Dodge Viper V10 Teardown Reveals Destroyed Piston

Allegedly sourced from a 2004 model, the second year for the major redesign referred to as the ZB 1, the 8.3-liter engine was purchased from a viewer who told Eric right off the bat that it's got a bad cylinder. That’s not all, though…

It’s obvious the free-breathing powerplant has been sitting outside for a considerable amount of time, considering the pitiful state of the valve covers and the dirtiness of the intake plenum and heads. Right before the teardown process, Eric can't find a gasket on the passenger-side head. He then removes all ten spark plugs, only to find lots of wear and a seriously noticeable gap on one of them between the center and the ground electrode.

Cranking the V10 manually further gives away internal damage, most likely from the bad cylinder that Eric is aware of. With the valve covers off, it’s also clear the oil is contaminated by water, coolant, and metal bits. With the heads off, the bad cylinder is revealed in the guise of a fist-sized piece of a piston. Curiously, the conrod was not shattered into tiny pieces.

Eric already knows the block of the V10 mill cannot be salvaged, “but it will probably make a good coffee table. At least there’s that.” One of the cylinder heads misses a valve seat, most likely from running hot and dropping the seat. The oil pan is full of metal bits from the shattered piston, the bearings don’t look great either, the camshaft’s lobes have seen better days, and finally, the crankshaft’s journals have some wear as well.

With the teardown complete, Eric is certain that a severe overheating condition led to the valve seat dropping and the piston pulverizing itself. As to the parts he intends to salvage, these are the oil pan, timing cover, valve covers, one cylinder head, the intake manifold, exhaust manifold, and a few other miscellaneous bits that are in demand even used.