Stock jdm sir2 engine. It was loosing oil and coolant w/no visible leaks. No coolant in the oil or visa versa. Spit white smoke once. I was changing the head gasket and it still looked brand new, no damage. I still changed the gasket and the head studs anyway.

Question is 2 part:
Can anyone else shed some light on what else may be the problem?
Looking at my valves and pistons does anyone know what this could be and if it is related to loosing oil/coolant?



Notice the spark plug tips, just that cylinder is different



That is coolant on top of the piston, im not sure if it was already there or if I spilled some on it when I removed the head.

Any information anyone can give is greatly appreciated,
-Bret

 

get your head decked... and get a new head gasket thats my .02

 

^^^^^^

 

It looks like you were getting oil in your #2 cylinder. This can be caused by the following:

Worn Valve Seals
Worn Valve Guides
Bad Head Gasket
Bad oil control rings

But im leaning more towards the valve seals since its only in that cylinder. It could also be the headgasket leaking coolant into that cylinder, which would explain your coolant loss. Just take it to a head shop and have the head resurfaced, and also have them check your valve seals and guides. Then replace whatever is out of spec.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Otherguy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">get your head decked... and get a new head gasket thats my .02</TD></TR></TABLE>
Check and see if it needs it first though. You only need a steel ruler and a feeler gauge. Then just follow the procedures in the helms manual. Very simple to do.

 

coolant leaking into cyl 2 and possibly cyl 3 would cause the piston to be clean around the edges... the coolant acts as a detergent and eats the buildup... so yeah you more than likely had a blown hg... did you do a compression test before you pulled it apart?... if you have low compression on 2 cylinders next to each other most of the time a blown hg is the culprit... for future reference, an easy way to check is to take off the rad cap, unplug the dizzy, and crank the motor... if it is blown the coolant will shoot up out of the rad like a fountain

 

Thanks for the good info, yah that #2 cylinder is the cleanest looking one. Compression test before I pulled it apart yielded all cylinders the same around 218. Feeler guages on the head were all the same whithin spec, no warping. A new HG and head studs are in. Anymore info is greatly appreciated.

 

Your engine looks alright. Clean the spark plugs and clean out the internals. If all is well, and you fix the problem, sea foam it. But yes, check the valve lash.

If that carbon is bothering you, think about changing to a slightly hotter spark plug.

The JDM motor could run richer to make more power (less strict emission laws in Japan). Check into this.

I looked again, I see the outline of the gasket on the head. Check to make sure the head is flat if you want. Also, make sure to torque the head studs properly.