So Ive had my motor built since March of 2020 and I’ve Mayb put 500-800miles on the motor and my compression is low. I’ve been tryin to search how long does aftermarket rings take to seat/ seal...?

cyl.1- 150psi
cyl.2- 145psi
cyl.3- 145psi
cyl.4- 155psi

engine specs-
-CSS gsr block decked
-Carrillo 9.0.1 pistons/ cp rings
-LS Eagle h beam rods
-acl standards bearings
-ctr cams
-Garrett .70coldside/ .63hotside .60 trim journal bearing
Also a side note:

i replaced the valve seals like last week because I saw oil in exhaust port cylinder 3, and now it smokes even more after replacing them, before it would smoke on startup and stop within 5min and that’s with a broken inner valve spring with a smashed valve seal completely off the valve guide and flopping around thinking it was my valve adjustments off.

so im hoping it’s just the valve seals that’s causing my smoking and not my rings. I’m wanting to know how long does it take for the aftermarket rings to seal? could too much fuel burn a bluish tint too?I’m

Leak down test will soon be tested after my kit comes in.

 

Broken super tech inner spring and smashed valve seal driving around on for idk how long.

Replacing valve seal using the rope trick to hold up valves.

 

Is that a Supertech valve spring? When your engine was build did you have the head checked for valve stem to guide play? I had a similar issue of burning oil, after running the engine for about 3 years I tore it apart and checked the valve stem to guide play and found the guides were toast. That was causing the valve to move around enough to mess up the seals.

 

hey man thx for the reply. Yea that’s is a super tech valve spring and that wasn’t the first one that had broken on me, I’ve had 2 others broke last year on me and only reving to 8600rpm.

and I did not get the valve stem to guides check before I put the head on, I only had it check for cracks and resurfaced. I only visually checked the guides to make sure there were no broken tips, and as I was replacing the valve seal I used oem Honda seals, while I was slipping the seals on the valves, Most fitted loose and yes I had the color coded on the correct side, silver seal on intake and black seal in exhaust. These are new valves that are installed also.

 

Do you have an engine build sheet for your engine? looking for ring gap and piston to wall clearances. What are you going to do about the valve spring issue? The leak down will help figure out whats going on. What are you running for valve lash? I know scattered question but this info might help bring a root issue to light.

 

my ring gap if I remember correctly was
cyl.1- 4 is around
-Top Ring= .018-.019
Second Ring= .024- .026
Oil Ring= .017- .019

the 2nd ring was came a big gap from cp at .026 so I left it be and filed the other to .024. Oil rings came big from cp also, I’ve would have like at .015 but came big and I just left them alone.

Update: I replaced my valve seals again with super tech seals and stopped the smoking on start up and idle. The last ones I just replaced were new oem ones and it didn’t feel as it was fitting over the valves firm enough but when I installed the super tech seal they fit snug over the valves perfectly. I guess it’s a hit and miss with oem 😐....

ok as far as rings goes and compression test, my dumba** forgot to put it at WOT while cranking doin the compression test 🤦‍♂️. So I’m goin to do another compression test on WOT and since the valve seals are good now and ( I’ve read that leaky valve seals can cause low compression too ) hope my compression boost up more to the upper 170s +.

do you what the normal compression for a 9.0.1 pistons on ls eagle rods in a gsr engine?

 

I use this list from my tuner as a reference for a lot of things. Are you using an aftermarket valve?


http://www.locashtuning.com/instruct...0Checklist.pdf

 

using Ferrea valves.

the car has been tuned but I need to get a retune since I’ve switched to mini ram manifold.

 

Did you go through that list it has information referencing static compression vs engine compression. Did you ever get that leak down test done?

 

im goin to redo the compression test tomorrow with wot. And I’m still waiting on my leak down test I’ve contacted the shipper and he said if I haven’t gotten from two days from now then to contact them and they’ll send a another one.

But my smoke has gotten way better with these new super tech seals. Now I’m hoping my when I redo my compression it’ll bump it up more plus with wot that I didn’t do the first time. I’ll update when I get it done tomorrow

 

Update on WOT compression test

cylinder 1- 140psi
cylinder 2- 147psi
cylinder 3- 140psi
cylinder 4- 145psi

Didnt do the wet test cause it turn out about the same as the first test and I know it’ll jump up to 170psi or so. Leak down test didn’t come today so I contracted them again and they are refunding me $2 more and the tracking said it’ll be here tomorrow.

 

What do you have your valve lash adjusted to?

 

my intake is set to .006in and exhaust set to .007in

 

Are you checking in between the cam lobe and the rocker pad or, in between the rocker arm and valve tip?

 

Ive been doin the rocker and cam lobe.

 

Update.

