Sadlotus

Hi all
I'm in the process of rebuilding my turbo after a head gasket failure.
Number four rod bent.
Before I sent rod and piston off to the machinist I took down any numbers I could find on it.
The piston had nothing but four small indents (for No4 piston?).
The rod had the same four dots and the part number: 112 faintly then 88 944 2.5 526
The big ends are marked as std.
The part number I have found online for a turbo rod is M44.52 944 103 00100 - for my 1991
Can anyone confirm one way or the other before I order anything?
The more I delve into this engine the more of a mess the 'Specialist' (hahahaha) made of it .
many thanks
Paul

V2Rocket

By 1991 the 944T was getting "whatever is on the shelf that fits" so you are very likely to have cast connecting rods shared with the NA/S2 in your "Turbo S-spec" M44.52 engine, as factory-installed parts.

The pistons are not marked per cylinder.

Sadlotus

Interesting.
Thanks V2Rocket.
How do I order a new rod then? If it could be one of several. the numbers seem to be casting marks.
So what are the four dot/indents on the rod and piston?.

This is a very steep learning curve - please bear with me.

Many thanks
Paul

V2Rocket

I would look to your nearest 944 dismantler (wherever you are located) and get a set of 4 1986 944T rods, they are the strongest set offered in a 944 engine...

odonnell

I have four sinter-forged rods you can have for cheap. It's not likely that they're as strong as forged 951 rods, but they're most definitely stronger than cast rods. I've plastigaged them on a measured-good crank and new rod bearings and they're 100% in spec.

Dougs951S

sounds like you need a new piston too, if the rod bent and the piston has marks on the top; they are probably marks from a valve collision. if that is the case, you need the valves checked for straightness too. Sounds like you were experiencing some serious detonation to bend a rod and blow the HG. Check your tune. What are you running for mods/tune and how much boost? I assume you feed it 93 pump?

Sadlotus

Hi all,
first of all better say that I'm in the UK. I've only had the car for two months.

Piston is ok, small shiny spot about 10mm where the rod had bent but otherwise ok.
No valves bent. But no meat left to skim so I've bought another.
Lot of bodges on the last rebuild (engine inc new liner in 2014 and head rebuild in 2015)
So we're giving it a full check over.
Doug951S It's got a Promax level 2 kit installed that the PO made no mention of. So I need to check out what's going on there re boost and tune.

StoogeMoe

What caused the bent rod? Hydro lock in cylinder 4? If so I personally wouldn't use the piston either. Even if it looks ok it may have been strained or stressed leading to future failure. How does that cylinder look?

Dougs951S

Also how does the crank look? It's not uncommon for a rod journal to get messed up from a rod bending, it takes a ton of force to cause tensile failure in an OE forged rod.