Calling all moticians: WTF happened to my engine?

[4cefed]

Hi gang,

About 3 or 4 years ago I lost the stock KA24DE in my 92 coupe. I found a crappy 91 hatch and transplanted engines. All has been well since. The stock "blown" engine has been hanging around and for the past year it has been outside because my garage collapsed.

I decided to tear down the stock engine. The problem is, I see no obvious damage. From what I remember I was working in NY and on my home for the day. About a minute after I started the engine, I heard a ticking noise. I limped to the nearest gas station and checked my oil. From what I recall I think I added about three quarts.

I always keep track of my oil so I'm not sure how I got that low.

The ticking didn't go away and I got on the interstate to come home for the weekend. The ticking got worse and eventually became a vigorous shudder. I made it to the first rest area and pulled in. The engine wouldn't idle unless I had the throttle open a bit and the engine was shaking violently like I had thrown a rod.

The only thing that didn't look normal was there was some water on top of the #3 cylinder (I think #3). I figured rain got in there. Before I pulled apart the bottom end I drained the oil pan and at least a gallon of water (not coolant) came out. The insides look fine though, no rust except a bit in the #3 bore and on top of that piston. There seemed to be a bit more carbon build up on the #4 piston too.

So I have a pile of oily seemingly OK parts out there and I'm not sure where to look. The crank looks great, no spun bearings on the crank or rods. In fact, all the bearings only show a bit of wear, and everything seemed to be torqued down OK. I imagine tonight I'll clean everything off and start inspecting, but WTF should I be looking for? I have had more 2.2 Chrysler turbos apart than I care to mention, but this is my first KA24DE. I've dealt with badly blown engines before and this is what I thought happened.

Could the head gasket have gone bad? Both manifolds, timing assemblies, head and bottom end all look fine. The head gasket looks OK, but I've never been great at diagnosing bad gaskets.

How about collapsed lifters? Could valves not opening or something case this? I'm open to suggestions guys. Thanks.

/ walloftext