Hit another engine swap problem!!

[Fridazadilak]

Hi,

As some of you already know, I'm currently getting a B230ET installed into my '93 Torslanda, which is being done at a local custom car garage.

There's been problem after problem so far...mainly with swapping the Motronic loom to LH2.4.

The engine is in, and running...but only on 3 cyclinders. There's ~100psi in three cylinders but ~10psi in the third cylinder. At first it was thought to be a bent valve, but now it's looking like a knackered piston. &$*£!!!!!

It's been in the garage for over five weeks now, I know it's not an overnight job but this is taking the mick!! And now I'm relying on finding a piston but so far I've found nothing at all.

I've put a post up in the '700/900' wants section, but if anyone here knows of a B230ET being broken, or a spare piston...please let me know!!

Cheers!

Dan

[BrianH]

Watch that final bill for the 5 weeks.

Caught out me the other day................ B200E to B230E swap. 5 weeks..... £2k.

My Volvo mechanic called in an injection 'expert' as there was water in the system. Took hours...days.

Replacement bits would have taken hours! No redemption to water in injection systems, don't we all know that!

The 'expert' is now not allowed to work on my Volvo.

I said enough, and took it on. LPG OK but no idle on petrol. Soon sorted. The air plate was too low, rebent the spring. Would you believe, some oil separation/breather tubes were missing and connected wrong.

Check everything thoroughly.

BrianH

[david philips]

i would get another compression test (or do one your self) and a wet one ie with oil this should at least let you know if its head gasket valve or piston related.

tbh if its a pistion rings or bore it may be quicker and more cost effective to fit another engine.

if you do end up looking for another engine try and buy a running car sometimes its as cheap to buy a donner car as it is to get an engine the donner car can then be broken for bits and you can get your money back or more.

[Fridazadilak]

Brian: The garage has agreed a set price for the work which should still be valid, as they haven't actually taken the head off and investigated the problem. I'm sure it will start getting pricey if new pistons or a new engine is involved.

David: The garage have done both wet and dry tests, but when I rung up earlier the guy I spoke to didn't know the outcome. I'll have to speak to them on Monday to know for sure. Hopefully it's just the head gasket or valve at fault.

I'm looking into a new engine, but the project might have to be put on the back burner until after Christmas, which I can't really afford to do because we rely on two cars! I can't really afford to buy a new engine but it may be the cheaper option as opposed to buying and fitting new pistons.

I'll let you know what the outcome was when I know more myself.

Dan

[wooble]

If it was my car and it was definitely a dead cylinder I'd chuck in a known good B230FT block. You should be able to get a block for £100-200 easily and you could swap the blocks in a day. To do a proper rebore and fit new pistons and rings you'd need to have the engine out anyway, so why not save on the cost and just slap a new one in there?

[ALLOA]

I did this a few years back. I rebuilt a trashed GLT into my Tors. Nobody could confirm if I could swap the later injection from the 2.0 ltr block on to the 2.3 lump. In the end I swapped the engine, loom and axle from the GLT on to the Tors. The two looms are very different. From memory the ignition barrel (although looking the same) had an additional feed to the ECU etc....

Best of luck

Scott

[940_Turbo]

Just why are you swapping looms? Your 240 runs LH2.4 as does a 940 Turbo. All it needs is a few extra wires, the ECU and EZK out of a 940 and the thing will run.

[Fridazadilak]

The B230ET engine is out of a 740 turbo that was running motronic engine management. The car itself is running LH2.4 so I've swapped the sensors and loom to get the new engine to run on the stock loom in the car.

I've got a 940 turbo ECU and EZK which have been chipped to remove the immobiliser and fuel cut and to raise the rev limiter.

I'll speak to the garage tomorrow and hopefully they'll give me some good news.

[940_Turbo]

I take it the people doing it fitted a LH2.4 flywheel and crank sensor to the ET engine? Most of this stuff is not mix and match.

[Fridazadilak]

Yeah, the flywheel was removed and skimmed to remove any wear, then a new clutch was fitted to the M47 box. The two motronic pickup sensors were swapped with a new crankshaft position sensor.

The swap is pretty much complete, with the exception of the lack of compression on one cylinder. Apart from that it's up and running. I've spent a few months researching it all and all I've got for my efforts so far is a useless car and an empty wallet!