Hazrd

Been awhile since I posted, but here is the latest. 94 Del Sol 1.5 D15b7

Chasing a hard to start warm issue, posted on here before but can't find the post.

After everything else was tested, pulled the head yesterday and took it in to a shop for resurfacing. I have been teaching myself as I go, but the neighbor looked at the gasket that came off and said it did look bad, so hopefully we have found the source of the hard to start.

Shop owner glanced at the head, and said I need more than a resurface. He is tearing it apart and will call with what he recommends. Cylinder 2 and 3 valves were white, (lean?) and I could see pitting on valves and the head itself.

Pistons looked ok to me, other than some carbon buildup or other gunk.

The question is, while it is this far apart, do I do rings, or what else? If so, how hard is it? reading the manual, it seems straight forward. Drop oil pan, remove oil pump (should it get replaced), remove rod caps/bearings and knock the pistons up through the block. Should I replace bearings too? and if I had good compression before do I need to do the piston rings?

Shop guy said rings wasn't something I should learn on my own, but so far, I'm pretty proud of myself for what I've figured out on cars with the help of this site and you tube.


We did everything trying to find the hard to start, head gasket was the last step. Symptoms were repeatable, it would not start after it sat once hot for 10-20 mins. If it sat until cold, no problem starting, and when it did finally start, it billowed white smoke.



so far:

Fuel pressure (42 with regulator disconnected/engine off key in ON, 32 running)
Compression test cold and when it wouldn't start
New plugs
New wires
Ohm the ignition coil, tested in spec
Replaced the distributor, ohm'd the new coil, checked in spec
Main relay resolder, and replaced
air filter
fuel filter
clean the iacv
Both coolant temp sender/sensors replaced
Pulled injectors, ohm'd in spec.
intake manifold gasket
replaced 1 vac line that looked ratty that ran to the fuel pressure regulator
checked for other vac leaks with carb cleaner
New radiator because it was leaking

No CEL



here is the block/pistons in the car


When I go to put this back together, can I reuse the head bolts? Shop manual says replace or clean, so I guess I can, but what is recommended?

TomCat39

You got lots here, this will take a moment to write through.

By the looks of the black specs on the block, it's the original graphite gasket. You will want minimum 1000 grit 3m wet sand paper to wet sand off the graphite gasket, don't use a metal razor blade.

You will want new head bolts being you have the old set and it's not recommended in the TSB for the new head gasket. There is a replacement gasket for non vtec motors that leak. I would switch to that gasket regardless as it is the proper thickness MLS gasket.

Here is the TSB:



As for doing the rings... I wouldn't touch them. Feel the top edge of each cylinder and see if you feel a ridge. If you do, you will need a bore and hone for new rings which also means new pistons as the piston to wall clearance will be out of spec from the bore and hone. Anyway you look at it, to do rings you have to do more than just drop the oil pan and oil pump, you have to remove the crank and that means removing the engine block from the car.

To see if you need to worry about that, you can lower each piston down and visually inspect the cylinder walls. If there is no gouging, and you can see remnants of the original hone cross hatching you don't need to touch your rings. If you have any scratches/gouges in the walls you have to rebuild the bottom end with bore/hone, re-ring and new pistons. It's a lot of work and a lot of expensive tools to do it right.

I suspect your pistons are fine and if you aren't knocking then your bearings are still quite likely fine.

But in reality, without tearing it apart and measuring everything with micrometers and dial bore gauges, you don't really know if you are still in spec and fine.

I would suggest researching checking cylinder bore, P2W, ring gap, crank run out, bearing clearance and I'm sure I'm missing something.

Each one of those topics will give you a small insight into rebuilding the bottom end (block). All of them together is what is needed as well as all the tools related to each part.

I can see why your tech said it might not be something you want to just delve head into on a car you might need running. It's better to get another block or motor to throw on an engine stand and learn on. Then when done, swap it and see if you did it right.

Hope this helps you.