hey guys, I'm at the point where I spent WAY too much money and it's time to do things myself... god damn boost spike got me which could have been prevented if my boost controller was connected, but thats another topic...


The head is now off... the gasket looks fine along with the deck and cylinder wall, but I'm not sure if I'm inspecting things right... would my next step be to take the piston out to inspect the rings?

my last compression numbers were: 175, 90, 180, 180
cyl #3 is the problem





here's the head surface, cylinder #3 is second one from right in this pic:



Please let me know what you think? I'll take any pics that will help, just let me know...

thanks for any input!


I dropped the oil pan and started to take out piston #3...

I will remove all the pistons and post pics of any damage.



yep! cracked ringlands... I didn't bother to highlight the cracks in the pics, but you can see them in between ring 1-2, and also between ring 2 - oil rings... plus the black going down the side of the piston makes it obvious.





Update:

Here's the scratch on cyl wall #4... can I get away with just a hone or do I need to take the block out for a bore??




Modified by turbosi03 at 3:09 PM 4/4/2004


Modified by turbosi03 at 4:00 PM 4/4/2004


Modified by turbosi03 at 12:52 AM 4/6/2004

 

Looks like your ringlands are shot, and oil is getting into your cylinder. Did your car sound like a wrx? Same thing happend to my buddy with H22 turbo, so we took it apart and he is getting a full build. But all 4 of his pistons were shot.

 

ring lands...pop that #3 piston out and take a look.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Willis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ring lands...pop that #3 piston out and take a look.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep, drop the pan and pull it... you'll prob find small crack/ missing piece between the 1st and second ring.

Good luck, very repairable!

 

great! I'm glad everyone agree's... the fact that the cylinder walls look good I may get away with just a light hone.

I'll pull the piston tomorrow and post pics... I just ordered a ring gap file, plus I need to get rings for the rest of the cylinders because I should just replace all the rings right?

thanks for all the help so far... with you guys having my back, I feel like I can do this!

 

You'll most likely need to replace all the pistons and rings. Even though the compression test didn't show it, I bet #3 isn't the only one with a crack in it.

 

most likely all of them will need to be replaced, you may notice melting/deformation/broken ringlands on just one or so..but unless you are a machinist, you probably shouldn't just look at the others and "guess its okay"...get some pistons and rings and call it a day.

mike

 

Good luck with the route you choose Dustin. You have had more problems than almost anyone I know but you are still here

 

same thing happened to my 99 si
the ringlands were shot

 

When I blew my motor, I thought that just sleeve # 3 was cracked, and all the pistons were fine. I was wayy off. On all 4 pistons, every ringland was cracked!

 

***see top post for updated pics

ok so many people are saying even though only one piston had low compression, other pistons were still damaged... ?

just so I can fully understand this, did you guys use a "ridge reamer" to remove any carbon ridges at the top of the cylinder walls before poping the pistons out of the top?

the manual says not doing this can result in piston damage, so thats why I stopped before poping the piston out. I don't want to think a piston was already damaged when it was caused by the removal.

or am I just being a wuss??

 

Most people don't but I would since those pistons are going back in. Auto Zone has a loan a tool program.

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...dge_reamer.jsp

 

Holy ****! I pulled out all the pistons and three of them had broken ringlands...

here's piston #4 which was in the worst shape:








I'm going to just replace all of them at this point. damn I really want to just splurge on some forged pistons/rods...

but then again I should just save my money to get the beast motor running...

 

that sucks. how high did it go?

 

Time to get that credit card! haha.

 

He was tuned for 10 or 11lbs and it spiked to 15 to 16lbs I think. I have no idea why Hondata's boost cut didn't work. Time to get rid of the Drag manifold and Deltagate though.

 

Thats how most of the honda pistons look that I pull out of customers motors.
Back when I was stock LS i pulled the motor apart due to a cracked sleeve and found all four pistons had cracked lands and one even had the upper and lower ring lands cracked. It now holds our pens on the counter at the store

 

no ****... I don't know about any cracks in the sleeves, but it turns out there is a scratch in cyl #4 with some discolor, but I can barely catch my finger nail on it... worries me that I still can though, what do you guys think? am I screwed like usual?

or can I get away with just a hone? I can try to take pics but I don't know if it will show...

hope I don't have to pull the block out.


Ps: anyone know of any good links to doing a proper hone?

 

TTT, becasue I have the same problem

 

borrow a dial bore indicator, and check the bore clearances.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 0x64 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> I have no idea why Hondata's boost cut didn't work. </TD></TR></TABLE>

This worries me........

 

generally if you can catch a nail on it, its not going to hone out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MordecaiPSI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

This worries me........</TD></TR></TABLE>

It didn't worry me so much as made me upset.

 

I would splurge on some forged internals. Your going to have to get a new bore and hone anyway with that kind of scratch. Make a good thing out of bad situation

 

Just ask him about his last motor's problem"s". This motor was suppose to be his good situation