Overland African Adventure- Holed Engine block!
Discussion
My good friend is taking a year driving around Africa in his converted VW LT35 Campervan, He's done most of southern Africa and current sitting in Nairobi with a hole in his engine block but no idea what came out or went in to cause it!
You can see his conversion process and trip so far at- https://overlandcampervan.wordpress.com
Looks like the next few blogs might be "How to get a rather broken Van back to England" types.
I have suggested he try and get some local bodge-it mechanic to weld a patch into the block... it doesn't look "too" serious :-)
You can see his conversion process and trip so far at- https://overlandcampervan.wordpress.com
Looks like the next few blogs might be "How to get a rather broken Van back to England" types.
I have suggested he try and get some local bodge-it mechanic to weld a patch into the block... it doesn't look "too" serious :-)
scubadude said:
My good friend is taking a year driving around Africa in his converted VW LT35 Campervan, He's done most of southern Africa and current sitting in Nairobi with a hole in his engine block but no idea what came out or went in to cause it!
You can see his conversion process and trip so far at- https://overlandcampervan.wordpress.com
Looks like the next few blogs might be "How to get a rather broken Van back to England" types.
I have suggested he try and get some local bodge-it mechanic to weld a patch into the block... it doesn't look "too" serious :-)
er, holes just don't appear in engine blocks without fairly good reason!!You can see his conversion process and trip so far at- https://overlandcampervan.wordpress.com
Looks like the next few blogs might be "How to get a rather broken Van back to England" types.
I have suggested he try and get some local bodge-it mechanic to weld a patch into the block... it doesn't look "too" serious :-)
Clearly, something has become jammed between the crank/rod and the side of the block, and as the former has spun around, been hammered straight through the block. Generally, that "thing" getting jammed is the rod cap, the rod itself (having failed at the top, piston pin end) or sometimes a rod bolt (having come undone)
In all cases, it's "sump off" for a look. Yes, bodge wise, you could remove the remains of the rod on that cylinder, blank the fuel injector for that cycle, put a jubilee clip around the crank pin to prevent oil loss (to maintain oil pressure to the rest of the crank bearings). and use epoxy or anything you can find to block the hole in the block as much as possible, then drive home, slowly!
Max_Torque said:
er, holes just don't appear in engine blocks without fairly good reason!!
Yes... there is some suggestion a rock "flew up" but I don't believe it given the location, however I've just been told it "runs but is a bit rough" :-)He's got his tape measure out now to see if the van will fit in a container as that's cheaper than a RoRo as they insist you empty the vehicle completely!! Not helpful as the van contains all his worldly goods!
Considering the situation...
1) Does the engine run, even if it splashes oil, i.e. did the engine stop running or run very roughly when this happened?
Usual reason for that sort of damage would be internal engine damage such as a broken conrod. If so, bad news, easiest would be a cheap replacement engine.
2)If it does run... and the reason is unknown - sure there was no bracket at that point supporting something? Is that the underside, perhaps a particularly violent rock impact? If so, then a simple bodge would involve epoxy (jb weld is fine - lots of it) and perhaps some aluminium sheet or even steel or whatever is to hand, ideal if available would be some glassfibre matting on top of everything. I have repaired a cracked diff in this manner. The epoxy chosen needs to be heat resistant more than something like Araldite would be as this latter tends to soften with heat. I would say that polyester resin may be better (glassfibre resin)
The important - very important bit is cleaning the metal very very thoroughly with thinners and sanding it to ensure clean, new metal for the epoxy to adhere to.
If done well then that engine will make it back.
1) Does the engine run, even if it splashes oil, i.e. did the engine stop running or run very roughly when this happened?
Usual reason for that sort of damage would be internal engine damage such as a broken conrod. If so, bad news, easiest would be a cheap replacement engine.
