collapsed piston skirt how bad is it

[petter]

how bad is it to drive with a collapsed piston skirt

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

it will allow the little bits of metal to circulate in the oil and im sure you know what that means.. plus there is probably large chunks of metal sitting in the bottom of the oil pan.

how do you know for sure its a collapsed piston skirt?

 

[Rogue_Wulff]

Do you plan to rebuild this engine, or replace it with another engine? Without the skirt on the piston, there's little to prevent it from getting crooked in the bore, which can lead to complete block/piston/rod failure.

I'm also curious as what makes you say the skirt is collapsed? If you've been into the engine far enough to visually verify the condition, why not fit it while it's already part way apart?

 

[7.5L_STX]

 

[tomw]

A collapsed piston skirt will not leave chunks of metal floating throughout the crankcase. It just means that the 'wall' of the piston, below the wrist pin, generally near the bottom, has a smaller diameter than normal. Why? I dunno. It also means that the engine will likely knock a bit on startup, and as the piston warms up, the knock will go away, and perhaps be imperceptible. The effects take quite a while to cause significant damage to the cylinder wall, as the pistons are aluminum and the bore is cast iron. If you are 'gentle' when it is cold, you can likely make it last a long time before you have to do something. Remedies include new pistons and rings, or knurling the old pistons to restore the cylinder-wall-to-piston clearance.
WTF does comment #4 mean?
tom