A few questions on rebuild/sleeve replacement.

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 21, 2013 2:22 am

After tearing down my engine do broken rockers, and a possible head gasket leak, I have found some heavy scoring on the #2 piston sleeve. It looks like I'll be replacing at least 1 sleeve. I have a few questions:

1.) Should I just do the 1 sleeve or all of them, The rest look good. The honing marks are still clearly visible, and I don't see any other wear. However, if I'm doing the work anyway, is it more worthwhile to do them all.

2.) Should I buy new matched piston/sleeve kits, or sleeves and rings only? The pistons look fine from what i can tell. I assume the matched kits mean I won't have to file rings, but is the extra $$ worth it?

3.) I notice several special tools mentioned int he FSM. How many of these are actually needed, and does anyone have them.

I was planning to replace the main and rod bearings while I was at it. Has anyone else done this?

Some background: I bought the CRD in June of this year with 110,000 miles on it. I flew to denver to pick it up and drove it home to San Diego. On the way up through the rockies, it would overheat on some of the long grades. I would pull over to let it cool down (with engine idling) and go on my way. I assumed it as a bad fan clutch. When i got it home, I collected all the parts for the timing belt job and got it done along with new thermostat, water pump and fan clutch. I could never get all three pins to line up. I could always get the two cam pins, but never the flywheel. Since the engine was running, I pinned the cams, and marked the crank. Put everything back together and started it up. It made a bit of a racket on start up, and was making a new (to me anyways) noise as it ran. I know now that it was because the rockers had been damaged, but I didn't at the time. I put over 1000 miles on it before it quite on my way back from a trip. After a lot of reading, I figured out that the timing belt must have been 1 tooth off when I took it apart, and with the initial bit of slack in the belt at startup, the pistons hit the valves.

My repair plan was to replace the rockers, and after reading nightmare scenarios about broken valves, I decided to replace the whole head. I ordered a used one from VM Specialist in the UK knowing it wasn't run with the US spec EGR and the 0W-40 mobile 1 that so many have theorized may have something to do with it.

I just got the old head off today, and noticed the scoring on the #2 cylinder. I'm assuming the overheating was actually a head gasket leak that allowed enough coolant into the cylinder to wash away the oil. There are some marks on the cylinder head that look like liquid blowing through.

So now, this is where I stand.

I'm sure more questions will come up later, but this will get us started.

Mike

tech57 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 21, 2013 9:48 am

When it's disassembled to this extent, will you later regret you didn't replace the other three...

If an engineer was in your shoes, he would check the piston-to-cylinder-wall clearance for the three remaining cylinders, compare them to the factory service manual tolerance, compare them to each other, and to the specified clearance of the replacement. The existing piston skirts may have wear resulting in excess clearance even though the cylinder walls look good. If all measurements were in tolerance, replacing piston rings while you've got it apart is advised.

If a shop was performing your repair under warranty, they most likely would replace only the damaged cylinder, reassemble, and send the vehicle down the road to run many miles.

I would probably replace all four if it was mine; guess it depends on how long you intend to keep your CRD and how OCD you are

EAB · **Joined:** Tue Sep 06, 2011 9:39 pm **Posts:** 141

Ah the old #2 cylinder problem...

I've read a few people talking about rebuilding this engine but they have never come back to say how it went. If you do go that route, please let us in on the details including where you got the parts and some pics during the process.

As for 'just the sleeve' or 'sleeve and piston', without seeing it I'd say the other side of the cylinder wall scoring would be the side of the piston so do both.

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 22, 2013 2:52 pm

tech57 wrote:

When it's disassembled to this extent, will you later regret you didn't replace the other three...

I would probably replace all four if it was mine; guess it depends on how long you intend to keep your CRD and how OCD you are

This is where I have wound up. My Plan now is to replace all for sleeve/piston combos, have the crank checked/polished, and replace the bearings and seals. When it's all said and done, I'll have:

new bearings
new seals
new pistons
new rings
new sleeves
"new" head
new head gasket
arp studs
new rockers
new valve cover seals
new timing belt
new water pump
new thermostat
new fuel head
new lift pump
and a new turbo

An Eco Tune will follow shortly.

Money is a deciding factor in whether it gets a new torque converter or not. I need to find someone at a dealership who'll let me know if that's been done or not. I did find the newer 5v glow plugs in the head.

I would hope it would be ready to go at that point.

Mike92104 · **Posted:** Sun Dec 22, 2013 2:58 pm

EAB wrote:

I've read a few people talking about rebuilding this engine but they have never come back to say how it went. If you do go that route, please let us in on the details including where you got the parts and some pics during the process.

I hear ya there. I have also found several posts about starting a rebuild. I've only found this article:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_134/1482334_.html

...where it went to completion, but he only replaced one cylinder. It is a good argument for not scrapping the engine if you drop a valve though.

I'll be buying all my parts from ID Parts. Given they usually have the best prices, and the service and shipping are outstanding, it's not worth the effort to shop around in my opinion.

I'll try to remember to take a lot of pics and do a decent writeup from day to day when I get rolling. It will take a while to collect parts though.

Mike

Glend · **Posted:** Sun Dec 22, 2013 5:29 pm

If it was mine and I was rebuilding to that extent i'd also consider balancing the pistons, conrods, etc all the reciprocating parts. It does take much time and potentially results in a smoother running engine.

flman · **Posted:** Sun Dec 22, 2013 5:59 pm

EAB wrote:

Ah the old #2 cylinder problem...

Resurrected 2005 Liberty Sport CRD

CRD Motor/Timing Pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68442076@N ... 389449367/

Hey EAB, all those pics came in handy for pulling the head, made it a lot easier to find the hidden parts on the sides of the engine. A pic of the back would have been handy too. :mrgreen:

A few questions on rebuild/sleeve replacement.

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