Well, I was driving home tonight back to my apartment, and I shifted to third gear on the highway and put it down a bit, and then I hear a big boom. Next thing I know, it is completely gutless, backfiring like crazy every time I hit the gas, and it feels like its running on three cylinders. I limp it back to my apartment and open the hood, and there is oil everywhere. I look at the crankcrase beather, and it spraying a fine mist out everywhere.
What do you guys think happened? Piston ring went bad or what? A/F ratio was fine, 11.8 under boost. This is my one and only car, and now I have no way to get back and forth to school. Couldn't have happened at a worse time, just before finals. Throw me some ideas here. Hopefully I can get the motor pulled out and fixed up.
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX Limited
1999 Cavalier Z24 Supercharged
1999 Grand AM SE (Beater Car)
1997 GMC Sierra
2007 Honda CBR 600RR
2005 Honda TRX450R
Headgasket?
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'96 Cavalier Good ol' Pushrod 2.2
-24X,000 miles on factory build
-Some oil loss between changes, me thinks it be rings.
would that cause oil to be spraying out of the breather though? Its obvious that there is way too much pressure in the crankcase, so pressure is gettin by somewhere..
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX Limited
1999 Cavalier Z24 Supercharged
1999 Grand AM SE (Beater Car)
1997 GMC Sierra
2007 Honda CBR 600RR
2005 Honda TRX450R
Wow man, that really sucks. I'd offer to drive you...but Wisconson is very far from Tennessee...
See if you can get a ride with a friend.
sounds like you popped a hole in a piston bud. hit your local yard for another motor for the quickest fix.
99 Turbo Sunfire GT | Ram 2500 | International Rollback | Mr Hanky the Suburban
Well, I just went out and started ripping it apart in 10 degree weather. If I have words misspelled, its probably because I can't feel my fingers. It turned out that two of my spark plugs were smashed together to the point where there was no gap at all. There weren't any marks on them though, so it doesn't look like anything hit them which is weird. I straightened out the plugs, regapped them, started it up, and now its fine. It doesn't even seem to be spraying anymore oil out of the breather anymore. I don't know what the hell happened. I am going to do a compression test tomorrow when it is warmer out and see what that looks like. Hopefully it is good enough to make it until spring when I have money to fully build the motor.
Any thoughts what would do that to the spark plugs??
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX Limited
1999 Cavalier Z24 Supercharged
1999 Grand AM SE (Beater Car)
1997 GMC Sierra
2007 Honda CBR 600RR
2005 Honda TRX450R
Plugs do not just push them selves together. You troubles are not over.
FU Tuning
look on the brighter side, least you wont have to get new plugs.
yup you lost atleast 1 piston
time for a motor
That senario sounds familiar....i had similar problem.....time for a new motor
Damn, that sucks. I have a tuition payment of $3,000 due in two weeks. That leaves ZERO money for fixing my motor :-( I wonder if I take the S/C off for the winter, how long the motor will run the way it is...
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX Limited
1999 Cavalier Z24 Supercharged
1999 Grand AM SE (Beater Car)
1997 GMC Sierra
2007 Honda CBR 600RR
2005 Honda TRX450R
s/c or not....your time is SHORT
lol, maybe a week... if you take the superchager out. how much boost do you make? 0? if its 0 then its a big crack/hole in a piston.
if you keep the superchager on, you would have to put more oil in it, while you go.
I had that happen before.
____________________________
Dracula called, and he's coming tonight!
or, just don't try to make boost.
____________________________
Dracula called, and he's coming tonight!
my @!#$ did that on the way home from the dyno...Limped it home and the plugs were smashed together... just regapped them and it ran fine... if your compression checks out you might be ok for awhile... my motor did eventually poop all over itself about 3 months later, but i cant say for sure that it was related to this problem....good luck....btw... a descent motor from the yard is prolly around 500....
9.6--1/8 mile @ 5 psi
get a hold of me if you need a hand.
ya what he said, where are you, i can get a short block for free, so all you would need to do is set your timing stuf and a head.
but id say dont eaven drive it, the last thing you want is somting to find its way in to the manafold and F up the rotors.
your motors tost, only ONE thing can close a gap, and its not lots of air and gas.
Chris
'02 Z-24 Supercharged
13.7 @102.45 MPH Third Place, 2007 GMSC Bash SOLD AS OF 01MAR08
Its funny you say that.
My motor did the same thing. I got into boost, it fell on its face, and chugged along. I pulled the plugs, and #4 was smashed.
I got all new plugs, and haven't had a problem since.
I hope my motor isnt on its last leg...
Portage, MI
a compression check will tell the truth....check it out...my guess is blown ringland
It's a broken ringland at the least. If you only broke the ring land the damage to the head will be relativly minor although i'd worry about the valve seats. If you actuall broke the top ring also the head is pretty much toast. Pistons are aluminim and aluminium on aluminium is alot gentler then hardened steel on aluminium. The worst thing you can do is continue driving it, if there is any pieces of piston left in the chamber they will continue to bounce around until they hit the plug or escape out a valve.
For a cheap fix just track down some stock pistons. drop the pan, remove then head and swap the pistons. Reuse the head studs (torge them 5-10 % over spec), reassemble and hope it holds for a while. It's not a good solution but it'll get you running again with the least output of cash.
I've done the exact same thing... TWICE.
The first time, I got lucky. I somehow closed the gap on one of the plugs. It ran like hell, but I limped it home 250 miles. A compression test revealed everything was just fine. I opened up the plug gap, and it was a-ok for a few more months until....
...the second time, when I wasn't so lucky. Broke part of the #4 ring land off when I detonated it... redlined in first gear
the pieces smashed up the piston, head, everything... it was bad.
Pull all four plugs and do a compression test. You should be around 210 psi on each cylinder. If you're around 120 on any of them, you're missing part of a ring land (like I was)
LIVID wrote:It's a broken ringland at the least. If you only broke the ring land the damage to the head will be relativly minor although i'd worry about the valve seats. If you actuall broke the top ring also the head is pretty much toast. Pistons are aluminim and aluminium on aluminium is alot gentler then hardened steel on aluminium. The worst thing you can do is continue driving it, if there is any pieces of piston left in the chamber they will continue to bounce around until they hit the plug or escape out a valve.
For a cheap fix just track down some stock pistons. drop the pan, remove then head and swap the pistons. Reuse the head studs (torge them 5-10 % over spec), reassemble and hope it holds for a while. It's not a good solution but it'll get you running again with the least output of cash.
Like the Q4's, don't you have to replace the headbolts after they have been torqued down ? Fel-pro sells them for 40 $ or less a pop, not bad in my opinion.
My Cav
I give up...
i'm buying a VW those people love trees, so they should love eachother too... "Andy"
Well, I just did a compression test, and the results were:
200, 200, 210, 190.
The odd thing is is that the cylinder that had the highest compression was the one with the smashed spark plug... I suppose a leak down test would be more accurate, but I dunno how to do that and/or have the proper equipment. But I would think with a blown ring land, that the compression wouldn't be that high.
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX Limited
1999 Cavalier Z24 Supercharged
1999 Grand AM SE (Beater Car)
1997 GMC Sierra
2007 Honda CBR 600RR
2005 Honda TRX450R
wrong,
the alum probly just went some where else in the cumbustion chamber and now there is less volum. this incresing compression.
get a bore scope.
Chris
'02 Z-24 Supercharged
13.7 @102.45 MPH Third Place, 2007 GMSC Bash SOLD AS OF 01MAR08
