The 944S gets a little bit rarer...

[millimeep]

On Saturday, we were off down the M2 to visit my brother in Kent.

All was going well on the motorway, running normally with no problems, temp on the lower white line, oil pressure normal (about 4.5). Then when we passed the A249 junction it stuttered very slightly, and then started producing lots of blue smoke [:-][]

So, off to the hard shoulder for us. A quick hand on the bonnet to make sure it wasn't trying to catch fire and I popped it up. Everything normal, not even particularly hot. So I tried to restart, which rapidly filled the car and the M2 with blue smoke[8|]

So, after the AA finally took 2 hours to send someone to recover us to the grim Medway Services, and then picked us up again from there, we were back home by about 6, 5 hours after we'd broken down.

Sunday morning I pulled the plugs out to see what had happened. 2,3 and 4 were covered in oil, and number 1 came out with a struggle (which was ominous). A quick poke with the dipstick revealed that there isn't much left of number 1 piston [][]

After having just got it back on the road after it stripped the cambelt, we really don't have the time, money, energy or facilities to put a new engine in, so it's on its way.

More details and pics on eBay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300346112197

 

[zcacogp]

Iain,

Very sorry to hear this. No, really. And so soon after you got it back on the road - which in itself struck me as something of a labour of love.

It's not good news.

Any idea what happened? Hole in piston ... caused by what? And if the spark plug looks like that then the beautifully rebuilt head may well be toast.

All the best with the sale. Will you and Suzie be thinking of another 944 to replace it with?


Oli.

 

[millimeep]

Really got no idea as to why it holed the piston, it was running well, and not overheating or anything.

No dramatic noises when it went, so I don't think it dropped a valve.

No plans for another car at all in the near future...

 

[PSH]

I too am very sorry to hear this, I know how I would feel if it was my car so can relate to how your feeling over yours..[][]

It is strange for a piston to fail on a N/A car ,I note you had only recently had the belts done, had they been rechecked as I'm wondering if the belt slipped and No.1 had a hard enough impact with it's valves to destroy the piston , I can't imagine it's due to a lean mixture and thus a melted piston? The only other possibilty being a broken sparkplug ( iridium plugs do this) but that too is very unlikely to do this much damage.

Again sorry to hear of your loss and I hope you do continue with 944 ownership at some point in the near future..

All the best


Pete

 

[zcacogp]

Iain,

I'm wondering whether the tapping noise you had a couple of weeks ago was relevant.

I had a mistimed cam belt on a 16v Golf once, which failed in a similar(ish) fashion. If I remember correctly, the valve was being tapped by the piston every time it closed (it didn't quite close soon enough) and after a while the valve head broke off the stem, and rattled around in the combustion chamber. That holed the piston as well. I am guessing (wildly) that yours could be something similar.

Either way, very sorry to hear of your news. Breaking it for parts will probably mean you make more from it then selling it as a whole, but it's messy if you dismantle the car progressively on the street (and nto really an option, given where you live.) The alternative is to strip it yourself in a day and store the parts, but that takes quite a lot of space and a patient wife.


Oli.

 

[millimeep]

Don't think the belt has slipped, as it restarted on the M2, producing copious quantities of blue smoke[:-]

Oli, that sounds possible, but wouldn't that be happening to all cylinders?

Or maybe there was something up with the tappet on that cylinder that meant the valve wasn't closing fast enough?

Actually now I think about it again, that does make sense... if the tappet was sticky, the cam lobe is going to hammer it down quite happily, but the valve spring might struggle to push the valve all the way back up again until it gets a little help from the piston [:-]

Wonder if that's something you'd see when you're turning the engine over by hand once you've done the belts? Certainly something to look out for!!

 

[zcacogp]

Iain,

Ahhh ... it re-started. That's something mine didn't do. (Although I didn't understand why.)

Yes, the piston-tapping-the-valve-closed would have happened on all cylinders. Mine failed terminally when the first valve broke, but there was evidence on top of the pistons that the others had been contacting. And I seem to recall that a couple of other valves were bent as well. In retrospect, the car must have been running like a dog before it failed, but I don't remember that at all.

It possibly is something that would be happening if you turned it over by hand, but spotting it would be quite hard. The contact would have been made in the top of the combustion chamber, where you can't see it happening. There would probably have been resistance felt in the turning of the crankshaft but whether it would be noticable I don't know. Quite possibly not. My engine ran like that for about 2500 miles before failing, so the contact must have been slight. (The good thing is that of those 2500 miles, about 1900 of them were spent in Germany, going 'round VW festivals. Had it failed while I was abroad I don't know what I would have done.)


Oli.

 

[JamesO]

Terrible news after all that work, would hate to see another car bought by breakers and stripped.
How are the sills/body for rust? I quite like a good project but rust just depresses me.

 

[millimeep]

Sills will probably need some attention in the near future, otherwise the body is good.

One sill had a patch for the 2007 MoT

 

[ChasR]

Arse! Very sorry to hear about that. Oddly enough, a similar thing happened to my mate's wife's Herald with a 1500 engine in it. They put it down to an oilway blowing in the HG into the cylinder. They noticed as the oil pressure dropped off to zero very suddenly with the blue smoke and a stained bonnet.

As for the tapping Oli, that would also be down to bent valve guides causing the tapping. Quite common on a number of cars now where people check the timing off the bottom pulley (which can slip, and hence give a false indication about the cam timing.

 

[Kitchy]

do you have a buy it now price?

 

[millimeep]

Turn up with £500 and it's yours!

Or put a bid in and wait until next Tuesday, and you'll probably get it for less, it's got bids now, so it'll be going whatever it makes...

 

[timbership]

I'll be sorry to see it go. I cycle past it every morning on the way to work, it always brightens my morning to see it. Might have to lay a wreath. Hope you find yourself a good one sometime in the future

 

[millimeep]

Thanks for the thought! We'll be sorry to see it go too!

Looking an your signature, in an odd bit of coincidence, I cycle past a '92 Blue S2 Cabriolet on my way to work, it's in St John's Wood/Swiss Cottage!