As many of the brickboard regulars know, my son (Evan) was running 14 psi of boost on his 1991 B230FT with regular gas. This was contrary to my advice, but that is how some people learn. The bad piston looked like this:


We had discussed repairing his engine or rebuilding one of the core engines I have. Machine work and parts get expensive for anyone, let alone a college student. Evan was ready to buy a piston set and have a core block bored out. We were at one of the self service wrecking yards in the area and spotted a newly wrecked 1990 760T in the yard. The vehicle mileage was higher, 195,135, but careful inspection of the engine showed it to be in good shape. The engine had Volvo plugs, a Volvo water pump, and a dealer sticker indicating a recent timing belt and front seal change. The overall condition of the car was excellent, indicating the owner took car of the car and engine.

When we removed the oil fill cap there were no black deposits indicating a lack of oil changes. It was a nice gold color on the head and looked like this:


The induction system and breather system were not oily upstream of the removed turbo. The hose between the airbox was not oily, was firm and dry, and looked like this:


The hose is just as it was on the wrecked car and has not been cleaned. Inside where the breather line from the oil trap connects, the hose looked like this:


There were old carbon deposits in the breather hose connecting the oil trap to the induction system, but there was no wet oil. A good sign all of the way around! Many of the U-Pull It engines show signs of lots of oil in the induction system, and I stay awar from them. Just remember that turbo oil issues are a separate issue from breather system oil issues. A turbo using oil is easily replaced, but if there is lots of wet oil in the breather hose, the engine has worn cylinders and rings.

This is a picture of the engine just as we purchased it. Evan decided he wanted the accessories (starter, AC compressor, PS pump, and alternator), so we paid an extra $25 for a total of $150 for his replacement engine with accessories.


The engine is installed and running. Since the engine was purchased without turbo, we installed Evan's old turbo which is in fine operating condition. The engine runs excellent and it passes the jiggle test with flying colors. I will post later on oil consumption, but there is no oil smoke or any indication of any oil useage.
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john