Broke piston skirt

kmanxj5050 · Nov 2, 2012

My wife's 00 XJ broke a piston skirt off. I don't have the motor completely out yet but i am thinking I could get away with one new piston and new rings for all, if the cylinder wall isn't trashed. Anybody else do this?

Should i replace the crank and rod bearings or no?

Alexia · Nov 2, 2012

kmanxj5050 said:
My wife's 00 XJ broke a piston skirt off. I don't have the motor completely out yet but i am thinking I could get away with one new piston and new rings for all, if the cylinder wall isn't trashed. Anybody else do this?

Should i replace the crank and rod bearings or no?

Might as well do a full inspection on everything. If the bearings appear to be worn with scratches that can be felt with a fingernail then it would be a good idea to get the crankshaft polished and replace the bearings while you have it torn apart.

MoFo · Nov 2, 2012

Don't even consider replacing one piston. One cracked because the casting was defective and the others are not far behind it. A new OEM piston is no better than the one that cracked. I took my 00 engine apart because of bad piston slap and a cracked head. I found 2 of the 6 pistons cracked. Besides, there are no aftermarket pistons to match the compression height and dish volume of the OEM piston. You do not want one cylinder with a DCR .15 lower than the other 5. Replace all 6 with good aftermarket pistons and keep the engine in balance.

Miller88 · Nov 2, 2012

Why not just grab a 99- short block, swap on the necessary sensors that your 2000 has and call it a day?

87manche · Nov 2, 2012

I did it once with a Mazda 323 motor that burned a hole through the top of the piston.

didn't change bearings or anything, didn't even take it out of the car for that matter.

it was still running around 3 years after piston swap.

Talyn · Nov 3, 2012

I wouldn't replace just one. For the simple reason that just because the piston says stock, it may be slightly larger or smaller than stock (thing thousandths). Which can result in a noisy engine or worse, a scuffed piston.

The best option is to take the block to a machinist, replace all pistons and rings, and hone/bore if necessary.

jeeptorino68 · Nov 3, 2012

MoFo said:
Don't even consider replacing one piston. One cracked because the casting was defective and the others are not far behind it. A new OEM piston is no better than the one that cracked. I took my 00 engine apart because of bad piston slap and a cracked head. I found 2 of the 6 pistons cracked. Besides, there are no aftermarket pistons to match the compression height and dish volume of the OEM piston. You do not want one cylinder with a DCR .15 lower than the other 5. Replace all 6 with good aftermarket pistons and keep the engine in balance.

just because one has a casting defect that causes failure doesnt mean all of the pistons do...

Broke piston skirt

kmanxj5050

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Alexia

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MoFo

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Miller88

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87manche

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Talyn

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jeeptorino68

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