# Beheaded!



## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

*Project M3 -- Beheaded!*

Did some wrenchin' over the weekend. Here are the results. I went out and bought some large Rubbermaid tubs to store all of the engine parts I've removed so far; they're taking up all the space on my workbenches at the moment.


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## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

Here are walls of cylinders 1 and 4. The photo for cylinder 1 has the timing chain visible in the corner. Both of them look equally good to me (if you recall, the crank journal for cylinder 4 is damaged), so I guess there wasn't any damage done there. In fact, the block looks great from above. The head gasket shows no signs of leakage and the pistons all look pretty good. Perhaps I'll find something when I take apart the block. :dunno:


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## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

One last photo. This is the front of the head, looking down into the cavity where the cam sprockets would normally reside. You can make out a "string" of silicone sealant sorta hanging out in there. There's a similar piece of string hanging out of the front of the head in the same area. The cam carrier is connected to the rest of the head via silicone, so I guess this stuff has been around for about 16 years now. It may have had something to do with my oil leakage but I don't think it contributed to any engine damage. I forgot to take pictures of the camshafts last night but they look good -- journals are perfectly shiny, no signs of stress at all.


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## Jetfire (Jun 20, 2002)

So far, I've found no signs of a cause for my engine troubles. None of the leaks I've found are very serious, beyond some some oil leakage. I have yet to remove the throttle bodies from the head, and I've heard that the gaskets there can go bad after a while. Still, if I was running lean and detonating, wouldn't my pistons and cylinder walls have a story to tell? :dunno: I suppose the block may yield something when I look at the wrist pins, but I'm not so sure I'll find anything.


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## M3 Ryan (Aug 8, 2003)

I spun #2 and #3 rod bearings from an intake leak at the TB's. The screws came loose over a years time after replacing the gaskets. I burnt more oil on my road trip (500 miles round trip) and I expected and spun the bearings...
nothing else was damaged, hell, the crank was barely scored and the rods were fine. I heard it and parked it in time, although I drove 150 miles before I got home and there was rod knock at $3k the whole time.


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