yep-this is my life: May 2009

rescue me

put new timing chain in, works/worked great.
got 131 miles on it today. 60 of that was HARDCORE 4x4 dirt/rocks.
emergency kit i didn't need-bike, 2 spare tires, jack stand, oil, water, tranny fluid, bow saw, shovel, axe, and more.

first time for any real offroading for me.
some of the better terrain i drove through today near the Plumas county line between hwy70 and oro-quincy

drove around the tree in SUPER soft soil. love the 4x4 even when its not 100%. forgot the chainsaw and didn't want to work hard.

had to put it in low range to get out of the hills at the end of the day. shoulda known something was wrong when i had to use low range and the autotranny was dripping out the bellhousing cover...
got mostly home-thank God-He got me out of the mountains...
NASTY noises all day, oil smoke out tailpipe, was just past Durham and oil pressure went to 60 pounds-never been over 25... then temp dropped below 150... and it was no more. DOA.
this is oil and water mixed together that BLEW out of the 2 breather vents.

smoke from said mixture landing on hot exhaust.

camper to the rescue! love the fact that its 7,000# and towing the 4,000# 4x4 plus the ?2,000?# trailer and i don't even know I'm working hard!

Found it.... =/

definitions of how a piston works

normal

normal-red line is about where it broke.

BAD.

the timing chain was bad but not the knocking sound. I KNEW the noise was coming from #5 or 36. broken skirt on #5 drivers side. gonna button it up and drive it while the stroker gets built.

timeclock

11:00 am

11:20 am

11:45 am note the sag in the chain-hope that's the problem.

12:30 pm

teardown

well, my worst fears were NOT realized. i took the oil pan down and tried to find any internal damage-maybe a broken rod, maybe a loose rod cap, maybe a spun bearing or missing bearing...
could not find anything OBVIOUS.
took #6 rod cap down and bearing out. it looks worn but clean and possibly half life. donor has had oil pan off before(goop residue) so may have been rebuilt.

good news-timing chain has 75-80 degrees of slop in it. no wonder i have zero power!

doing census work and they want my 4x4--I do too! so instead of yanking motor and being down for 4 weeks, I'm going to attempt to pull timing and replace.
if that doesn't fix it-its only a loss of energy since i can use the superior new timing chain on the stroker motor. Guess what I'm doing all day tomorrow...

oh-and we have ants