Well....I had a gut feeling that lower octane was the culprit there, somewhere amongst this mess along with bad detonation.
Al.

 

Well I believe you're on track, the water actually is an oxygenator, and the steam can dramatically increase compression, remember water injection of years gone by. I think the owner is now on the hook for a set of heads, and a total rebuild. Might be better to see if you can round up a crate engine----time,labor, warranty.

 

Wow, haven't seen a hole like that before. I don't see the water/coolant reducing the octane of the fuel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_injection_(engines) Water injection has been used for decades to delay or prevent detonation in ICEs (internal combustion engines). However, I agree there was detonation happening, as I don't see the pieces above the top piston ring coming out by themselves. The piston top looks like the pieces were bouncing around for a while, if I didn't know better. Kind of reminds me of a bead-blasted surface.
How many miles on the engine? Is the head warp enough to cause a head gasket leak? What do the other pistons and plugs look like? Anyone think a poorly setup N2O setup might cause the lean condition for the detonation? A leaking runner for that cylinder might be a culprit also, since the O2 sensor is on the entire bank, and not by cylinder...
Curious to see what the warranty folks say.

 

Seen similar but NEVER that bad.

I agree completely with the lean state theory - and I also agree that the owner was operating a vehicle that was running like poo-poo with an unmistakable CEL for quite some time.

Coolant into the cylinder would be my first guess...


I just did a complete 2002 4.7 rebuild a couple of months ago and know where you can get good quality parts on the cheap. PM me if you need a source:

 

I gotta be straight here:

I hate the fact that a customers warrantee is being refused because of our contributions to this thread.. we may be right, but we may be wrong, too.. without physically inspecting it ourselves, there is no way we could know for sure.. but we've likely cost a dude a lot of money..

Furthermore, I would be mad as hell if I found out my mechanic conferred with a forum to determine fault.. and that is putting it mildly..

Lesson learned for me: keep my big mouth shut in such circumstances.. I think we're right about the lean burn and likely neglect, but I don't know because I didn't see it for myself.. for that I feel bad..

 

You can't deny warranty over speculation or opinion. You have to be able to PROVE neglect. Although I get your meaning and I suppose it's possible an opinion on here could help someone in proving neglect and thus effecting a warranty claim. Point taken.

I came away from the first post thinking the OP was looking for answers to give to the warranty company so that they would approve paying him for the repairs. Maybe I'm wrong and read too much into it, but that was my take.

I don't know the fine print in the warranty company's contract, but the fact remains that even if the owner drove the car after it developed a head gasket failure - it still had a failure and they should have to cover warranty repairs...

 

I didn't even think that far into it??
Just thought someone wanted an opinion on what possibly happened??
Ah.......modern life's just too fast for me at times.
Al

 

Ehhhhh not so true.... Water Injection is only effective when the solution that is being injected has been atomized by an injector type device.

When your head gasket leaks into a cylinder it effectively reduces compression, and as a result makes the fuel less reactive under the compression cycle of the Piston.

So yes true that it will have little to no affect on the octane rating, but incorrect that it would act in a similar manner to an Alcohol/Methanol/Water Injection System....

To the OP,

I think you have enough information posted to finish your tear-down of the engine and see what the Warranty Company says, My bet is they will deny it based upon the head gasket failure (depending on mileage)... But who knows for sure what they will say.

I can say however that this customer will pretty much need an entire new engine (with heads), and injectors... just about the only thing that can be reused is the fuel rails (possibly) and the accessories (PS, A/C Compressor, & Alternator).

Going to be an expensive day to say the least.