Done the leak down test and this is what I got. With the engine warmed up and at TDC on each cylinder.

cylinder 1- 45%
cylinder 2- 50%
cylinder 3- 45%
cylinder 4- 50%

Ive tried to listen and covered the throttle body on the intake with my hand and nothing. I’ve done the same to the exhaust system even took off my wastegate to make sure my exhaust system wasn’t leaking and air escaping through my slip on test pipe. I’ve took the radiator cap off to check for air bubbles and nothing either. I’ve took the dipstick out and no air either coming from the the block.

I hear air from inside the cylinder Goin somewhere but idk where... I’m lost. Where else can it go if the valves on the intake and exhaust aren’t leaking and headgasket isn’t showing any bubbles through the radiator cap and no air coming out the dipstick home.

 

That is a lot of loss. Just to make sure you were pushing 100PSI through your tester? Just to verify that no valves are leaking you can remove the camshafts. There are only 4 places air can go intake, exhaust valves, crankcase, or cooling system. If you pull the cams and do the test then you can really hear if air is going into the crankcase(or just pull the valve cover and redo the test how you did it the first time). Is the engine running good?

 

How do you know it's not leaking into the intake? Did you have your air tube off and the throttle body WOT while doing the test?

Did you pull off your exhaust manifold?

With the manifolds on it's much harder to verify the air is coming from valves. You didn't elaborate on that and is why I'm asking.

If it's not valves, head gasket or rings, the only think left is a crack but that doesn't tend to be all 4 cylinders.

 

I was pushing 100psi on the air compressor and about 30-40psi to the tester. That’s as much as I can go to zero out on the leakage gauge.
I did have all the spark plugs out and the valve cover off when I did the test and tried to listen with the cover off but couldn’t pin point it. But I’ll try to take the cams off and test it that way too.

The engine is running really good it pulls hard on 15psi of boost minus the smoking I think it from my turbo seal that’s about to go out cause I saw a little leakage around the exhaust housing but not enough where it’s leaking down my down pipe.

 

If it was the headgasket wouldn’t it be blowing little bubbles or moving the coolant? I verified that it wasn’t doin neither of those.

maybe the tester is a dud..???

 

If ur turbo is burning oil there should be oil in the downpipe.
The air is prob going past ur rings. Take out the dipstick and listen through the oil tube.
Ring seating does not take long. What was ur procedure?
u shouldve used straight 30w non detergent oil and do alot of engine braking like down a big hill. Also dont idle the engine for a long time on the first start. That will wear down the cross hatches and the rings will never seal. U need to just warm it up then go drive. Look up motoman break in. I did this high engine braking fast break in and got great results. Like 270 psi. I forgot the exact numbers, it was like 10 years ago. B16 pistons in gsr block. Oh and they were nippon ebay pistons. One of the rings broke when I was installing so I used an oem compression ring on that piston and the numbers were like 10-30 psi higher than the NPR rings. OEM FTW! Sorry I forgot the exact number.
edit:
Compression ratio of ur pistons will determine ur compression test numbers. Low comp pistons will be lower. Here u can see b18b are only 200 psi while gsr is 270 psi.
gen 3
94-01 b18b1
nominal: 199 psi
minimum: 135 psi
max var: 28 psi

94-01 b18c1
nominal: 270 psi
minimum: 135 psi
max var: 28 psi
Source: grumblemarc

 

I broke it by 3-5rpm then letting engine brake all the way to 2rpm, the 3- 8rpm range the letting engine brake. I’m using 5w-30 Walmart oil to break in. I’ve broken in oem rings before and never had a problem, they sealed perfect on a lsv in a gsr motor. But this is my second time breaking in aftermarket rings from Carrillo, I’ve heard from different people that because of the different materials made for aftermarket they’ll take longer to break in. And I know oem takes 20 min of breaking in.

ive also pulled the dipstick while doin the leak down test and didn’t hear nothing. I’ve yet to do remove camshafts and try it that so the valves would be sealed.

Here’s a pic of it from sitting a couple days. There’s a little oil sweeping through the seal. It’s hard to tell couldn’t get a good pic.

 

When you do your next leak down makes sure the gauge on the left is at 100psi so you get the correct ratio.

 

when I raise the left needle up the gauge on the right pegs out past the zero towards the needle stopper. Is that how it’s suppose to be or is my leak down tester defective?

 

Depends, if the head gasket is gone between adjacent cylinders it would go from your closed cylinder to the one next to it with valves open. Nothing going to the water jacket in this case.

With the manifolds off you would hear air coming out one side or the other of the cylinder next to the one you are testing.

You have a turbo setup so that complicates your exhaust and intake side of things beyond my experience. Another user seems to have pointed out all the details with the turbo in the mix.