hey guys looking for some advice/guidance. I have a 03 Evo e85 fp red, build 2.0 , stage 3 head, gsc2 cams, boost set to 30psi, maf, SpoolinUp cop, tbe, map 02, ported stock em and im, fic1200, double pumper, stock fuel rail and regulator, stm sealed cc ( just Intalled haven't ran car with new cc this is when I found one of my issues), mishimoto radiator and cap with oem thermostat. Problems are radiator fluid disappears from over flow no leaks under car new pump when build 5k miles ago no white smoke that I can see oil is not milky. So what can this be???? Another thing I noticed today when I was installing the stm cc I removed the valve cover and it smelled like I poured e85 on my springs???? I have been having crankcase pressure the dipstick shoots out but I put a spring on it and still shoots some oil out still. No iol in the compressor very little oil in intake pipe. Also when I removed the cop today number 3 cylinder coil pack spark plug tip looked a little burned/arc marks whereas the rest of them looked clean I have pulled the spark plugs yet to see what they look like. Please any help would be great

 

run a compression test.

 

It's got fuel in the oil via a broken piston.

Compression tests don't tell you anything but looking at the plugs works.

Take photos of plugs
Post up on here?

 

just gonna jump right to a broken piston huh, which btw would show up on a compression test...

 

Your crank case is seeing higher pressure than it can take. There are a couple ways to relieve crank case pressure but I am not sure which one to recommend. I dont know how you routed your catch can.

 

As for the coolant disappearing, I noticed the level in my Subaru reservoir going down a little. That was about a year ago. I found a radiator leak, the upper hose was leaking at the engine end, the water pump was leaking and I found a pinhole leak in a smaller hose. After replacing the radiator, each of these leaks I found was the result of a separate search when I saw the coolant level was still going down.

So, if it isn't filling the reservoir it probably isn't a head gasket, you have a leak somewhere - just gotta keep looking. Maybe buy a radiator pressure tester.

 

If you were more experienced, you'd know it's not true.

That's why you take a look at the plugs.

 

Depends on how the piston broken. A dropped skirt may not effect compression. But it would also make noise.


My car, and every other car I work on that is running E, smells like E85 exhaust when you pull the oil fill cap. Every motor has some blow by, so you're going to get some products of combustion in the crankcase, and into the oil. And if you're running E, it's going to be much more obvious.

 

says the guy that can't read a service manual.

I recommended the compression test based on the totality of his stated symptoms. you do have to remove the spark plugs to do a compression test.

What are the chances OP has his stated symptoms, caused by a broken piston, but would pass a compression test? What kind of failure mode would allow for this?

 

It happens very often.
Usually the broken one has more compression than the others due to the oil in the cylinder.

 

Here are the plugs all are dry smelled like e85 when I removed the plugs and for what it's worth when I looked down to the piston the was a circle of burnt oil looked wet and I could see that the rest of the piston is shiny.

 

Sounds like you have a couple issues. For starters if youre blowing out your dipstick you have too much crankcase pressure. The spring is a band aide fix and a poor one at that. Personally I think the most effective way to solve this is to open up the side vent on your valve cover. I think I drilled mine out to 5/8 but off the top of my head I can't recall. That should solve your CC issue.

As for the oil smelling like ethanol, as stated above that's going to happen. My oil stinks like corn. And no I don't have a cracked piston.

 

Those plugs look fine, maybe in need of being changed, but fine.


The valvecover on the drivers side needs drilled and tapped to for a 1/2" pipe fitting to go in. It's a pretty bug bit, 23/32 IIRC.

 

Agreed plugs look farily normal. Mine always were more of a whittish/ amberish color after going to e85. Now if they looked like that on normal pump fuel Id say you prob have a hole in your piston from running so lean.

As to the VC hole size maybe it was 1/2NPT; I cant exactly remember. I used a huge tap though, lol! I opted to go with an AN fitting but you can go with whatever your heart desires. Search on here there is a couple different how to's that entail the recommended size.

 

1/2" pipe is 1/2" ID, so the whole is big, the tap is like 3/4", so it's big...lol