Well, if you remember the last entry, i had the van all of 2 weeks, everything was going fine it seemed, a few expensive parts needed replacing, wheel bearing at £100, prop shaft bearing at £200, possibly a new crown wheel and pinion at £800!!, basically the last owners of this van (a.s.e.t.s ltd for those who have asked, they only use the van to transport their stuff about the country to anywhere needing stage lighting and effects, but they drive their vans hard it seems, don't buy a merc sprinter off them in a few years time is all i can say)

Anyway, Saturday the 31st of may, driving up the A1 at 70 mph, the engine was stopped violently, the engine was locked solid, so it was not a simple problem, all sorts of things were said to have happened, from an injector nozzle coming off, a con rod being thrown, cam belt stripping some teeth etc, all of them were expensive problems, worst case was a 3 grand bill for a new engine, this was not very good news for me, i had sold everything i had to get the money to buy this van, my beloved beach buggy went, i stripped the old camper down and sold all sorts of things from it, used all my available overdraft to get the 3 grand needed to buy another van, and now i need another 3 grand to fix it, (makes it even worse when i work out i get a year for being on the sick.. not a lot over 4 grand, there was no way i could afford this happening to me)

Luckily my parents got the money to have the van converted into a motorhome the other day, came from re-mortgaging the house, we can get the engine work done, but it comes out of the conversion money, I'll have to cut back on a lot of things because of this bloody engine, but the only way to look at it was it could have happened anytime, just be glad it happened 10 miles from home on the way to a shop, rather than on the second day of a 3 week tour around Europe.

The van was recovered to Northern road engineering in Newark, the engine went 500 yards before the turning i wanted for Newark, and i could almost see northern road engineering from the layby i was parked in, still had top wait 2 hours for the tow truck to come out, luckily i had arranged breakdown assistance the day i bought the van, the RAC cover i used to have wouldn't have covered this size of van, so i had to take out new cover with a different firm (International Breakdown)
The van sat in the yard until Monday, when they were going to take a look and tell me the damage, i phoned on Monday but they hadn't had time to look at it yet, on Tuesday they had a quick look, and diagnosed a dropped valve, not good, this can mean the engine is scrap or i could get away with a new piston, they'd need to tear into the engine to find out, so i gave them the go ahead to do this, if the engine was un salvageable then I'd owe them £300, and have the parts in the back of the van for me to sort out getting the engineless van home, All sorts of things were going through my head, mainly if the turbo had been wiped out by the resulting shower of metal that would have gone out the exhaust port when the valve came off, it turned just after the engine went, but that means nothing until you look at the exhaust end.

Well Wednesday we went out in the car to take some rubbish to the dump, something i would have done in 1 trip in the van, but needed 3 in the car, we went into town etc, and when i got back there had been a phone call from the garage, i phoned them back and he told me the news....

A valve had come off as diagnosed, and had made the cylinder head scrap, it had obviously take the piston out too, luckily the bore was undamaged, but that's all i was told, so i went over with my camera to see the damage my self and talk options, i was told i may get away with a repair, it'd need a new head at £600, a new piston, and get it up and running again would cost about £1500, (there is more work involved than i've said, but that price includes the head)

Well here are some pictures of what happens when a valve head comes off when the engine is doing about 3500 rpm...

This is the cylinder head, number 4 cylinders exhaust valve has dropped off, probable cause, the van being driven hard all its life, guess what the bloke who sold me the van said.. "it'll sit at 75 mph all day long".. add that to the back axle being worn due to overloading, this van has been driven hard all it's life, Basically the pictures above show the head is scrap, this means i have a surcharge for another head because this one can't be re-conditioned, but the new head is complete, it has new valves, cam shaft etc fitted, so these valves will be binned and never used again, which is good as one's done this, only a matter of time before another one does it really.

And this is the block, can you see what's wrong with it yet? the bore has got away unscathed, but the piston is totally scrapped, it will have also bent the con rod under there, and possibly damaged the crank shaft etc, the valve has basically clattered about in the combustion chamber (those wells in the pistons), there's no sign of the valve head, so it's been broken up and spat out of the exhaust port.. which on a normally aspirated engine would just mean some metal in the exhaust, this is a turbo diesel engine, so the metal particles have been fired at the turbo's turbine impellor, when the engine stopped i checked the turbo and it still spun, however now it's locked up too, the turbo has been taken out too.

Also number 4 injector is scrap, the valve has taken the nozzle off it, so to get this engine running again cheaply i need:
Re-conditioned exchange head at about £600, plus a £250 core charge as my head can't be exchanged,
Piston at about £50,
Con rod at about £30
Turbo at £320
Injector at £35
Possibly a crank shaft re-grind and new bearings if the bent rod has damaged the crank.. upto £100 or so,
then there's labour on top of that, i'm looking at least 2 grand plus vat, just for a repair,

So we had a think about it, and basically for another grand i can get the engine fully re-conditioned, means a new oil pump, all bearings through out, re-bore, 4 new pistons and rings, the head (I'd just pay the head surcharge as mine is scrap, the price of the head will be included in the re-conditioning price), exchange re-conditioned turbo, injector, all gaskets, cam belt, tensioner etc, and all other little things that need replacing that add up, for this I'd get an engine that upto new specs, a 1 year unlimited mileage warranty, and most importantly, peace of mind that the engine is good, and has been built by people who are professionals, and have a reputation they are proud of,

So it's been decided to go for a re-conditioned engine, this way it will last for ever as i don't drive my vehicles hard, it will be a motorhome soon, and they get an easy life, so it is going to cost a lot of money, but to reduce the risk of anything going wrong again and leaving us with another big bill, it's worth it, it will take about 14 days for it to all be done, but the bloke showed me a brand new short block engine upstairs, he thinks it's the right one for my van, (he has to check the numbers to be sure), but if it is the right one, it'll have a new head added and be fitted into my van in a week, the engine is brand new, it's been oil tested and that's all, the pistons are still shiny in places, it would be lovely if i could get this engine, but it all depends on it being the right one for my van, but they will let me have that one for the same price as re-conditioning mine, same thing really just this one has a new block, and will save time in fitting it as there is no machining work to be done, just get a head and turbo and fit it.

I really wish i had a crystal ball before i bought this van, I'd have waited 2 weeks before buying it, then offered a grand for it with a knackered engine, i could have bought a much newer van for the price this is costing, but then again, a valve can go on any engine at anytime, at least this way i know the engine will be perfect i suppose.