Advice please,

My 52 plate mk3 Mondeo 2 litre petrol (Duratec-HE engine) has ingested one of the inlet manifold swirl plate butterfly valves and parts of the metal spindle. Took out the plugs and removed the inlet manifold and cam cover. The spark plug on the pot which ingested the valve had the electrode bent up touching the central electrode! Connected a thin flexible hose to the vacuum cleaner and inserted this into the pot through the spark plug hole to try to suck up any remaining debris.

Tested all cylinders with a compression tester. The one which had the valve sucked in was 160psi but the other 3 were about 230psi. I turned over the engine by hand and it seems that none of the valves seem to be stuck open as they are returning right up to the cams when the lobe is not touching.

Don't have a massive budget and although I am a competent DIY mechanic I don't have access to a workshop or specialist tools, and can't afford to scrap the car which is in reasonable condition otherwise. Options as I see it are :-

1) Remove cylinder head, examine and either fix damage or replace head with a 2nd hand one.
2) Remove and replace whole engine and inlet manifold with one from a breakers..

Neither seems that appealing, anyone got any experience with these cars/engines?

What would be the most cost effective way to proceed to put things right. ?

Appreciate any constructive suggestions.

Angus.

You will get a new engine (from a breakers) for £400 or less so that's possibly easy and a straight swap out, but I guess it will take a bit of time.

Other than that, strip it and see what the problem is and whether it's an easy fix.

[Edited on 1/9/11 by Tiger Super Six]

Its probably a damaged seat or slightly bent valve that's causing the drop in compression.

I would go with (from experience) a recon head or second hand motor, whichever you fancy tackling.

Best thing is to price up a new motor and replacement head from the dealer then use that as a base for shopping around and replacing either.

it will have almost certainly bent a valve maybe more, i would also expect it to have scored the bore and maybe damaged the crown of the piston. get the head off have a look and see what the state of play is.

Worth pointing out that once out of the car and cleaned up your existing engine is probably worth £200-250 to a kit car or hot hatch builder, especially as you can prove the milegage and history, as it'll be far easier to get the head off and the problem sorted with the engine on the floor.

Weight that up as a saving against the cost of a new engine from a breaker and I'd suspect that options makes most sense.

Chris

First thing to do is remove the head and check the damage. The head has to come off anyway if you go for a recon or s/h head, but better to find out if there is any damage to pistons etc. before sourcing a another head.