Thread: cylinder liners for diesels

I have seen vw diesel cylinder liners listed on Ebay.
It seems like a way cheaper route to bore out the engine and put liners in and reuse the old pistons (new rings and bearings of course) than buy new oversize pistons and rings. This is a fairly common practice on industrial engines
Anyone with any experience or advice on this in vdubs.

Originally Posted by 49thdiver

I have seen vw diesel cylinder liners listed on Ebay.
It seems like a way cheaper route to bore out the engine and put liners in and reuse the old pistons (new rings and bearings of course) than buy new oversize pistons and rings. This is a fairly common practice on industrial engines
Anyone with any experience or advice on this in vdubs.

I wouldn't reuse the old pistons, since pistons wear out too (incl. groves for the rings). You should replace pistons when fitting new liners.

Originally Posted by Transporter

I wouldn't reuse the old pistons, since pistons wear out too (incl. groves for the rings). You should replace pistons when fitting new liners.

Sound advice especially if the engine has several hundred thousand kilometres up.

changing liners can be a problem also, as chevy found out with the alloy block LS1 they move if not fitted correctly or because of different thermal expansion rates of dissimilar metals, new pistons and rings is the easy way out.

Originally Posted by oracle1

changing liners can be a problem also, as chevy found out with the alloy block LS1 they move if not fitted correctly or because of different thermal expansion rates of dissimilar metals, new pistons and rings is the easy way out.

The liners have to be an interference fit to stop this problem - the best way is to use dry ice [approx -30deg C] or a dry ice/acetone solution [approx -100deg C] to freeze the liners before insertion [just don't drop them] and the low temperature allows time to ensure they are properly positioned before the interference fit takes up.