Mechanical sympathy

[Tony Duffy]

Hi Eric

Tony from Scotland here…Im a huge fan of the shows and yourself of course 🙂

My car recently managed to destroy one of its OE cast pistons taking most of the cylinder and rod with it. I drive a Vauxhall Corsa VXR 1.6 turbo and it seems that there is an issue with these engines, in particular piston no 4. When it happened I was told it was due to thermal shock stressing the piston and that it was driver error that caused this. I was told by the garage that I should let my car run to full operating temperature before using any boost at all. I was also told that I need to let the car cool down for a few minutes after every drive to stop the “turbo sludging up”.

Scotland is a Cold place in the winter, I can never just jump in the car and drive off if its icy I need to defrost the windscreen, this takes 5 mins at least. Im a sensible driver and rarely open the car right up to full boost as its a rocket.

So I now have a fully rebuilt engine with forged pistons and conrods thanks to a good friend who helped me through the rebuild process. The guy at the machine shop was trying to explain the difference to me about cast and forged internals along with clearances etc…I couldnt quite grasp the whole thing with the noise there. Could you give me a low down of forged benefits?

We all treat our cars pretty rough at times and I was wondering if you would give us some tips on mechanical sympathy and how to get the most out of our car components such as turbos, pistons, rods, clutches, brakes……I figured that as you see the carnage in your shop and act as detective you could help us stop committing the crime.

Many thanks!!

Tony

Topic

[EricTheCarGuy]

To be honest I’m not sure this belongs in the ‘suggestion box’ as it’s more of a question than say a video request. I have made some videos addressing something close to this concern. This one for instance.

I will take your suggestion however and look for opportunities to speak to this topic in future videos however. Till then I can say the #1 thing you can do for your engine is regular oil changes with the correct viscosity oil. This is the single most important thing to do to maintain your vehicle. You’d be surprised at how just this simple act translates to so much good for your engine and it’s related components.

Thanks for your post and stay warm!

[Tony Duffy]

Thanks Eric,

I guess I worded it in a convoluted manner, first post excitement. The video is spot on and I’ve followed your advice by sourcing the highest quality GM 5W40 for my car, along with a magnetic sump plug to catch the metal from the forged parts imbedding. I saw these plugs on your videos (think they were transmission plugs)and liked the idea of some extra protection.

Im gonna be changing my rear brakes pads at the weekend and found your video invaluable as I was able to borrow a hand brake compressing tool from my local garage and Im gonna get dirty.

Really appreciate your time as always

Tony

[Author]

Replies