I'm glad you have hopefully resolved the situation concerning the oil issue.
When you have been pulling out the valve stem seals, have you noticed that some were easier to pull down then others?

 

Did the old valve seals look like they were messed up, Rany?

 

Thanks Kevin, I hope it fixed it too. So far so good.

The first valve stem seal that I tried to pull out was very hard because I didn't have a feel for it yet, but once i realized that you have to twist them in place a few times before yanking them out, they all felt the same. I used the largest set of needle nose pliers I could fit without scuffing the valve stem up. I also noticed that sometimes they leave behind a layer of viton that must be removed from the sharp groove of the valve guide before installing the new set.


Hey Sean, they didn't look bad at all. There was no obvious damage to them whatsoever. What I did notice was that the top inner most groove looked slightly flattened, but honestly I was tired and high on oil fumes so it could have been my imagination haha.

My best theory is that the Supertech retainers and side to side harmonics of the dual valve springs made contact with and misshaped the valve stem seals over time. They might have slowly unseated them as well. My motor didn't start burning oil until about 2000 miles lol. Kinda a$$backwards to what motors normally do.

By the way, Aarons base map freakin rocks now so my car was throwing a fit before. Now I know what you meant by it being better than other peoples completed tunes.
I just hope that my oil consumption is fixed. If not, I don't know what to do next.




-pal215

 

Any malformation to the valve stem seal can potential cause leakage, so hopefully that is the cause. I would still try to find a known good compression tester. 120psi is kind of low.


Glad you're finally getting to experience the wizardry that is Aaron's tuning abilities. I almost cried tears of joy when my car ran better on his base map after close to a year of "tooning" shenanigans...

 

Yeahhh...about that haha. I checked the compression tester gauge for accuracy yesterday using two other gauges that read PSI off of my air compressor and it only read about 6 psi low compared to the compressor. Unless i'm not tightening the compression tester hose enough, my engine really is beat after 3000 miles.

And thanks man, it really is world class tuning. I look forward to the E85 map tuning.

-pal215

 

How many times did you crank it over while testing? Some people make the mistake of stopping after 1-2 cycles of the engine. You're supposed to crank it until the gauge stops going up. Usually take 4-6 cycles.

 

About 8 cycles per cylinder haha.


-pal215

 

Gentlemen,

It is with a mournful heart that I must share my engine is still burning oil. After all the work and preparations to prevent a mishap like this, it still happened. Cylinders 3 and 4 are still wet and I'm leaning towards it being an issue with the oil rings. Even then so, I don't understand how the compression rings wouldn't just scrape the oil off the walls since they are after the oil rings. What are the odds that it is a head gasket failure if my coolant is clean? No blue smoke at startup, but there is blue smoke in boost, especially during the first 2 pulls of the day.


I can't blame the engine builder yet without actually knowing what's going on.


So in summary, I'm tired guys. I don't know what to do next other than change the head gasket using new head studs and hope for the best. What would you guys do next?


-pal215

 

It's not a head gasket.


And your lean condition around 3k didn't hurt anything. When it goes as lean as it was, there isn't even any combustion to cause damage. I drove my car with the same issue for almost a year, didn't hurt a thing. If the lean condition hurt things, you would see evidence of detonation erosion on the crowns of the pistons.


Do a leak down and comp test. And call MAP. If they don't want to do anything for you. I suggest pulling the motor and taking it to someone reputable (English Racing ). It will likely need to be honed and and have new rings installed. As long as PTW wasn't set too large by MAP.


Find your blue print sheet and post it. I'm curious to see it.

 

Sounds good Sean, I'll look for it and post it today. I know I have it around here in a file somewhere.

-pal215

 

Moment of truth. How are the specs and is it actually a 9.2:1 Block ?






-pal215

 

It is interesting to me that every single bore and piston is identical to the other bores and pistons. Same with the crank journals, down to ten thousandths. That simply doesn't happen. Sorry, that blue print sheet is pencil whipped and essentially useless

 

I must agree with letsgetthisdone. It's virtually impossible.

 

That explains a lot and I agree. I thought it was too good to be true. It doesn't make sense that each measurement would be that identical down to the 10 thou. You can't get numbers that similar on a dial bore gauge or micrometer from one measurement to the next. 10 thousands is the range where fluctuations in temperature can easily cause different readings.

I don't know what to say other than I am very disappointed that MAP did not blueprint my block properly. In this uncertain world of engine building we are trying to trust somebody here.



-pal215

 

Pal215, How did you do the "bedding-in" procedure for the new engine? What did the engine builder advice to undertake? That is a very important step!