I was driving my turbo'd ITR yesterday, driving steady as there was a lot of traffic then i heard a kind of knocking noise that was only really loud enough to hear at low revs, it sounded like it was comin from underneath the car and i thought it was the temp sender from the cat that i had cable tied underneath and had come loose. Then when i was slowing down it was not idling smoothly and cut out a couple of times when stationary. As i pulled over to take a look it felt like the wheels locked up for a split second so i popped the hood to take a look, it sounded quite bad like somethin was loose in one of the cylinders cos the knocking noise was in time with the revs. i shut it off and checked the oil, which was ok (very hot but ok) I went to start it again so i could move it to a safer place to get recovered and it was almost like my battery was flat as it couldn't turn the engine over hardly at all.

As i only bought the car last month i am not entirely sure what mods apart from low comp pistons, the intercooler, the oil cooler, T3/4 turbo, Bigger injectors + fuel pump, external wastegate + screamer pipe. I do know it was running rich not lean but not much else.

What do you think???

 

I think you shouldnt have bought this car without knowing more about it. This could be a million things. Start with the basics.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RTW DC2R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think you shouldnt have bought this car without knowing more about it.
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This was my initial thought as well, it doesn't sound like you were prepared for what was to come.

 

Damn, sounds like you bought a car with an engine on it's way out and you didn't know it.

 

Just the replies i was lookin for guys, you've really helped

The car was not expensive, thus is a project. I was always going to re-build it properly but unlike some of you people I did not have the time or copious amounts of mechanical knowledge to strip the engine down before handing over the money. And it wasn't anythin basic as 1 independant mechanic didn't see anyhing wrong, neither did a Honda dealership.

I was just looking for a bit of general mechanical advice (like: it sounds like a melted piston ring or at best a bottom end re-build), not for people like you to be-little me on what is usually a very good forum.

Thanks again people.

 

judging by your name and location i'm guessing you're in Carlisle, North England?


in which case, who did you buy the car off and where was the build done and who did the tuning?


this might help

 

OP:

I am all too familiair with ruining perfectly good B18C5 engines with boost. It's time for you to pull the head, take pictures and show everyone the carnage. Despite the fact that it was running rich as you say, problems can also become if an engine runs TOO rich. If the engine runs too rich, the oils that coat the cylinder walls can be eaten and burned away by the excessive amounts of fuel.

Who wants to bet it has something to do with cylinder #3?

 

What would make cylinder #3 special? I only ask because thats where the majority of the noise was coming from. Yes i am in Carlisle N.England but the car was bought from Devon and it was running a VAFC hack hence the richness, it was booked in next week to have a hondata s300 mapped and engine pulled apart to see what needed modifying. Its just a pain in the **** it going like this cos now i'll have to tow it for it's re-build. I knew at the time it was a bit of a cowboys place that had done the conversion however the rest of the car is immaculate and it was going to be well worth what i paid even if i ended up putting £4k into the re-build which looks quite likely now.

Cheers

Russ

 

cylinder #3 is famous in B-series engines for being a weak point, especially high powered, high revving engines, the bearings get oil starved.


hmmm, not good, running a boosted car on VAFC


who did the original build? if you know...

if you were already going to split the motor, well, let us know what happened.


also, who's doing the new tune? can i tempt you into waiting for when Mase comes over?

 

Ahh that makes sense now. Well i was going to have it stripped when it went to get re-mapped but due to a three week wait i was too tempted to use it for work (50miles each way, nice B roads) it went pop on the 2nd trip to work, allthough it had made the 350 odd mile trip back from Bideford, Devon with no problems at all so I wasn't too worried about running it a bit before the tune. It wasn't exactly a back street garage but not far off - i just feel sorry for the people who were getting work done on their DC5's and supra's there at the same time!

I will be getting the re-build and tune up at TDi North in Warrington as i've heard good things about them. Is there any ways apart from an uprated oil pump to reduce the cylinder #3 weakness?

Cheers

Russ

 

hmm, i've not heard anything about TDi North's expertise at tuning B-series, but they've got a good reputation on the EP3 and DC5 Type-R owners for doing K-pro stuff.

i've also not heard anything bad about their engine building, mostly as they specialise in K-series stuff

 

pull the plugs and crank again, tell me what the plugs look like

 

I have not yet checked the crank but on checking the plugs they appear fine, Copper BKR 7's the gap is about .003. However cylinder #4 (end right ) seems to be full of oil?

Tartje, who would you reccomend for a B series re-build in the North of England?

Cheers

Russ

 

Another opinion i have just had is that the head gasket leaked/blew under load (thus a small ammount of coolant that looks like it's been sprayed out onto the bonnet) which helped towards a cracked crown + melted piston rings in cylinder #4.

I have heard good things about XO Powertuning in the N.East so might take a look at their set-up next week.

Cheers

Russ

 

Be sure to go with the S300, as it allows your tuner to individually adjust the injectors. This can be a big help with the cylinder #3 issues. Best of luck with the rebuild.