Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications 3.0L Duratec Another 3L dead

Very true Buckshot. I asked Terry if he would go through my 3L before I install it. I don't think he wants to work on any Duratecs any longer was the word I received. So someone tell me how this benefits him?

I figured it out after Terry posted up the zircon comment on FCO. Here's the long and short of it and it truly explains a lot when you review the common failures of our motors.

Basically Zircon is part of the casting material they use on these motors and through some flaw in the design process is being left in trace amounts even after cleaning and machining. I'm guessing it's most likely lightly embedded in the surface of the aluminum and stuck in passageways that can't be cleaned by any normal process. Over time the material breaks loose and gets embedded in everything from bearings to lifters causing myriads of problems that on the surface all resemble oiling issues i.e. spun bearings, stuck lifters, etc.

I've personally seen this in a 3L head on my car. I pulled one of the oil feed plugs where the vortech gets it's feed on the head and found almost 1/2 teaspoon of sand pressed up against the drain plug. I was disheartened to see it but until now had dismissed it as a strange anomolly. In any case the sand circulating or lodging in different places would definitely explain a lot about why this is truly a hit or miss type problem.

Rick

So you are saying all the Cosworth engines fail this same way then.

Any engine with the Cosworth casting process actually.

How many decades does that cover? At least 2 right...


This is opposed to regular engine castings which use silica instead of zircon right???

No, I'm not saying it's a flaw in the cosworth process at all. I'm saying it's a flaw with either a particular set of molds or this particular engine design. If it were a flaw in the Cosworth process in general it wouldn't still be in use. I think this is a flaw in this particular engine family.

Rick

ugh, if this was proveable, looks like Ford would be out of ALOT Of money for the number of engine failures that have resulted from fine-particulate build up in engine components. . .

Terry was nice enough to respond to me by email. (Thanks) I solid gesture and his tone and details seemed spot on.

I believe you may be getting close Rick. I had another idea myself that would go right along with your line of thinking.

Maybe my previous statement could be turned around and that's why the Cleveland #1 plant spent $650 million on new molding equipment and such???

Either way it's not a nice thing to think about.


Glad my Duratec is running strong...

So is THIS now the "leading" theory to explain spun bearing in both 2.5 & 3.0 Duratecs....not crankwhip, not lack of oil drains in the heads, but whether or not the engine mold for your particular motor's run had too much free zircon sand??