"A nasty garage man put a ball bearing in the engine"

[Pique]

Jesus Christ...

Remind me never to get a service from the guy this seller uses!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/mg-zt-t-spares-repair-fa...

[Hugo a Gogo]

wow, the picture of the piston!

[JAHetfield]

It does happen. I fitted an engine last year and someone dropped a washer down the inlet manifold and I know for a fact it wasn't me because it was bigger than anything I would have been using. Couldn't figure out why the engine was turning before I put it in but wouldn't afterwards. Lifted the head off and the washer was imbedded between the valves.

[TROOPER88]

How would he have done it?
Removed spark plug and drop it in?

[Mr serge]

JAHetfield said:

It does happen. I fitted an engine last year and someone dropped a washer down the inlet manifold and I know for a fact it wasn't me because it was bigger than anything I would have been using. Couldn't figure out why the engine was turning before I put it in but wouldn't afterwards. Lifted the head off and the washer was imbedded between the valves.

in the 90's i had a mitsu gto twin turbo, i took it to a garage for a routine service and one of the mechanics dropped a bolt in the engine i had to have the engine rebuilt, luckily the mechanic owned up so i did not have to pay.

[dabofoppo]

A certain national chain of tyre and exhaust places done this to my suzuki swift. They dropped a nut/washer ( not sure which) into the throttle body and it ended up in one of the three cylinders done an amazing amount of damage for something so small.

[JAHetfield]

TROOPER88 said:

How would he have done it?
Removed spark plug and drop it in?

Drop it into the air intake, it'll fall down onto the top of the inlet valve. As soon as you crank the engine, the valve opens and it falls down into the cylinder.

[Fire99]

TROOPER88 said:

How would he have done it?
Removed spark plug and drop it in?

It's a diesel. No 'sparkies'

[TROOPER88]

Fire99 said:

It's a diesel. No 'sparkies'

I see...
Dread to think why the mechanic would have done this.

[Fire99]

TROOPER88 said:

I see...
Dread to think why the mechanic would have done this.

It does make the mind boggle. Obviously we only have what is on the ebay ad. to tell the story.

[y2blade]

[TROOPER88]

hora said:

So it could have been a workshop accident OR the owner fell out with the garage and the mechanic decided on novel revenge?

Do not believe a mechanic would happen to have a ball bearing in his hand at the same time was working on the air intake system unless he knew what he was about to do.....

[J4CKO]

If we are comparing Piston/foreign body interfaces,

This is what happens when a Fiat 500 drops a valve....

250 cc's of carnage

[miniman]

£950?!?!

I paid £1000 for my 190 in full working order with a 12 month ticket.

[Jakg]

JAHetfield said:

Drop it into the air intake, it'll fall down onto the top of the inlet valve. As soon as you crank the engine, the valve opens and it falls down into the cylinder.

At the air intake, it'd have to go through the air filter (unlikely) and turbo (even more unlikely!) first.

Plus, you can't really "drop" anything into the air intake on a ZT as it's sort of from the bumper but not really as standard.

It's possible to remove the engine cover (3 bolts), and then remove a hose (1 jubilee clip) to put stuff in the inlet manifold (where it will just get sucked straight into the piston as soon as the engine touches any real boost level), but it's not exactly something you could do "by accident" (on the inlet side, at least).

miniman said:

£950?!?!

I paid £1000 for my 190 in full working order with a 12 month ticket.

V6 ZT's are expensive to run (fuel) for the performance, and have expensive servicing (90k belts) and tax, which explains why their not worth as much as a diesel.

I paid £3k for my 04 ZT CDTi 2 years ago.

If it needs a new engine it's probably a bit on the expensive side, though, it's probably just a bit too expensive to break or repair with a new engine (but IF FIXABLE with it's current engine could work out well)

Edited by Jakg on Tuesday 13th March 20:33

[-Pete-]

Anyone think it's odd that pics 5 and 6 are of different cylinder heads (look at the spacing between the water ports)? And that in pic 6, the ball bearing (which must have been made out kryptonite) forgot to hit the top centre of the cylinder? I'm sure it's a bargain, I might even bid myself

[Major Fallout]

Just remove a golowplug or injector if its direct injection.

I don't think a valve with open enough to let that ball past.

[cahami]

-Pete- said:

Anyone think it's odd that pics 5 and 6 are of different cylinder heads (look at the spacing between the water ports)? And that in pic 6, the ball bearing (which must have been made out kryptonite) forgot to hit the top centre of the cylinder? I'm sure it's a bargain, I might even bid myself

One picture is the head the other is the block? the piston is dished hence not hitting the centre of the head? It must be a typo £9.50?

[Pet Troll]

-Pete- said:

Anyone think it's odd that pics 5 and 6 are of different cylinder heads (look at the spacing between the water ports)? And that in pic 6, the ball bearing (which must have been made out kryptonite) forgot to hit the top centre of the cylinder? I'm sure it's a bargain, I might even bid myself

I think pic 5 is of the block with piston in and pic 6 is of the head. There is no damage on the centre bit of the head and piston as there is an indent in the piston, apparently big enough for a ball bearing to fit in without causing damage.


Edit: Beaten to it!

[HorneyMX5]

I'm currently looking for a ZT CDTI and came across this advert. Seems a bit steep to me and I want one that works as I have too any other cars that need faffing about with at the moment.

Nick