A 5th to 2nd change? I had my mother and father in law in the car.... Somehow I don't think she would appreciate to be headbutting the back of my chair on the way to a mothers day lunch!

The only reason I asked to have new main and big end bearings put in was because I work in heavy industry and I see this type of thing all the time where they blow a piston and all the bits of metal go down to the sump and into the bearings etc. Even after million $ rebuilds we would often find chunks of metal etc where the sump hadn't been cleaned out properly...


My question would be how could you be confident in a rebuild when you have 3 damaged pistons and cant find all the metal pieces? Its not like all 3 piston ring lands had smashed at one time and engine stopped.. The pistons had been like it for sometime...

I have all the old pistons/rods and bearings... I am happy to present them to a competent engine inspector if need be to assessed...

So i took it on my own accord to have a chat to a few people about the problems associated with an ej257...

It was recommended to me to at least get the crank re-oil phased and a new set of bearings. I went one step further and sourced a set of rods because I like to know that good parts have gone back into the build and it makes for a nice strong motor with the main aim in it being reliable. After speaking to consumer protection they used a word called "betterment" where they replace parts with a substitute that is better suited for the purpose... In this case they supplied MAHLE forged pistons... As the factory OEM pistons are renowned for blowing ring lands....

The reliability issue was raised a number of times with the tuner and I was more than confident with the tuner and workshop who performed it. I had been in conversation with the tuner/workshop whilst the other workshop was rebuilding the engine.

Put it this way... The workshop who rebuilt the engine had to ask me what the main cap bolts torque setting was.... I referred them to the tuner/workshop for information...

All of this aside... It has nothing to do with the timing belt shredding... the belt must of been on the way out for quiet some time judging by the amount of black fluffy stuff that fell out when the cam cover was removed on the side of the rd....