Well, I finally got around to tearing down one of the spare B230FTs that I've scrounged in the last couple of months. Thinking that the engine would need a head gasket, I took the head off to find the number one piston hanging at the top of the deck and scuffed from impact with the head. When I removed the flywheel the oil pump drive shaft was protruding from the rear of the engine about 1 inch. Since the drive pulley was still on the front of the car, I thought this seemed suspicious. I removed the oil pan and found that the number one rod cap had let go and apparently caused the oil pump drive shaft to snap at the number one cylinder or vice versa. This in turn broke a chunk out of the lower cylinder wall rendering an otherwise perfect block, junk. In all of the cylinders the factory hone marks were visible so it would have been a re-ring and bearing job. Surprisingly, the crank is not damaged even though it had to have hit the rod several times, and a .010" cleanup on all journals will make it like new, which speaks for the durability of Swedish steel!

On to the next one!

Regards,


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Will Dallas, www.willdallas.us, www.willdallas.org, www.willdallas.com 86 245 DL 205K miles, 93 940 250K miles, 88 765 GLE 149K miles, 87 745 , 86 244 DL 200K Miles, 88 744T 200K miles