Washed my Mule today, cobwebs underneath were stubborn so I
thought I would drain the oil and flip it on it's side to
clean/inspect underneath.
I removed the drain plug, no oil. Instead, I saw a nut and
some pieces.
Dropped the oil pan. Loved how it took two different socket
sizes. Noticed silicone as a gasket.
Saw pieces of piston, rings, rod (bent), etc. Pulled all out
and put in pan. Looked at cylinder wall (right side), nice
and silver with good cross hatching. This thing is fresh.
Someone goofed on re-assembly.
Cleaned all pieces and inspected to see what could have gone
wrong. Piston broken in half, skirt in a hundred pieces.
Piston rings in pieces. I noted that one rod bolt was
intact, but no nut. The other rod bolt was broken at the
halfway point, and had a nut on it. The rod bearings were
folded in half. The rod cap was almost flat.
Where was the other rod bolt nut?
I found a nylock nut. I discovered that it screwed onto the
end of the rod bolt.
Here's two possibilities:
Someone couldn't find a real rod bolt so they substituted
one from a bolt bin. The nylock got soft from the heat and
loosened. Catastrophe.
The nylock found it's way into the combustion chamber
somehow. The piston broke on contact with it. When someone
drained the oil they found a rod bolt nut. That might
account for the missing one.
Until I pull the head I won't be able to confirm which
theory is right. I suspect they used a nylock, otherwise I
would have probably found nuts on both rod bolts.
The rod had gone through a sheet metal splash shield that
was rivited to the underside of the oil pan spacer. This is
not shown in the breakdowns on the 2 cyl engine. The rod
continued to smash into the oil sump. The screen was still
on, but the retaining ring had popped off. The oil pan
survived unscathed. I hope the case did, there is a small
ding where the skirt goes into the case. I doubt the jug
should be re-used. I wonder about the crankshaft, from what
I can see of the journal it looks ok.
If possible, I would like to buy a A042 engine in a crate,
and worry about this one later.
I'm not at all disappointed in finding a bad engine. I think
it's neat to dissect it and learn how it goes together. It
goes to show that a $0.10 part can waste $100. Attention to
detail and cleanliness is crucial in engine rebuilding.
As always, your advice and support is appreciated,
Lisa
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Jul 02 2000 - 23:51:29 PDT