Mystery object in cylinder
Mystery object in cylinder
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Discussion

u013828

Original Poster:

2 posts

79 months

Thursday 26th March 2020
quotequote all
I have found a strange bit of debris in cylinder 3 (images attached). Is it metal? Can't see anything in the oil. Any thoughts?

Background:

The car:

Vauxhall Corsa C
225,000 miles on the clock
Original engine and clutch

In 2008 after I passed my test I was given the car and used it until 2012 when I replaced it with a Corsa D, as at the time I started a job which was a 100 mile round trip, and at the time I did not want to push my luck with the mileage, so since 2012 the car has been in a garage.

I have recently moved the car over my house from the garage and am preparing to get it back on the road again. I have every confidence that I could charge the battery and it would fire up right now, however, as it has been parked up for 8 years I will be giving it a good service first.

Anyway I people seem very surprised everything still works properly on it, and following on from the popularity of the Youtube channel Car Throttle's "high mileage hero" I didn't want to just scrap it. It has been more reliable still today than some of the newer cars I have driven. It has never ever let me down.

This is the first time I have ever done any work on a car (something I have been wanting to get into for a while) and this seemed the perfect opportunity.




GreenV8S

31,027 posts

314 months

Thursday 26th March 2020
quotequote all
Hard to make out, but there shouldn't be anything in there so whatever it is needs to come out. Any chance of poking it with some gum on the end of a wide to pick it up? It looks big enough that you might have a chance at that, especially if you can get a wire in there alongside what I guess is an endoscope used to take that picture.

Boosted LS1

21,200 posts

290 months

Thursday 26th March 2020
quotequote all
If it's a piece of piston ring the you're compression reading may be down on that cylinder. Is the earth electrode missing from the spark plug? That's the more likely possibility. It has the wrong section to be a piece of a ring.

Lastly can you 'get it' with a magnet on a stick or piece of string? Don't lose the magnet in there, obviously.

TRIUMPHBULLET

711 posts

143 months

Thursday 26th March 2020
quotequote all
a small diameter pipe connected to a vacuum cleaner will get it if it is loose and small enough to come out of spark plug hole, you will need to get creative with gaffer tape to make the join.

finlo

4,453 posts

233 months

Thursday 26th March 2020
quotequote all
What made you peer into the plug hole in the first place?

dhutch

17,895 posts

227 months

Thursday 26th March 2020
quotequote all
finlo said:
What made you peer into the plug hole in the first place?
This!

mickyh7

2,347 posts

116 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
Stretch Bluetac over a long wooden Skewer so its big/long enough to hold with your fingers.
Leave a knob of it at the end. Poke it in and Hey Presto.
Thing is it looks like a piece of Ring, so it'll come out when you pull the Piston out of the Block to replace it !
As said you should have low compression on that Cylinder.
Good Luck !

SHutchinson

2,383 posts

214 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
Your piston crown looks knackered. I’m guessing the engine is running sub optimally, hence the investigation.

OldGermanHeaps

5,174 posts

208 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
are you sure its an object and not a dent? ste photo but it looks like detonation damage.

Auntieroll

543 posts

214 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
OldGermanHeaps said:
are you sure its an object and not a dent? ste photo but it looks like detonation damage.
That's nothing like detonation damage. The object is proud of the piston crown, which still shows machining marks through the layer of carbon.

OldGermanHeaps

5,174 posts

208 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
thats what detonation damage looks like on a 2 stroke, like little dimples hammered indo the crown displacing the metal around the edge, usually around the circumfrence.

mickyh7

2,347 posts

116 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
OldGermanHeaps said:
thats what detonation damage looks like on a 2 stroke, like little dimples hammered indo the crown displacing the metal around the edge, usually around the circumfrence.
Imagine a 2 Stroke Corsa !
That would be nippy on the Powerband !
Easy taking the Head off with no cams though.
This piece of Metal even has a reflection on the Cylinder Wall.

Edited by mickyh7 on Friday 27th March 09:36

dhutch

17,895 posts

227 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
I would be well up for trying to get it out, even if just for curiosity, as said a magnet or blue tack on a stick.

Don't suppose you have one of the flexible magnet retriever stick things?

Obviously what you really don't want to do is get anything extra stuck in their!


Daniel

Stenasev

80 posts

140 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
I don't think you will be getting it out with a magnet or bluetac. That looks embedded in the piston.

Have you done any compression tests or did the engine have any poor running symptoms? Were you working on the engine and something dropped in and you haven't actually run the engine since? In the latter scenario you will be OK getting it out but if it has happened with the engine running then it could have damaged valves on the way in and maybe cylinder head and piston while running.

mickyh7

2,347 posts

116 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
Just take the Head off !
Or get someone else to.

Tony1963

5,808 posts

192 months

Friday 27th March 2020
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Yet another disappearing OP.

Stenasev

80 posts

140 months

Friday 27th March 2020
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I thought that but then realised it's not even been 24hrs yet. Time is weird at the moment...

brman

1,233 posts

139 months

Friday 27th March 2020
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Am I imagining the cracks and bloody big hole in the top of the piston in the first picture?
(btw, I think it is what others are seeing as lumps of carbon but I am not convinced....)

Edited by brman on Friday 27th March 11:59

p4cks

7,522 posts

229 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
225,000 miles in a Corsa C - I'm seriously impressed!

mickyh7

2,347 posts

116 months

Friday 27th March 2020
quotequote all
p4cks said:
225,000 miles in a Corsa C - I'm seriously impressed!
Me too.
Most have been rolled into ditches long before that milage!