Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications 3.0L Duratec Piston durability

This isn't about me really, it is about a whole series of pre-2000 motors that have cracked these rings in a similar manner, whatever the cause. Obvious the safest thing is to tune the engine properly.

Second, its about the strangeness of the fact that every single piston failure I know of both pre and post 2000 has been front bank pistons, both melted ones and just cracked ones.
Detonation induced or not, I want to know why just the forward bank pistons are breaking and never the back banks.


The general consensus is that the cracked pistons suffered from very light detonation, not necessarily lean induced that introduced a load strong enough to crack the second/lower compression ring. In one case on my piston it cracked the support for the 2nd and 1st ring, though no rings have broken.
This seems to be more prevalent on the pre mid 99 pistons with the thinner ring land support on the 2nd compression ring because it is thinner than the late 99/2000+ pistons.
So far, no one has ventured any reasonable guess to the issue of prevalence on the front bank.