They said the car blew a cylinder, what caused it?

Question

I have a 1991 Grand Am 2.5, The car died last night and wouldn't restart on the side of the road, Last week I had the power steering pump peplace, then we replaced the battery, before that we put in a new alternatior. After the power steering pump was fixed the battery light came thus the other repairs, I was wondering if this had anything to do with what happened. The oil has been changed on a regular basis. what could have caused this? The Mechanic called me this morning and said that they found broken pices, all of the major components work on diffrent belts not just one(3 total)

Answer 1

Blown cylinder implies either the piston melted a hole in it from a long term lean condition where that cylinder didn't get enough fuel causing it to burn the gas at much higher temps. Second reason could be the rings that seal the piston and the cylinder broke or wore out could be from excessive carbon, lean condition, from piston slap where the piston wears down and wiggles in the cylinder. The third thing is the block cracked so no compression can be formed by the piston. Forth is your head has gone bad, either the valve broke or cracked or the valve spring failed so the valve is not closing. All of these are expensive to fix I would recommend taking the car to a salvage yard being a 91 it is bound to nickel and dime your after it takes you arm and leg to repair the blown cylinder.

Answer 2

I blew a hole the size of a silver dollar in the piston of the first cylinder in my old Ford Tempo.
The mechanic asked if I used cheap gas. Well, yeah. Who drives an old car and uses high-test gas, right?
He said there was a pinging before it blew. I had never noticed. But recently, when my Chevy Malibu started pinging, I recognised it. Now I use mid-grade. No more pinging. No more blown cylinders.

Answer 3

Head gasket failure is common on those motors. It's just wear and tear and corrosion that causes it. Changing those other parts would have no effect on the head gasket.