"THEM'S the BREAKS" - or MECHANICAL DISASTERS

[Leo Bolter]

I thought I'd set the ball rolling with this tale of woe . . . or maybe it should be looked on as being a very lucky break* . . . .

The first image gives the impression of it merely being a picture of just a ordinary split skirt Javelin piston, without a oil ring and with a rubber "O" ring on the skirt . . . .

. . . and it is

Javelin piston with "O" ring

. . . . but take the "O" ring off, and . . . .

"Exploded" view.

Piston broke and far from home . . .

* This happened to one of our family cars . . . . The driver will remain anonymous so as to protect the writer, but he/she told me that the car made a bit of a loud knocking sound, ran on 3 cylinders but kept running well enough to pull off the highway and into a lay-by a couple of hundred meters down the road. A phone call was made and the car was towed home. Miraculously, I found the head of the piston had proceeded to the top of the bore where it was pushed back a bit by the valve action, then shoved back again by the skirt. This must have happened several hundred times. The skirt, although broken in three, stayed together and attached to the gudgeon pin. The gudgeon pin in turn was in three pieces! The valves were not damaged, I seem to recollect.

I can't remember if we bought a Lotto Ticket or not . . . I don't suppose we bought the prize winning one or I would have remembered that!

[Forumadmin]

Unusual split in the skirt, reminds me of Angelina Jolie.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... viral.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zELlUxRrzAk

[PJGD]

An interesting story Leo.

Essentially the same thing happened to me in circa 1974. I was driving my Javelin the 60 mile round trip Guildford-London-Guildford every working day, when one morning on the way up the A3 to work - Bang! At this remove, I can't remember exactly what happened and how the issue was resolved. I believe that the noise was not too bad, so I was able to drive home where, like all good Jowett owners, I had a spare engine ready for just such an occasion and the rest of the day was spent installing that. The next day I was back at work.

When I examined the failed engine, I discovered that the piston had broken off cleanly around the oil scraper ring groove and that the crown had securely lodged itself up at TDC just out of reach of the rest of the piston, hence the lack of aural drama that allowed me to continue driving. In that respect I was very lucky, particularly as there was no other damage to the engine. Later, I replaced that piston with a spare and put the engine back in the Javelin and continued to drive it for a long time thereafter. I guess that piston crown separation is an occasional failure mode that we have to contend with.

As for being "far from home", well that is what the drunk said!

Philip

[Forumadmin]

"Piston Broke" is probably what I will be this weekend in Paris.

[robert lintott]

My contribution to this relates to my first Javelin VTW333 which I bought in 1957, at about 35000 miles . It was an E2PD. One Friday afternoon I was returning home to Cambridge from Fawley in Hants. Climbing up the rise towards Hartford Bridge Flats on the A 30, pulling in third gear, there was a loud bang and loss of power. A quick look under the bonnet disclosed nothing obvious so I restarted and carried on with the engine somewhat noisier than usual but on a light throttle seemingly OK. Clearly all was not well and I pulled in to a garage where we found that the starting handle would turn slightly without any movement of the flywheel---broken crank! Not a total surprise since the Javelin reputation was well known and must have been a factor in putting off potential customers of a quite expensive car.

I continued by train and returned later with a friend , a car and a rope , by which I was towed to Cambridge-- not something to be contemplated today! Removing the sump disclosed a fracture straight across the second flat web. I obtained an oval web crank with help from the Southern Jowett Club--- £23 I recall---and my local garage ( Frosts, long since gone ) rebuilt the engine which performed anew for many more miles and more quietly.

Bob Lintott

[Forumadmin]

Relating to my previous comment, I am on both counts by the fact we won and 10 Euros a pint.