2)If it does run... and the reason is unknown - sure there was no bracket at that point supporting something? Is that the underside, perhaps a particularly violent rock impact? If so, then a simple bodge would involve epoxy (jb weld is fine - lots of it) and perhaps some aluminium sheet or even steel or whatever is to hand, ideal if available would be some glassfibre matting on top of everything. I have repaired a cracked diff in this manner. The epoxy chosen needs to be heat resistant more than something like Araldite would be as this latter tends to soften with heat. I would say that polyester resin may be better (glassfibre resin)
The important - very important bit is cleaning the metal very very thoroughly with thinners and sanding it to ensure clean, new metal for the epoxy to adhere to.
If done well then that engine will make it back.
scubadude said:
Max_Torque said:
er, holes just don't appear in engine blocks without fairly good reason!!
Yes... there is some suggestion a rock "flew up" but I don't believe it given the location, however I've just been told it "runs but is a bit rough" :-)He's got his tape measure out now to see if the van will fit in a container as that's cheaper than a RoRo as they insist you empty the vehicle completely!! Not helpful as the van contains all his worldly goods!
Secondly, look at the hole. Look at the angle of the faces, and it's immediately clear the pieces has been knocked out from the BACK side.
I 100% guarantee that when the sump comes off, they'll find a rod bolt/cap missing or a snapped rod!
PS, if it were me i'd definitely drive it home (mainly cause i'm a stubborn sod!)
Drop sump (easy job) remove remaining pieces, jam (using whatever method available, including nails hammered into the gaps around it!) that piston as far up it's bore as it will go, block the fuel injector off, jubilee clip round the crank pin. Couple of bits of tin to block the whole and some silicon sealant or anything similar (tar??) you could find. Buy 30 litres of cheap engine oil, and drive home ;-)
Drop sump (easy job) remove remaining pieces, jam (using whatever method available, including nails hammered into the gaps around it!) that piston as far up it's bore as it will go, block the fuel injector off, jubilee clip round the crank pin. Couple of bits of tin to block the whole and some silicon sealant or anything similar (tar??) you could find. Buy 30 litres of cheap engine oil, and drive home ;-)
Max_Torque said:
PS, if it were me i'd definitely drive it home (mainly cause i'm a stubborn sod!)
Drop sump (easy job) remove remaining pieces, jam (using whatever method available, including nails hammered into the gaps around it!) that piston as far up it's bore as it will go, block the fuel injector off, jubilee clip round the crank pin. Couple of bits of tin to block the whole and some silicon sealant or anything similar (tar??) you could find. Buy 30 litres of cheap engine oil, and drive home ;-)
FWIW- In this case home in Southern England, so about 3000miles away... It might get him to the port though :-)Drop sump (easy job) remove remaining pieces, jam (using whatever method available, including nails hammered into the gaps around it!) that piston as far up it's bore as it will go, block the fuel injector off, jubilee clip round the crank pin. Couple of bits of tin to block the whole and some silicon sealant or anything similar (tar??) you could find. Buy 30 litres of cheap engine oil, and drive home ;-)
Ouch.
There will undoubtably be mechanical carnage in there.
Agree with comments above, Get the offending piston isolated, patch it up and hope for the best. Ideally, it would be head off and piston and rod out.
Pretty sure these will be a local mechanic who can do this as they keep all sorts of heaps going.
There will undoubtably be mechanical carnage in there.
Agree with comments above, Get the offending piston isolated, patch it up and hope for the best. Ideally, it would be head off and piston and rod out.
Pretty sure these will be a local mechanic who can do this as they keep all sorts of heaps going.
Edited by conkerman on Friday 13th February 11:30
unpc said:
Seems an odd choice of vehicle for an epic overland trip if I may say. I'm not sure I'd want to rely on a modern VW van in the middle of nowhere. Can't offer any practical help though but as others have said that hole came from the inside.
He did a quick trip to Morocco in a 4X4 in advance but he and his then GF decided it was too small- go figure? Eventually he hopes to do Asia, America and tour Europe as well so a camper size might be handy and is cheaper in places you can't camp for weather, animal or security reasons.To be fair to the "van" it has done well, AFAIK he has only got stuck once and it survived the Skeleton coast area and some reasonable off roading, he's helped a few stuck 4X4 drivers and many other overlanders he's met have been in vans but he is unusual to have used 2WD.
FWIW The LT35 is also a Mercedes van, there is quite alot of Merc service places in Africa
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