maybe find a donor vehicle?? Might know of one
Click to expand...

Hey Jon, thanks a lot, but I'm not swapping short blocks or motors. I don't want to put any money or time into it at this point. The truck is old and needs other tlc, and for a RHD Prado it's just not worth the investment. Time to move on now. Im plunking in old pistons and rings and button it up. Even that is more than I want to do. But if it moves under its own power again it has more value than it does now...
 
Interesting question. If you did want to give it a quick hone, I have one of those flex hones you could borrow...

But I would think maybe swapping the rings over would make it unnecessary...

Maybe mark the position of each and try to get them back to the right spot?

The do move around a bit on their own anyway I suppose.
 
Or, don't do anything. Post it on FB with the engine the way it is. That way, all your work is shown and
the culpability of any repair is on purchaser. To be honest they can see exactly what's what. Take it home and
either repair themselves or replace. But I'd put the parts in a bin, close the hood and 'For Sale'.
Don't even try to get it running, because inevitably it's short term fix
 
seapotato said:
Interesting question. If you did want to give it a quick hone, I have one of those flex hones you could borrow...

But I would think maybe swapping the rings over would make it unnecessary...

Maybe mark the position of each and try to get them back to the right spot?

The do move around a bit on their own anyway I suppose.
Click to expand...

Thanks for offer of flex hones. I'm just not feeling the energy to go that far on it; too lazy to get hoist, remove block, do the proper rebuild.

I had same thoughts about rings. Turns out they do turn 1-10Hz or so while motors running. Which means they don't form to a particular (say out of round) cylinder. Thats why I'm thinking it might make no difference at all which rings I use. Same size pistons, same kms, same bore condition/shape. In fact I wonder if by swapping rings between pistons I might do more damage by subtly reshaping them thus causing more problems. So I'm actually leaning toward just leaving rings which are on the spare pistons. Yeah, I'll position them, but your right they move anyhow....

cruiserpilot said:
Or, don't do anything. Post it on FB with the engine the way it is. That way, all your work is shown and
the culpability of any repair is on purchaser. To be honest they can see exactly what's what. Take it home and
either repair themselves or replace. But I'd put the parts in a bin, close the hood and 'For Sale'.
Don't even try to get it running, because inevitably it's short term fix
Click to expand...

Any Prado no matter the good things about it is only worth about $2000 with an engine in pieces. But a running Prado with blow-by is minimum about $6000. So getting it going is worth some hassle.

I'm actually optimistic it could work out just fine.... Curious to try even at this point.
 
GTSSportCoupe said:
Thanks for offer of flex hones. I'm just not feeling the energy to go that far on it; too lazy to get hoist, remove block, do the proper rebuild.

I had same thoughts about rings. Turns out they do turn 1-10Hz or so while motors running. Which means they don't form to a particular (say out of round) cylinder. Thats why I'm thinking it might make no difference at all which rings I use. Same size pistons, same kms, same bore condition/shape. In fact I wonder if by swapping rings between pistons I might do more damage by subtly reshaping them thus causing more problems. So I'm actually leaning toward just leaving rings which are on the spare pistons. Yeah, I'll position them, but your right they move anyhow....



Any Prado no matter the good things about it is only worth about $2000 with an engine in pieces. But a running Prado with blow-by is minimum about $6000. So getting it going is worth some hassle.

I'm actually optimistic it could work out just fine.... Curious to try even at this point.
Click to expand...
Yeah. ****it, bang it together.

I mean if the fuse is a little shorter on the bomb when you sell it, it's better than being in pieces 🤣
 
Toshi38 said:
Jb weld it in place 😬... Wouldn't be the first guy 😂

But more seriously/correctly I'd probably swap the rings before buttoning it up :)
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm leaning back towards swapping rings. Playing with spare pistons, they're pretty easy to remove. Probably will be best keeping the ones which are set to the bore already.
 
Despite the situation, I do recognize driving any engine the way I did would have resulted in a significant failure. So I don't blame this on the motor. Honestly I'm surprised it survived this long.
 
GTSSportCoupe said:
Despite the situation, I do recognize driving any engine the way I did would have resulted in a significant failure. So I don't blame this on the motor. Honestly I'm surprised it survived this long.
Click to expand...
Well if it makes you feel better, neighbor has a newish duramax Chevy. Couple years ago the head gasket went while towing his trailer in the interior. $8k to fix...

This fall coming up the Coq, same thing only it was $12k this time...😳😳😳


So I'd say your 2lte did pretty damn well
 
GTSSportCoupe said:
Yeah I'm leaning back towards swapping rings. Playing with spare pistons, they're pretty easy to remove. Probably will be best keeping the ones which are set to the bore already.
Click to expand...


These things are cheap if you don't already have a pair.

Makes ring ****ery a lot easier if you decide to do it. I have a compressor too but bit far away for loaning haha
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seapotato said:
These things are cheap if you don't already have a pair.

Makes ring ****ery a lot easier if you decide to do it. I have a compressor too but bit far away for loaning haha
View attachment 3799247
Click to expand...
Gotta get me some of those! Kms is 5min away, will go look. Bought piston ring compressor already. Thanks for these ideas.
 
1) I’m not a diesel mechanic… and learned from an older mechanic who has messed with boats, motorcycles, cars, trucks, show mobiles, and everything else imaginable since the 70s.

2) I was taught that on a higher mileage (more worn) motor, you need to do the top end of the head if you’re replacing rings.

They worked on a friends old car that had a valve issue. To keep costs down when they replaced the one valve that failed, they only lapped the valves by hand (with some valve compound) to minimize the charge.That engine always pushed some blue smoke after that.

So, I’d swap the rings and put them Freback with as little change as it charge as possible, and hopefully it’ll work out. Use current rings on new pistons.
 
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