Hey guys,

I popped the head off of my 22RE to do a head gasket job and I found sand on the tops of #3 and #4 pistons and in the exhaust ports in the head. What does this mean??????!!!

-Jeff

 

you have serious issues with your intake/filter system. sand in the cylinders is NOT a good thing. you will definately want to get it looked at to see what damage has been done. good luck.

lee

 

I dont get it tho. The engine was running fine before i stopped driving it to work on the head gasket other than the normal head gasket symptoms.

-Jeff

 

Did you PO someone and they may have put sand in your gas tank?

 

Hahahaha, will sand go through the injectors? I dont think I could make anyone mad enough to do that.

-Jeff

 

Wouldn't get past the filters.
Wouldn't just lay around in the tops of the cylinders either if it came in through the intake either, it would scour the cylinder walls and ruin the valve guides and seating surfaces, and get blown out the exhaust. Even a little sand would ruin the engine VERY quickly. Maybe it isn't 'sand' - you might have a sample analyzed..

 

It has to be sand, i cant think what else it would be.

 

fine particals of carbon, maybe?

 

Ever gone offroading/sand driving? Could be some residual sand that was trapped on parts of the head and it then fell onto the block when you removed the head. From someone that drives on the beach alot, sand will get into places you couldn't imagine and will stay there forever.

 

I have'nt been to New Mexico in years, yet I'm still finding sand in various cavitys inside of my 'Runner in behind the trim panels even!
None the less, I'm in agreement with Flamedx4 in that it would be pretty damn impossible to continue operating an engine with sand in it and so, am leaning more towards the residual deposits or build up from additives to either the gas or oil systems, or both even.

 

I hope its one of those, or else i just broke some records with running sand in my engine.

-Jeff