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[CrazyG]

Normally the engines in the 454 are more or less' bullet proof' IF
they are serviced/maintained properly, but once in a while one is
bound to come across the odd one that has 'slipped thru the net'....

Today is one of those days, and S2smarts have the 'pleasure' to be
replacing the engine of a 1.1 Coolstyle that had not had the oil level
checked for whatever reason for quite a considerable time !
Suffice to say the owner noticed quite a pronounced rattle, a rattle
that was nothing if not LOUD. At that time oil was added, but too late.
The damage was done, and eventually the car became undriveable....

The lower conrod bearing cap of #1 cyclinder had separated when the
engine seized thru lack of oil, and had punched it's way thru the side
of the engine block !  (You can make it out in the last 3 pictures).

S2 managed to source a replacement engine with VERY low mileage,
and after a full check this will be installed with new belts, filters, oil etc.
Hopefully the owner will be happy to have his pride n joy back on the road
by the end of today....and suitably convinced to do a regular weekly or
monthly check on all necessary fluids + a proper service each year.

[Brabs]

Humph, I don’t know about ‘his pride and joy’ G! What a first class numpty. Doesn’t sound like he has a clue about how to look after his car. For the sake of a weekly check, which takes all of a few seconds and maybe the odd litre of oil... a few £, all of this expense could have been saved. Idiot! Just out of interest, my 95,000 + mile 1.1 uses NO (fully synthetic) oil at all between changes.

[Problemchild]

Neither does my brab

I’ve not had a car use oil since 99 when I ran a daihatsu charade

JJ

[mr singh]

my SB3 seams to be using a little oil when i used 0w40. iv checked it once since 300 or so miles after servicing it... and its done about 1000+ miles since january but i am using 5w40 this time round.

i have to agree with brabs on this one. it cant be that much of the owners pride and joy if they couldnt check the oil once in a while. and surly the oil warning light would have come on, or did the owner think that was the oil top up light iv been told once the oil warning light has come on, you may as well keep driving until the engine seizes as oil level has gotten so low that the damage is not reversable

[Wangswong]

I beg to differ about "bulletproof"! That's coming from someone massively anal with servicing.
To be fair, driving like a penis with cheap fuel didn't help but hey, lesson learned.

I'm using a small amount of oil but that's the nature of the build.

[mr singh]

all engines are 'bullet proof' its just the soft squidgy part that kills them...

[CrazyG]

Obviously by 'the soft squidgy part' you mean the driver...   
(for those who may just be wondering what part that is...)   

[Problemchild]

Never any possibility of manufacturing or material flaw?

I don’t think you can blame humans for everything

JJ

[Brabs]

Pretty much everything! 

[mr singh]

Never any possibility of manufacturing or material flaw?

I don’t think you can blame humans for everything

JJ

on something thats near enough 12+ years old its not due to manufacturing or material flaws. it is human error

it is manufacturing ir material flaws if the car is less than 3 years old

[Problemchild]

That’s not true at all

A manufacturing issue can raise its head at any time

Could arise as fatigue or catastrophic failure

Like humans - you can have a heart defect from birth but it not create any issues until 50yrs down the line

JJ

[mr singh]

if thats the case, why have not more engine failures been reported?

[Problemchild]

because the manufacturing is good

but a con rod failing could start on day 1 but not be realised for a long time as the crack propagates. FEA would show us where the highest stress points are and if that coincides with a material flaw then over time there could be a failure.

everyone drives cars differently from ragging the nuts off it to going everywhere in the highest gear. if it was purely people related then we'd be more likely to see more failures. The fact that its uncommon in a world of huge variables says to me it would mainly be material failure.

putting no oil in is a different matter haha

JJ

[mr singh]

if a conrod started to fail from day 1 then its would likely fail within a matter of months.

[Problemchild]

why would it? can happen any time. The engines can stand up to all sorts of abuse from the drivers.

a stone hitting the glass roof of a smart can cause a very small chip not even noticeable. over months and years or expansions and contraction that glass will suddenly shatter. been there. done that. hoovered up the mess after being flat bed trucked home

JJ