What do BITOGers think about Acura's silicon.....

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.....liners in the cylinder sleeves?

TL Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®)

Super Handling All-Wheel Drive™ (SH-AWD®) for performance handling and all-season capability
3.7-liter SOHC V-6 aluminum alloy engine
305 hp at 6,200 rpm and 273 lb-ft of torque at 5,000 rpm
11.2:1 compression ratio
High-silicon aluminum cylinder sleeves cast directly into aluminum cylinder block
Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control (VTEC®) for intake and exhaust valves
Dual-stage induction system with lightweight magnesium intake manifold
Cold-air intake system
Larger throttle-body (69 mm diameter versus 64 mm in the TL) for the Drive-by-Wire™ throttle system
Integrated exhaust manifolds cast directly into the cylinder heads
High-flow, sport-tuned dual exhaust system with quad exhaust tips
Computer-Controlled Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI)
Direct ignition system
Detonation/knock control system
Maintenance Minder™ system
100,000-mile tune-up intervals*
*Does not apply to fluid and filter changes. Exact mileage is determined by actual driving conditions.




Acura silicon
 
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Just be glad it isn't nickle.
wink.gif
 
prior to this most of the engines honda made did not have sleeved blocks. so this is an improvement, probably put into effect due to the compression ratio which is fairly high on that motor.
 
I can't believe that they would go backwards in technology.
What I mean is that they most assuredly have improved on this decades old type of cylinder wall.
It is very hard to do right - pretty much a factory thing.
And it is expensive.
So count on it as being great for wear and sealing.
 
Does this silicon liner replace the FRM (fiberglass reinforced metal)? Or is it the same thing?
 
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This technology has been around since at least 20 years ago. It incorporates the best of both worlds... a high silicon alloy where it's needed for wear at the cylinder walls, and the rest of the block is a lower silicon alloy that is easier to machine.

Compared with cast iron liners, this engine block doesn't have the thermal expansion mismatch and is more easily recycled (iron is poisonous to cast aluminum in the secondary market).

Like I mentioned in a previous thread, should damage occur, these cylinder walls cannot be refurbished by most machine shops. Otherwise, with proper oil maintenance, there should be virtually no wear of the cylinder walls for 500K.
 
Kawasaki has been doing this in their engines since the early 80's.

Seems to work. Like Kestas said, if there is ANY damage you throw the block away.
 
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Silicon, not silicone.

Mercedes uses similar tech.


Yep,so does Lexus.This is nothing new.
 
Originally Posted By: lexus114
Originally Posted By: chevrofreak
Silicon, not silicone.

Mercedes uses similar tech.


Yep,so does Lexus.This is nothing new.


Mercedes went to high silicon aluminum bores on their V8s with the introduction of the new S Class cars in 1980. However, the entire block was high silicon aluminum. No sleeves. I don't know if they still use this or not, but some of those V8s are running around with several hundred thousand miles on them with no problems.
 
+1 on the comments that its not a new idea, and that it works great when done right. Using silicon as a trace element in block iron (usually also alloyed with nickel) goes way back to the 60s, if not earlier. No special machining or surfacing was used then, but the silicon would still wind up providing "islands" for rings to ride on and between which oil would entrain as the cylinder wore, improving wear significantly.

More advanced processes that get an even better cylinder wall finish with better control of the "islands" of silicon go back to the 80s and 90s. This was mainly applied to liners suitable for aluminum block engines

There've been some spectacular failures too. BMW had a [censored] of a time when they introduced their nickel/silicon liners to the US market. Turns out that the higher sulfur in US fuel (at the time) didn't play nice with their NikaSil process at all. Old story- google for it at will....
 
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