Cracked Cylinder Liner

[Spencer 0 1 Cars]

Hi all! I finally got the head off of my XU5 1.6 and it looks like what I was hoping was just a blown gasket is more extensive. The cylinder liner is cracked and the piston damaged. I have a few questions and would love any advice.

1) Should I replace the one liner or do I need to do them all? Same with pistons?

2) In addition to piston and rings, anything else that needs doing while I'm doing the liners?

3) Any suggestions on which liners to use and where to get them? (I'm in the US and have been ordering from Europe).

 

In addition, I will need to flush out the coolant that has entered the engine and mixed with the oil. Is there any suggested products that anyone has used for this?

Thanks!

Spencer

[petert 601]

Until you pull it apart, you won't know the condition of the pistons. Assuming they're ok, buy a set of Westwood standard size liners and a set of new rings. Sorry, but it's a full rebuild from there. Think of that as a positive.

Edited May 6, 2021 by petert

[Spencer 0 1 Cars]

1 hour ago, petert said:

Until you pull it apart, you won't know the condition of the pistons. Assuming they're ok, buy a set of Westwood standard size liners and a set of new rings. Sorry, but it's a full rebuild from there. Think of that as a positive.

Hey Peter, thanks. We're pulling off the oil pan tomorrow and looking at the pistons. It seems to be limited to just the #3 cylinder, so I was just wondering if I could replace that liner and piston without doing the whole set, but it may make more sense to do them all at once.

Spencer

[petert 601]

42 minutes ago, Spencer said:

 so I was just wondering if I could replace that liner and piston without doing the whole set,

If it's just a runabout hack, sure. If it's a nice car worth looking after, I'd do the job properly.

[wicked 105 3 Cars]

If it is not a trackday or tuned car, Goetze liners will be good enough and much cheaper than Westwood liners.

[DamirGTI 344]

I had the same thing years ago , one liner cracked but not as severe as yours .. the cause was i believe too high dynamic compression ratio (was modified engine with about 12.3 CR) and bad expansion bottle cap which was unable to hold cooling system pressurized (was leaking badly) .. so with the engine switched off hot over night during one hot summer day the liner went bust .

Guess localized boiling of the coolant occurred creating steam pockets around that cylinder which then cracked cause of thermal stress .

 

Thus , must be some reason for that to happened , and need to know/investigate why first before you fix that so that i doesn't repeat again .

 

Agreed with Peter , if money and parts supply are not problematic , best to do full rebuild ... as Rolf says , prices of the liners dropped dramatically last few years and Goetze liners are very good OEM quality if not straight OEM (likely it is) .. same goes for the piston rings , bearing shells , gaskets , seals .. all the parts are still available over here and pretty cheap price wise .

 

D

Edited May 6, 2021 by DamirGTI