Engine failure....

[EVO85]

A few weeks ago, my engine started to develop an occasional miss, then it would go away and run like normal for days. Anyway, I was driving in the hills on the weekend and the same miss developed although it is so severe, that the car was vertually undrivable. The engine struggles to rev and it burnt a shit load of oil in the short few kilometres whilst attempting to nurse it home.

Could it just be valve stem seals? Can that cause the engine to operate in such a manner? Could it be something else?

The engine (VR-4) was re-built 2 years ago and has only travelled 25,000kms and it is fitted with JE forged pistons. I was just wondering what I might be expecting when I take it to my mechanic...

Any info would be appreciated greatly,

Cheers.

 

[WindeX]

Sounds sort of like what happend to my car when the cat collapsed. Wouldent rev and really didnt like to rev. Might be a good idea to check that out, of course that doesnt explaine the oil useage though...

 

[GSR94T]

of course that doesnt explaine the oil useage though...

not necessarily. if you have a blocked cat for long enough it can fk your engine thus making it chew oil

my uncle bought a 2004 holden rodeo ute brand new. last year it started chewing a shtload of oil . It was under warranty and Holden told him the factory cats (has two) were fked and choked the engine pretty much. They had to replace his motor and his 2 cats

 

[EVO85]

Wouldn't a blockage happen slowly over a period of time and restrict power in the process? The car pulled over 200kw's at the wheels only a month ago....

 

[CLuTZ]

Was it blowing tons of smoke??

Maybe the rings are shot due to detonation, valves stem seals are poked, headgasket perhaps?



Either way, consuming lots of oil aint good at all....!

 

[EVO85]

Was it blowing tons of smoke??

Yeah, it was blowing heaps of smoke. I removed the oil cap just after I shut it off and there was even a small amount of smoke coming from the engine's internals.... :cry: There was no sign of detonation and/or overheating, but I am starting to think that the damage is terminal.....

 

[3diamond]

Have you done a compression test, becausee it will show if its piston or head gasket failure.

Just hope its the headgasket blowing gas in the oil gallery space.

 

[Jonson]

Oh shit brad! Sorry to hear mate.

I think it will be more than valve stem seals....
Was it making any noises? was it a harsh miss like hitting a cut or a small miss that 4g63's are known for at idle?

Make sure you get some oil in there and give it a good compression test, wet and dry. Do a leak down test.
Go to a mechanic and ask for a TK head check. Its a chemical reaction that measures the exhaust gases to check for cracked heads/head gasket.

 

[EVO85]

Was it making any noises? was it a harsh miss like hitting a cut or a small miss that 4g63's are known for at idle?

No, no noises whatsoever. It is similar to a small miss at idle, but lots of them. Its just feels like its running on two or three cylinders while burning a shit load of oil in the process....

I have it tentatively booked in the new year for my mechanic to test the compression and with some hope, I can determine the cause for its failure. In the interim, I am trying to track down a good price for some 264/272 HKS cams & adjustable cam gears. Any ideas?

 

[Jonson]

Brian Crower (BC) cams are good from what I hear/read and are cheaper than Crower cams and HKS etc.

Have you checked your plugs? May have melted a plug or two. If you have I would be checking the tune!

 

[EVO85]

Thanks for the info Jon, I am looking into BC cams ATM.

I removed the spark plug cover and there was a reasonable amount of oil on the rocker cover. I haven't checked the plugs yet, but I did completely melt the tip off a spark plug a few months ago. I was told that it was most likely a result of bad fuel or the fact that I was due for a plug upgrade....

 

[Jonson]

And there was no further inspection as to why a plug melted?

Start by taking out the plugs and having a look. A Spark plug can tell you quite a bit about how the engine has been performing.

 

[CLuTZ]

I was gunna say- that doesn't sound good!

detonation central

 

[cblancergsr]

yes melted plugs can be caused by alot of things also not having the right heat range can cause a melted plug, detonation can cause soo as well

bad fuelling mixtures usually cause a plug thats covered in black soot running rich or also if the plugs covered in orange running lean

 

[bazeng]

What ECU are you running?

Your plugs melted for a reason, they just dont melt when they need changing.

You may have an intake leak or a bad batch of fuel.

I've seen this happen and it was ignored which caused the tip of the plug to fall off, get squashed between the valve and piston and the motor was gone. It was due to a crack in the welds of the intercooler piping which caused the turbo to overboost in order to compensate for the desired boost level which had increased intake temps etc.

Fingers crossed for your situation buddy.

Get the plugs out asap, do a comp test and take it from there.

 

[JiMi]

heh.. motor has been out and back in since all this happened...

 

[EVO-00X]

bwahahahaha, a case of someone replying to a thread 10 months too late I see? It'd be hilarious if you hung around waiting all that time for an answer lol

 

[EVO85]

heh.. motor has been out and back in since all this happened...

Haha....

Yep, the car's back in business, but thanks for all the belated replies!

AFAIK, it was just a bad batch of fuel. Hopefully there isn't another repeat performance as I can't afford too many more $8,000 rebuilds!

 

[Jonson]

Fuck man. How much labour was in that?

 

[bazeng]

Lol...

Good to know the suggestions helped you out!!
haha