Sr20 problems, "need help!!!!'

[blackhole1]

Whatz up nico, first off I have used the search engine pretty much hit and miss. I have a newly rebuilt sr20 and has had problems with it from day one! The car always smokes and the idle is always up and down. I take it to a shop where i live and they have spent hours of work on my car.

Through the whole breakin perid I babied the car and did what was asked, I changed the oil after the first 500 miles and was told the the smoking would go away, This did not work! had other issues with the car due to the ecu and maf this went on for the longest time. so the first issue that came to mind is that one of these items would cause the car to smoke.

After the two issues were corrected the issue of the car smoking did not go away I have asked the shop that i take my car to if the could do a leak test and check to see if this would be the problem again nothing, I have done research and found out that a collent temp, and and pcv vavle that was faulty could cause all this, changed the pcv valve and helped alittle not much still smokes, just ordered the coolant temp sensor.

Today I decided to check the compression the shop that I take my car to said my compression was fine so i did one myself just to see what the number were, after removing the plugs the first cylinder was spotless same as #2, #4 in #3 cylinder there was oil hard to tell how much but not able to see through it it was very black! the plugs seemed to be ok but the plug for #3 was white the gaps on the plug were between .028-.036 all were different.

starting the compression test #1 cylinder was 145psi , #2 154 , #3 154 , #4 154 I have a cosworth metal headgasket 1.5mm also the oil has always smelled like fuel I know a little fuel smell is ok but this is a lot on my last oil change less the a 1000mil ago the oil was black and watery never seen this before .

This is where i am now what do you guys think? is this compression test good or should i redo the #1 cylinder and pour a little bit of oil in to see if it is the ring or valve seals? could this be a result of a bad injector for #3 or a bad fuel regulator? I know this is lengthy but I want to be percise in everything here have spent alot of money and things keep getting worse.

I will not drive the car now until I can get this fixed. any help would be good, thanks!
Modified by blackhole1 at 8:33 PM 2/8/2009

[schroder]

What do you mean by you "babied" your car after your full rebuild? For your rebuilt SR, I assume you had at least pistons done, meaning rings too? And you said you only changed your oil 1x and that was after 500 miles? I've always understood there are many points before you hit 500 miles that you should change your oil, and hopefully you didn't use synthetic til after the 500. Also, its now common practice to actually breakin your motor by driving it hard in a gear, and engine brake, and to do this many times. it will allow your piston rings to seat properly and quickly, so that when you drive it after that, your rings are not still trying to seat. If you baby it too much, your rings may not have fully seated and you might be experiencing the earlier stages of cylinder wash. But I'm brand new to the SR world, and this may not be the case...Hopefully some of the NICO gods will chime in and help ya out. best of luck!

[blackhole1]

I was told to drive it easy no raceing until 1200 miles , after the first 500 miles change the oil after the next 700 miles or so change the oil again, was told not to run synthetic, the first 1200 miles i changed the oil three times, I have hks step 2 cams and a 1.5mm headgasket so finding out today these two items can cause different compression readings these readings were also done on a cold start. I have read that 128psi was the min before replacing the rings this is on stock. I am leaning on a bad fuel injector being open pushing to much fuel into the third cylinder causing pre or post detination. idk just guessing right now.

[the converted]

Compression numbers seem decent. I would re-gap all your plugs so they even. Have you changed anything with the fuel pump, injectors, fuel regulator?

[blackhole1]

I will have to check the gap, but i am running a walbro fuel pump, 370cc stock injectors no up grade in regulator. I will start a nother check tomorrow to see if the injector for cylinder #3 in bad. that might explain the gas in the oil idk. just want to make sure first before i start upgrading the injectors and send the ecu off to be tuned.