i remove the manifold to check my turbo, and for my surprise the ex. port was
wet in oil. This cold be piston rings or one piston (went) or maybe head related?

ls vtec
1- je pistons
2- je rings



thanks in advance

 

Do a compression and leakdown test

 

This! Also take a look through the spark plug hole when you pull the plug out

 

something is tweaked.

i agree with the compression and leakdown

 

in the spark plug hole the piston seem to be wet. the plug it's not wet
but have spots of oil.

compression test after work. need to buy one comp. tester.

 

Let us know the numbers after you do it. Just to let you know I had this same problem and it ended up being cracked piston ringlands

 

can you find a single piston or need to buy the whole set. In my case JE

 

Do the tests first. You don't know if thats the problem yet

 

Most likely a valve seal

 

if you do need a new piston yeah you can get a new piston

 

Could also be a injector that stuck dumping fuel in one cylinder making it look oily

 

x2

with myself

 

a compression test or a leakdown test wont tell him if his oil control rings are shot or if his valve guides / seals are shot.

step 1) replace valve seals, easiest and cheapest to do
step 2) seafoam the motor and let it soak the cylinders overnight to try and jog the oil control rings loose (if carbon seized em)
step 3) if still not fixed, try swapping heads with someone to see if the problem is in the head, or the block
step 4) if oil is gone, problem is in head, thus replace valve guides, if oil is still there, problem is oil control rings, tear down and re-ring, or try seafoam a couple more times.

if it was a broken ringland then something majorly went wrong with the motor, and you should know it

 

you consider this easy?

also, detonation which is what usually lifts cylinder heads and cracks ringlands will show up in a compression/leakdown test. when i fragged the #3 ringland the engine still ran fine, just started consuming a ton of oil.

your suggestion is an insane amount of work.....

you can vacuum test the head to see if the valves are sealing and a leakdown will show what's up with the bottom end. it would be beyond unusual to have oil rings just randomly fail

 

I dont consider it easy, but regardless a compression and leakdown wont do anything for him.

What will a vaccuum test tell him? that the head is bad? ok then he hasto pay for guides and seals anyway, may aswell just jump right into the seals and not hafto pay some shop for the test. since the total cost of seals is cheaper than the test

will the leakdown show broken ringland? sure, but then you gotta tear it down anyway and replace the rings n piston. may aswell not pay a shop to do the leakdown either.

in the case of severe oil suction like this, compression and leakdown wont help in any way.

also my oil control rings seized up, I had 220 psi across, but the motor sucked in oil like gasoline. re-ringed, done.

The only way to fix and figure the problem 100%, is to tear **** down. Try another head, that way you will know if its the head or the block, then tear down accordingly.

 

i'm mount the turbo back in the car, tomorrow i leakdown and comp. test she in my cousin shop, i'll post later the results.

 

i can understand this

vacuum will show you if the valves are sealing. doesn't do a lot for valve seals but it will let you know if you have seal.

based on my own exp if the cylinder suddenly gets wet it's usually one of a couple things

1. you lifted the head
2. the ringlands cracked
3. cylinder got too hot and expansion scuffed the side {real possibility here since the op has JE}

OP what's your piston to wall clearance? if you say some **** like .0030 we'll have a real good idea what your problem is

i'm just saying start with screw in 20 minute tests before you start pulling engines apart

 

rigth now i don't remember we built this engine two years ago.

 

your probably right racebum,

is the cylinder in question happen to be #3?

 

LOL

dun dun dun

the infamous #3

 

no it's the #4 ,

i made a compression test all the four cylinders are in the 160 range.

This could be a bad valve guide?

 

follow the steps i've outlined above

 

Uh leakdown test will tell you EXACTLY what's leaking... you just listen to where the air is leaking out...

You just do it with the subject piston at TDC. If you hear air coming out the crankcase (listen to the oil dipstick hole) it's your rings... if you don't it's your valve seals.

You can confirm it's the valve seals by removing the intake and exhaust manifolds and looking down the subject runners.. the top of the valve will be wet with oil which it will not be if it's the rings.

And for the record changing valve seals couldn't be easier... it's getting to them that's a PITA ;-)

 

The only INTELLIGENT way to figure out a problem is to properly diagnose it before tearing it down and throwing money away on parts that you may or may not need.

Granted for oil in a cylinder it will always result in pulling at least the head, but stripping your head to do valve seals when they're not needed is dumb. If you're already changing your valve body then sure do it while it's open. But I wouldn't EVER recommend someone replace their valve seals without KNOWING they're bad.

Your method is super shade tree.

 

You do realize that the valve seats sealing and "valve seals" are two totally different things right? No test will tell you valve seals are leaking other than direct visual observation through the intake/exhaust runners. Oily valve stems? Bad Valve Seals. The End.

Also your list doesn't include valve seals which is a very common and obvious cause for oily cylinders. And head lift doesn't normally result in wet cylinders... it only lifts when under very high pressure during combustion so the only intermingling is normally combustion gases into the cooling system.

Having said all that I agree with you, test first, fix later.