The mystery of the missing piston
- Thread starter No-One
- Start date
+1
my sister in law has owned a ford focus 1.4 since new (it's a 54 plate) and has, on a couple of occassions, sent it back due to errant misfires and a lack of power.
i've never really paid attention to the problem (or even driven it, which is a shame now!), but when she got a call yesterday, I had to go and check it out.
apparently it was in having yet another set of spark plugs fitted when one of the plugs broke (really), and the head had to come off to remove it properly. when they pulled the head, this is what they found...
yep, a missing piston! when she called to say it had a piston missing, i assumed she'd misheard the mechanic, but no, it really was missing! the mechanic couldn't believe it. he drove it in to the workshop and said it seemed to run ok with no obvious problems or noises!
the weird bit is that although the rod is clearly bent, the bore shows no signs of damage or wear. the gudgeon pin is a little scuffed (but looks a lot worse in these pics). in fact, the bore is quite rusty with no obvious scuffing at all - almost as if it's never had a piston in there.
i'm baffled - i'd have thought it would have been spewing smoke and banging around, but it seems not. but how on earth has this been in to the main dealers on 3 occassions and nobody realised it was missing a piston?! surely it would have flashed up some sort of fault code and what about the emissions, they must have been all over the place!!
the other weird thing is that they've used this car every day, 80mph on the motorway, with no problems other than the odd stumble. just madness really! the worlds most bullet-proof 3 cylinder!!
anyway, it'll be interesting to see how this pans out. the mechanic is writing a report saying he thinks it may not have had a piston ever as there's no lumps or evidence of a piston (apparently they're assembled by machine, not by hand), but I can't imagine that it could have slipped though the radar for so long if that's the case. it'll be interesting to see what ford come back with as it's out of warranty now.
just a crazy find that blew me away, so i thought i'd share it!
Soldato
That is absolutely bonkers. 
Caporegime
Hmm something doesn't smell right to me, also look at the state of the other piston, looks like that engine has done some serious amount of miles, you would think the missbalance + 1k to 4k or whatever of revs would throw up all sorts of problems, vibrations / rough running / smoke / cell on the dash / emissions.
Not to mention the fact that a 1.4 running on only 3 pots in a focus must have been a dog to drive.
Not to mention the fact that a 1.4 running on only 3 pots in a focus must have been a dog to drive.
That is absolutely bonkers.
what he said. im inclined to just not beleive it
I also no beleive this ....Think how much noise that con-rod & gudgeon pin would made when hitting the cyinder bores..
Caporegime
Yep, if you can hear and feel slight detonation in the car or even a missbalanced wheel i somehow think you will hear and feel that knocking around.
Caporegime
Yep sounds about right, bet 80% of the internet foke fall for it though!
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Jun 2004
- Posts
- 12,957
Surely the build up in fuel from the bore would have streamed into the exhaust manifold and further through the system. This would have played havoc on the camshaft, inlet manifold and engine timings which would cause an engine blowout?
Soldato
