Ok. I have bad news. I'm trying to get my pennies together to cover a new paint job on the side of my car. Ive spent the last month doing bodywork which seems to be taking forever to get it right in what time I have to do it. When bad things happen, they always seem to happen in 3's. I'm scared
I just wish this wouldnt have happened while my paint is all stripped off.
Things I did today:
Missed work.
Re-located my check valve/pcv back to my drivers side valve cover, where it used to be, and plugged the factory hole. The vacuum signal feels 3 times as strong with this valve and this arrangement. I know it works really well based on what I saw (ill get back to that later).
Eliminated the EGR system.
Changed my boost bypass system around.
Went through 2 cans of engine degreaser over the motor and underside of the car since it sprayed oil everywhere.
Used some engine flush and a sacrificial filter, ran it for a couple minutes. While it was running, I popped my machined cap off the breather tower (where I have the new PCV line plumbed up) and noticed MASSIVE blow-by. I felt the draw on the line, and it has some serious vacuum with this setup. I moved the cap toward the breather tower where all the smoke was coming out, and it sucks the blowby up like a 5hp wet-dry vac. Very strong and no back flow leakage like most PCV's. But even with it sucking the blow-by up, I noticed with the dipstick pulled out a little bit, each time I popped the throttle, smoke came out of the tube. Given how much blow-by this PCV system sucks up, the blow-by has to be pretty bad for this to happen.
I drained the oil and replaced it with some synthetic blend and a K&N oil filter. Added a pint of valvoline SYN treatment, hoping that if I thickened the oil it may help. When the oil drained, it was literally like water. I also noticed alot of grit feeling debris in my up-pipe.
I know I did some other things but cant remember.
It was raining on me while doing this, but finished up before it got too bad. I took it for a drive and noticed no smoke and it seemed to be running great. I got back home and parked and let the motor run to see if any smoke came out from under the hood. There was smoke like before.
So I pulled it in the garage, popped the hood and saw alot of oil had spewed out of the dipstick all over the header again.
So I pop all the spark plugs, and they all look great. I decide to do what I was trying to avoid...trying to avoid the truth, and I did a compression test. I used to get 150psi in every cylinder when I first got the car. All the cylinders were getting about 135. Not too bad. I had done 5 cylinders at this point and was feeling hopeful. LAst cylinder I did was #5, and I got 65psi.:frown:
I poured some oil in that cylinder (a decent amount) and re-checked and got 90psi. I would think that I should see more than a 25psi gain, but I guess not.
Why the hell would all the cylinders be spot on at 135 and this one at 65, with the spark plug looking great with no signs of oil consumption? To be honest, I dont know that this cylinder hasnt always been bad. When I first got the car, I remember I did a compression test on 4 out of 6 cylinders and they were all good, but I dont remember which ones I did.
All I can do now is get rid of the vacuum setup on the passenger side valve cover I made, put a breather back on so it can breathe easier and maybe throw in some engine restore. If the problem is reduced significantly then I guess I'll know if the rings are gone. Maybe its a piston/ringland.
What sucks is that I never did get to enjoy the car after 3 years because something was always wrong with it. Ive spent countless hours trying to get ahead so I could sell it and get at least most of what I paid for it, back. But that never worked out. I keep getting offers to buy it but Im not selling it for pennies...I cant afford to. When a 1000 dollar problem can cost you 4000, you cant just give up I guess. Even if I dont have another car.
