Hey there... Didn't see a forum folder for this so I was told "throw it somewhere, see if it sticks" .. So here it is.
I have two Ford Focuses.. The one I drive is a 4 door sedan, with a dual overhead cam (dohc) engine. It runs good but has recently developed a valve (I hope) cover oil leak. I also wrecked it in light snow a year and a half ago, hitting a curb sideways as I said into it at about 40 mph. Ouch! .. With help it took a few weeks to fix and has been... Decent.. Since.
The other car I bought is also a Ford focus, this one a station wagon. This car had the single overhead cam (sohc) engine and worse, split port injection. I found out as I arranged to buy it that these engines are very notorious for dropping the valve seat, thus destroying the engine because it rams against the valve head top, doesn't have room and either breaks the head, the valve top or the piston. Now, I bought this car broken, k owing it was broken, in January for $250. It was believed to be either a dropped valve seat or a broken timing belt. The hope was I would be able to buy a $300 kit to restore it..... Ha!!
After I got the engine head taken off I discovered a multitude of problems, the chief of which was that the 4th piston was no longer it's normal size but instead an exploded chunk of metal laying in pieces in the chamber, which, had been completely destroyed in the process and had holes big enough in the sidewalls for my fist to fit through, letting coolant and oil mix in together. AFAIK there's no way to fix something that bad? (I've heard of sleeves but haven't done research on them)... There was also what I thought at first was a bullet hole, a exit hole in the oil pan.
So I decided to get a loan and replace the engine instead of the notorious spi engine, with a dohc zetec engine, the same my 1st car has.. They have the same engine bays etc.
It has been a long process, getting stalled at certain points because me, a computer nerd, is trying to figure out how to find a car??!?! ..
I guess I've added a lot here so I'll stop for now.. But I also wanted to add a couple pictures.. One is the piston and the other is sawing through said piston - which became crucial because I couldn't remove the engine from the transmission without rotating the engine - which was stuck because of the broken piston part. :O
I have two Ford Focuses.. The one I drive is a 4 door sedan, with a dual overhead cam (dohc) engine. It runs good but has recently developed a valve (I hope) cover oil leak. I also wrecked it in light snow a year and a half ago, hitting a curb sideways as I said into it at about 40 mph. Ouch! .. With help it took a few weeks to fix and has been... Decent.. Since.
The other car I bought is also a Ford focus, this one a station wagon. This car had the single overhead cam (sohc) engine and worse, split port injection. I found out as I arranged to buy it that these engines are very notorious for dropping the valve seat, thus destroying the engine because it rams against the valve head top, doesn't have room and either breaks the head, the valve top or the piston. Now, I bought this car broken, k owing it was broken, in January for $250. It was believed to be either a dropped valve seat or a broken timing belt. The hope was I would be able to buy a $300 kit to restore it..... Ha!!
After I got the engine head taken off I discovered a multitude of problems, the chief of which was that the 4th piston was no longer it's normal size but instead an exploded chunk of metal laying in pieces in the chamber, which, had been completely destroyed in the process and had holes big enough in the sidewalls for my fist to fit through, letting coolant and oil mix in together. AFAIK there's no way to fix something that bad? (I've heard of sleeves but haven't done research on them)... There was also what I thought at first was a bullet hole, a exit hole in the oil pan.
So I decided to get a loan and replace the engine instead of the notorious spi engine, with a dohc zetec engine, the same my 1st car has.. They have the same engine bays etc.
It has been a long process, getting stalled at certain points because me, a computer nerd, is trying to figure out how to find a car??!?! ..
I guess I've added a lot here so I'll stop for now.. But I also wanted to add a couple pictures.. One is the piston and the other is sawing through said piston - which became crucial because I couldn't remove the engine from the transmission without rotating the engine - which was stuck because of the broken piston part. :O
