oil where it shouldnt be

[tyrannix]

im about to take a head off to replace with a new one fresh from the machine shop....

so i get the valve covers off, and sparkplugs out getting ready to unbolt the head

so #2 plug is covered with oil, and this engine hasnt ran for a month

im hoping its a busted head gasket, but if it ends up being rings im really wondering if its worth it to rebuild

this is the 4age in my corolla. now im planing to drop in the CA from my s13 after the ca20 gets built.... but thats going to be a little while

the thing is i have almost a whole extra ca18 in parts in my garage (besides he parts for the ca20) but i spent abot 300 on machine work and a gasket kit for the4age head... and the ca18 parts will need machine work too (i was around 800 for the last ca18 i had machined for everything it needs with gaskets bearings and rings

hmm.. .maybe im just ranting because im pissed about finding the oil when i was supposed to be driving it again on monday... rebuild 4age or build the extra ca18 that will need a few more parts then have another project that will take a bit of time to finish

CJ

[boost_boy]

Hey CJ,

Go ahead and do the CA for the AE86. You can get really stupid with this combo. I have love for the 4ag series, too. But the 4age in your car don't sound like it's all that happy and wants to be replaced by a CA . I don't remember reading that it's force induced,but sounds like you could've partially melted a piston from a lean condition or detonation. I've seen auto CA18DE's do this as well, so again, go with the CA18 and have yourself some fun.

Dee

[dattodude]

Maybe the 4ag maintains a supply of oil in the head, and it's slipping past the valve stem seals, down the open valve and onto the top of the piston?

Did the engine smoke at idle before?

[tyrannix]

if it was smoking, it was only a little. i only got to drive it from october to jan as a daily, and it snows in winter here. its a GTSR5 (started life as an sr5 then was converted to gts, which means entire car harness, fuel pump and engine)and ive been fixing problems since i got it (looking back i really should have waited for a better ae86 to come around)

no, its not FI now, i was going to snag an SSAC manifold and dump pipe, then just toss on one of my extra turbos with CA stock intercooler

im done for the day, taking the family to a movie ... i still have the plenum to get off and something else i cant see thats holding the head on (head bolts, exhaust mani, distributer, fuel rail all off.. somethings still holding it on the block

once i get it off the story will unfold... melted piston , busted head gasket , or what...

if it turns out that the pistons are fine... then it will be up to if theres fuel in the oil when i drain the oil.. so ill probably have the fl prognosis tomorrow whn i get the head completly off

mistake: never did a compression test

im not as frustrated right now because theres so many possibilities.. i probably will be again tomorrow tho (hoping its just the headgasket or valve

if not, i might just part out the engine and go whole hog ca right now

the ***** of it is that i paid twice as much for the ae86 than i did for the perfectly functional (minus hud and piece of wood holding up RH window.... )s13 to be a donor for the silvia rebuild

and i didnt want to start any serious work on the ae86 until the s13 was totally up and running

oh well.. we cant always get what we want

CJ

[tyrannix]

so after some time to think (saw x-men 3), unless it was valves or head gasket.. hell maybe even if it is, im going to drop my leftover KAE in there .... i was going to part it out, but all it needs is a distributer and a head gasket and it will run fine.

the theory is that i want to keep the ae86 relativly low powered for now. that was almost the whole point of buying it... so that i have a practise car to build myself back up while i get the silvia ready for the track... honestly i would probably wreck the s13 if i tried racing it as soon as its ready

so the KA will be going in.. so i can get the mounts, and transmission/driveshaft/diff problems worked out first, then practise..... then procede as planned -> when the ca20 is ready it will go in teh s13, then the ca18 from teh s13 will go in teh ae86

this makes possibly less downtime, and when the ca is ready to go in it will be a straight swap (with bellhousing)

this is just if its a bottom end problem, if its a head problem, then i procede as planned with the new head on there just to get the thing running again (i like 4age exhaust manifold way better too, its only got 5 bolts holding it in and theyre wickid easy to get to

so tomorrow will go as planned, finish removing the head and see what im working with... then which engine gets parted out will be decided after that.

