Piston - borescope

Ardent · March 3, 2020, 18:17

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Recently bought the above.
An endoscope with built in wifi that connects to your phone so you can view and record. For comparatively little money. Sub £20. Does a good job.
It occurred to me me with April coming up and my annual service I could use this as a borescope when I change the plugs.

Looking inside is no longer a problem.
The problem now is me, what should I be looking for, I may be able to look at the side walls, certainly be able to look at the tops of the piston, but what, in an ideal world, should I be looking at? Should they be clean, should they have a coating of carbon what?

JB21 · March 4, 2020, 09:01

Look for scoring on the cylinder walls and patterns of burnt oil on the piston heads which would indicate valve seat leaks.

Carolyn · March 4, 2020, 09:26

Knowing your particular engine as I do, there's nothing to look for!

There will be a bit of brown staining on the top of the pistons and the bores will still show the cross-hatch from honing.

It's a lovely smooth running, well maintained engine. Anything you might find would involve dismantling to fix. And that ain't going to happen, is it?

By all means have a peek, but that will be the end of it.

househead · March 4, 2020, 09:31

Even if not useful for your engine, I can see this being super handy for inspecting things generally, without having to jack up and crawl under and also able to get in tight spaces in advance of doing stuff by feel.

Does it have illumination and is the rod flexible or mouldable?

Topdownman · March 4, 2020, 10:18

My cheap one is flexible and has a light and it doesnt look as nice or expensive as Jasons!

Have you had a look inside your subframe yet?

Ardent · March 4, 2020, 11:06

Quote from: Carolyn on March 4, 2020, 09:26Knowing your particular engine as I do, there's nothing to look for!

There will be a bit of brown staining on the top of the pistons and the bores will still show the cross-hatch from honing.

It's a lovely smooth running, well maintained engine. Anything you might find would involve dismantling to fix. And that ain't going to happen, is it?

By all means have a peek, but that will be the end of it.

Dear @Carolyn, that's what I'm hoping for. Just me and the quest for knowledge.
As the plugs are replaced annually seems a shame not to have a peek.
I will probably forget about this post, but pop up the results as and when.

Ardent · March 4, 2020, 11:11

Quote from: househead on March 4, 2020, 09:31Even if not useful for your engine, I can see this being super handy for inspecting things generally, without having to jack up and crawl under and also able to get in tight spaces in advance of doing stuff by feel.

Does it have illumination and is the rod flexible or mouldable?

Super handy mate. For the reasons you have said. And yes built in variable led for illumination. Plus attachments 90 deg mirror. 5m lead. Dont need 5m but thats how it came. £17.99

househead · March 4, 2020, 11:19

Quote from: Ardent on March 4, 2020, 11:11
Quote from: househead on March 4, 2020, 09:31Even if not useful for your engine, I can see this being super handy for inspecting things generally, without having to jack up and crawl under and also able to get in tight spaces in advance of doing stuff by feel.

Does it have illumination and is the rod flexible or mouldable?
Super handy mate. For the reasons you have said. And yes built in variable led for illumination. Plus attachments 90 deg mirror. 5m lead. Dont need 5m but thats how it came. £17.99

The FL headlight clips "spring" (pun intended) to mind.

Think I might pick one of these up.

househead · March 4, 2020, 11:20

Quote from: Topdownman on March 4, 2020, 10:18Have you had a look inside your subframe yet?

That sounds like a nightmare-inducing exercise!

Topdownman · March 4, 2020, 12:31

Brown as far as the eye can see!

Ardent · March 12, 2020, 22:25

For those that are not following the malian thread

Here are a couple of examples from the scope.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AjKQRUlKMbdSjmMwd34KXLgJyhO5?e=P9zkZ4

Dev · March 15, 2020, 15:56

I used a cheap Borescope 9 years ago. I did some piston soaking which actually helped but unfortunately I lost the before video.

If you notice you can see the circular machine marks on the tops of the piston. Im sure what ever cleaning was done was only temporary as the carbon build up comes back but at leasts its arrested.
The newer one I have has a smaller diameter head that can fit all the way in and you can attach a mirror to inspect the valves.

Its still fun but can be invaluable when diagnosing damage. I imagine you can feed it in the gear box or other hard to see areas of the car.