Lancia 2.0 16v turbo, damaged 2nd piston

[nabilhpe]

Hello guys,

I hope you are not badly affected by the bad economy, I just wish to have the 2009-2010 pass by us with the least problems and headaches possible.

A friend called me 2 weeks ago, he is the guy with the Fiat Ritmo that is equipped with the Lancia 2.0 16v turbo engine that I mentioned back in the old days, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGtdYl6hbe8 this is an old clip from inside the car, after this clip was taken the car got a
1- 3" exhaust pipe with a 3" entry and 5" exit Jasma catback
2 - Equal length Headers
3 - water methanol injection system
4- a different remap.
5- Tipo intake and exhaust cams 41.5mm both.

the car was doing great till like 3months ago, it started to have engine damage in piston #2, he replaced the piston # 2 three times now, the 1st time he used a set from the Delta HPE, which have the 1.5mm, 1.5mm and 3mm pistons rings, and the piston broke between the rings, then he used a set from the 2.0 8v turbo engine machined to fit the 16v head, and the piston # 2 got burned, he is using the NGK racing competition spark plugs B8EBV, he also tried the NGK BKR8IEX, he tried to run the car without water methanol injection and with water methanol injection, he tried with retarded timing, he checked the injectors flow and swapped injectors, yesterday he went back to using a set of pistons from the Delta HPE, he checked compression on all cylinders and it was 140-150psi, he went for a test drive with the retarded timing chip he have, and when he came back, he checked his spark plugs and #2 showed signs of running Leaner than the rest, he already have a Wideband meter on the car and under WOT, and under boost the car is running 11.7:1 air fuel mixture.
so he is running 17psi max boost, he went for the chip with the advanced timing remap, and turned out his water methanol injection and went for another test run, he came back unsatisfied with the performance, and when he did another compression test, piston #2 pressure went to 120psi, which most probably means that the 16v piston broke again.

what do you guys think is the logical explanation for this issue? why its always piston #2? we swapped injectors and problem stayed thats why we doubt its an injector issue, do these cars run sequential injection? do you think there is something wrong with the ECU injector#2 signal? can it be a wiring harness injector#2 wire problem? can the block cause such a problem?

He is planning to buy a set of forged pistons now, but he is afraid to install if the issue is not solved.

thank you for taking the time to read this long post, and hope you can enlighten us with your expertise.

Billy

[Guy Croft]

Need photos of head, gasket, pistons. I mean VERY good closeup. If it's det - I'd know it like an old friend.

GC

[nabilhpe]

Thank you, I will take some closeup shots as soon as he take the engine apart and will share it with you.

Kind regards
Billy