the 4age is grumpy, we will see if it likes the medicine

CJ

[boost_boy]

Good you got it all planned out! I hope you're able to salvage what's already in there, so you'll have less down-time and can focus on other things. Unfortunately for myself, I don't even have the time to finish up what I was doing to our sentra. I basically converted it from a street sentra to a street/strip dual function monster. It still has A/C, but I'm going to work on lifting the engine around 2 inches, so that I don't keep screwing up these custom axles I have (Engine sits too low). Anyways CJ, good luck with your cars and keep me informed on how this goes for you.

Dee

[tyrannix]

k, after arguing with the PS pump (a sensor that you have to take off the PS pump bracket to get to ) to get the harness all unplugged,

the head came off cleanly (guess it just needed to sit overnight)

heres the block (with gasket still on )

now some of the oil in the pics is going to be a few drops from when i lifted the head off

so.. yeah..MSpaint FTW resizing 1 meg jpg to 50% and 250k

cylinder 1 on right in both pics

CJ

[tyrannix]

and the head

[tyrannix]

so it looks like the headgasket wasnt cracked anywhere, what are the chances either way that its valves vs rings? (im already thinking the worst and its rings, meaning the end of this engines life)

and from what i can tell by just looking, theres nothing obviously wrong with the valves

crap.. ill just finalize my parts list on the aussie forums and start buying parts to drop in the KAE...

CJ

[boost_boy]

If the headgaset was in good shape like you said, your rings and or ring lands are gone to car heaven. In order for that much oil to leak from the valve stem seals, they would have to be torn to bits or just not even in there or worse, a screwed-up set of valve guides.

Dee

[tyrannix]

thats what i figured.so im still gathering up info on current setups others have on CA/KA/whatever -> ae86, so this car is on pause until the s13 is moving under its own power.only reason is that its in my single bay garage, and i have to get it moving so i can drop the KAe +transmission and CA20 out of the back of my yukon into the garage... then start on the ae86

im going to be on the lookout for a cheap running sr5 hatch with a clean title (mine has a salvage ) and swap the gts stuff over or get a supra rear end

i got sheisted when i bought this thing... i need something better to start with for this project. im still going to do the install on this one if i cant find another by the time im ready, but then i can just swap it over to the new car too

hmm... it might be in my best interest to rebuild/buy a new 4age bottom end and sell it as running with the brand new head (with valve job)

ill just come out with it now, i paid $3k for it .. its a gtsr5 with a salvage title, besides the engine problems, the steering rack is hosed (got a reman manual one tho not installed yet), the RH headlight is on its own program, theres a mystery leak in the brakes.. but no puddles, the RH seatbelt wont retract..... etc.... can of worms

im trying to figure out the cheapest way out of this problem, and end up with a new hatch with a clean title that runs who i can swap in my nissan engine later on

CJ

[tyrannix]

unfortunatly, this ae86 has too many problems... the crowning problem being the frame is tweaked (probably why it had the salvage title), ive opened wnough of the can of worms, this one will take too much work and money to make usable/safe .. i wash my hands of it.

but ive got a great deal on another gts... which i made an offer for him to hold it until i get back from vacation in july. if everything works out, ill be able to get another engine for my current one and sell it as it was sold to me (esp after the new movie comes out... might even make a profit on the deal) then part out the extra stuff i have (the remains of my current engine, the head with valve job +decking, complete head gasket kit, and extra transmission. (just need it to last until im ready to do the swap anyway)

so ill be back to a stock GTS for a daily driver, then sorry Dee, the swap is going to wait for a bit longer... at least until i have the silvia stable and running 'after break-in' upgrades (powerfc, z32 mafs, injectors,FPR, profec) ... then i might swap in the KAE to prep it for a CA swap

CJ