550 Engine Removal

If we accept as true that this is cavitation damage, and no less of an authority than Mahle has said it is, then we should be looking at the cause which is, by definition, a shock wave transmitted through the liner to the coolant.

The density and shape of the liner wall will affect the shock wave and its impingement on the coolant. How it does so is not of concern except to hypothesize that the all of the factors present, coolant composition, pressure, temperature, liner configuration, and maybe more may have, in this particular case, led to a "perfect Storm" of conditions that resulted in cavitation damage to the liners.

It still follows that something caused the shock wave and I'm at a loss to come up with anything other than detonation.

 

I think that if we ever discovered the actual cause of the cavitation in your case, which I don't believe we will, we would find that "resonance" played a key role.

Now we're getting above my pay grade

 

Anyone think the liner could have had a deflect? I know mahle rep is awesome etc. But why can't there have been some small inclusion or defect that helped make this problem? I don't know much about cavitation or pitting. Does nicking the liner on original assembly act like a boiling chip to get the process started? It was probably not one thing but several. Maybe you can't duplicate it without the defect. Many cars knock and many have poorly maintained cooling systems, many probably have sub optimal radiator caps. This does appear tobe rare. This is not a ford diesel known for this issue.

 

In my minimal understanding of cavitation erosion your definition oversimplifies it. There is more too it like low pressure effects of flow and lower vapor pressure forming collapsing bubbles with the results. That pitting begets more pitting as a nidus for continuing the process. There are plenty of "shock waves" such as the process of combustion, a normal process, that is not "detonation" which is thought of as destructive. All of those things conspire to cause CE. I "think" your implication is that there is a running problem associated with the condition. I don't think there is any evidence to support that hypothesis any more than we could blame poor maintenance. But which is more likely to set up the CE conditions?

 

Maybe they use the wrong scientific words for clarity. In the diesel engines you are talking about created venturi effects and low vapor pressure resulting in boiling if you will whose collapsing bubble cavitate. a surface coating may not be able to take that for long but a replenishable surface coating can. In the ford excursion case the coolant additive coated the metal was blown off during cavitation and then reformed on the metal to be blown off again never reaching deep to the metal. That's my hillbilly understanding of it. I drive a Ram diesel megacab but would have bought a diesel Excursion to pull my racecar until I found out this is just one of many problems with the Ford.

 

Agreed that's where cavitation always is. Here is another datapoint. I drive the pi$$ out of my 550. I bet I'm the highest mile car here at near 60K. That is alot of coolant venturi-ing around helping to create the effect or conditions for cav. I have not experienced it yet and if this is a systemic problem one would likely see it as the miles got higher just from plain old use. How many miles on your 550?

 

13,000

 

It's the fence on the lower pulley making things difficult. You have a few options getting the belt in without mangling it. Manipulating the cam gears (aka taking them slightly off) is one way of putting the belt in, another way is to undo the lower pulley and slide the belt in together with that pulley, you will need a ring nut tool and new ring nuts. It is not my favorite though since the new ring nuts seem to wear down the threads on the pulley shafts, I would not recommend it as standard procedure.
Last option is to wait with mounting the tensioner bearing on its mount until the belt is in the car. This is somewhat difficult too, as you will have to tension the bracket sufficiently to get the bearing on.

 

Ron,
glad to see her going back together!
As I recall I had some difficulty getting the belts back on as well, but putting them on the lower drive gear first (the one with the fence) and then sliding them over the upper cogs worked for me. The inner surfaces of the belt are coated with wax, so some of it may shave off a bit as you slide them over the upper timing gears.

Regards,
Pete

 

Ron,
Step 1: Verify that Ricambi did not send you belts for 360 (or Toyota camry)
Step 2: Do NOT lock the cams. I was advised by more than one "prominent" ferrari mechanic that slipping the matchbox covers under the cams can bend the cam caps out of round. Secondly, it won't hold the cams totally still with an impact gun so the point is a little moot.
Step 3: Get the maximum extension out of that tensioner. I put a flathead under the squared nub of the tensioner piston and compressed the spring all the way, followed by tightening the bolt on the tensioner bearing to hold it in place. I wonder if you just need a millimeter more ;-)

 

Now there's an innovative way to get the engine in; hang the car off the wall, then shove the engine into it sideways, as per the last pic

Sorry Ron, you're probably not in the mood for a little humor right now.......

 

Ron,
The other thing I would say is put the belt on the bottom gear, but DON'T then put it on the two timing cogs all the way and then try to bend it over the tensioner. Put it on the bottom gear, and then line the belt up simultaneously with both cogs and the tensioner bearing.....then take a rubber mallet and tap the belt on a little at each place sequentially (tensioner bearing, then cog 1, then cog 2, then back to tensioner bearing). Inchworm it on like that.

Regards,
Pete

 

I've only helped doing the timing belts on a 550 once, and admittedly I don't remember how we put them back on. On my 308 though, I usually put the belt on the lower pulley and one of the upper pulleys. I leave the second upper pulley off its cam and slip the belt onto that. Then I push that pulley onto its cam. It's much easier this way as the pulley only seats maybe 1/4" on the cam, whereas you're trying to slide the belt something like 1" by pushing it on the front of the pulleys with them all in place. ie, the deflection is much less and therefore the distance is much shorter.

Of course, it means you have to remove one of the pulleys. But, I assume after all this work you're going to re-time the engine anyway so that's a moot point.

By the way, for guys like myself who hope to own a 550 someday, this has been a great thread. Thanks for taking the time to post it up for all of us to share. It's very cool of you.