I'm trying to get an idea of what kind of damage occurred when the piston failed. I know the piston is most likely missing a chunk out of its side, but what about the cylinder walls, any damage to rotating assembly?
If you could give me a description of the failure, the diagnosis of the problem, and the repair done.
Thanks.

Dan

 

Have you lost a piston? Hopefully not, it's an extensive and costly repair.

 

With this kind of failure, the best way to assess the damage is to open things up and see what happened. That is, off with the head to check the bore, valves, and piston head, and most likely, the sump for inspection and possible removal of a dead piston.

I suppose somebody could stick a borescope in the spark plug hole and look around, but a full inspection is best performed with the head off.

How did this failure occur?

Best of luck,

Spridget

 

I have lost a piston, but have not taken the motor apart yet to inspect it. I'm trying to get a feel for what "typically" happens when the piston goes so I can figure out if I want to invest the extra time in rebuilding the motor and save some money, or just drop a reman engine in it.

 

Well there are many different senarios from just needing a piston to the whole engine being shot. With out and inspection there is NO WAY to tell. Even a bore scope down the spark plug hole will not really tell you much depending on where the chunk (if it is a chunk) is missing from the piston.