piston sleeve cracked

[multicam]

Has anyone had a sleeve crack?
If so, what was the cause?



Multicam

[Gordon Raymond]

I have seen a new liner in a 1600, crack many years ago. The cause was apparent when I used a die grinder to cut it in half opposite the crack. The liner had a casting flaw or inclusion about 1/2 inch long, near the top. When the engine was first run on the dyno, and heated up we had steam from the exhaust. We all felt it was a head gasket or head casting problem. As the engine warmed, under light load, the #2 liner had fractured. Since that time, I have always preferred used liners for over bored engines, only using new, where standard bore is required.
With todays materials and machine work, such failures are remote. If the failure is in a engine with some time and mileage, a casting flaw is very unlikely.
Gordon Raymond

[papajam]

I had a liner crack as well on a 1750 I had just rebuilt. Engine had some 50 flawless miles on it when a look in the mirror revealed that the car had decided to dust for mosquitoes. The cause for the 2 inch long crack straight down from the top of the #3 liner was never determined.