#4 cylinder shot - replace them all?

[BSOD2600]

I had a compression test done today and it turns out the #4 is at 10 psi. The others are between 145 and 155 psi. Car has 151K miles on it and I've only owned it for 3 months. Haven't even had the chance to drive it hard because shortly after buying it, the 4EAT that was swapped into it was dying. Basically been babying it ever since I've owned not. Not cool. This car is looking more and more like a lemon that I bought from a localish dealer...

So now the question is if I should just have the #4 replaced or do them all? What type of costs for parts and hours would this entail?

[mhrallyteam]

Well, in my case it was cheaper and faster to swap the shortblock with a wrx ej20. Put in thicker STI head gasket and Voila! You lose 0.2L but compression goes up to 8.5C/R. Its a nice engine, with an almost brand new factory assembled block.
Then resale the ej22T shortblock to somebody looking for a 400hp and + project!

[magicmike]

if it aint broke dont fix it. in this case I would only replace the one thats bad.

[Matt Monson]

if it aint broke dont fix it. in this case I would only replace the one thats bad.

How do you propose he do a proper honing with the rod still in place?

If it was my car, I would rebuild the block from the ground up if you want to drive it for a good long time. If not, and you are thinking you want out of it, but need to drive it for a while. get an Ej22E NA block from a junkyard and throw it in there. Then sell of the car, including the fragged block and fully disclose what you have done. There's more than a couple of people running around with turbocharged NA blocks in their turbo cars...

[BSOD2600]

Yea, well I just spent a decent chunk of money getting a 5MT swapped in there (only because the existing 4EAT that was swapped in ~2K miles ago by the dealer I bought the car from, was dying already). So not too keen on selling the car for a total loss. I'll probably have the guy do an upper end rebuild.

[555BCTurbo]

I hope you are going to have me do the upper end rebuild, because I already ordered the gaskets for it

I am almost 100% sure that your motor has a burned valve, and I have a known good set of heads that are going to go on your car...so no worries mate!

[Matt Monson]

Always helps to have a good AND honest mechanic on your side...

[555BCTurbo]

Always helps to have a good AND honest mechanic on your side...

I assume that is me?!


Honesty is important...and I can't really be dishonest...I don't like being screwed, so I kinda feel that I have the duty to not screw people. I guess I am like the guy in Liar, Liar lol

The pen is rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroyal bluuuuuuuuue...

[206er]

Honesty is important...and I can't really be dishonest...I don't like being screwed, so I kinda feel that I have the duty to not screw people.

amen

[Matt Monson]

Always helps to have a good AND honest mechanic on your side...

I assume that is me?!


Honesty is important...and I can't really be dishonest...I don't like being screwed, so I kinda feel that I have the duty to not screw people.

Yes, you. Another mechanic could have told him it was toast and charged for a full rebuild and just fixed the burnt vavle. There was one member here that bought a car that had an Ej22E block put in a turbo car and they were not told about it...

[555BCTurbo]

Well I have found more shady stuff in this car...


The odometer reads 151,xxx miles, which I believe to be accurate due to the good shape of the body and interior...

However, when I removed the engine today, I found that it has the oil cooler which only came on the 1991 Sport Sedans. So that would lead me to believe that the motor is out of a 1991, with an undisclosed amount of mileage. What worries me most, is that the shop where the car was purchased was parting out a fairly ratty 91 Sport Sedan around the time that this 94 wagon was purchased, and that leads me to believe that the original 151,000 mile EJ22T was swapped in favor of the one out of the 91, with most likely much higher mileage.

Once I get the heads off I will be able to assess the condition of this motor...

No worries Chris, I will have her running great when it is all done!

[BSOD2600]

Interesting. Are you taking pictures of various things along the way for documentation? If not, please do. If the engine truly is from a '91, then this car was sold to me under false pretenses. The Odometer Disclosure law of Washington would've been violated. If thats the case, this whole thing could actually hold up in small claims court.

How do you know that oil cooler is from a 91 specifically? Any other indicator signs that the entire engine is of that vintage too?

Thanks for the info/work Nick.

[Bheinen74]

if the engine is from a 91, and the mileage on it matched up to the mileage on the 94 car it was put in, would that mean the odometer is not correct? hmmmm ponder that for a while.

i do not think odometer laws apply to the motors. the laws apply to the car itself. think about it.....how many NEW cars out there under warranty, had replacement engines put in under warranty? the odometer law is for the odometer only; and the odo is correct on your car the laws dont care about miles on the motor, or tranny, etc, just that nobody tampered with the digits on the odo.
-dealerships dont reset the odo to zero when they put in a new motor now do they...?

[jake15]

Well I have found more shady stuff in this car...


The odometer reads 151,xxx miles, which I believe to be accurate due to the good shape of the body and interior...

However, when I removed the engine today, I found that it has the oil cooler which only came on the 1991 Sport Sedans. So that would lead me to believe that the motor is out of a 1991, with an undisclosed amount of mileage. What worries me most, is that the shop where the car was purchased was parting out a fairly ratty 91 Sport Sedan around the time that this 94 wagon was purchased, and that leads me to believe that the original 151,000 mile EJ22T was swapped in favor of the one out of the 91, with most likely much higher mileage.

Once I get the heads off I will be able to assess the condition of this motor...

No worries Chris, I will have her running great when it is all done!

that motor was not swapped at all in the time either Eric or We had that wagon... the only thing that was swapped was the transmission. I pulled the motor out of the fairly ratty 91.. it is still sitting on the floor of their shop.

[jake15]

Interesting. Are you taking pictures of various things along the way for documentation? If not, please do. If the engine truly is from a '91, then this car was sold to me under false pretenses. The Odometer Disclosure law of Washington would've been violated. If thats the case, this whole thing could actually hold up in small claims court.

How do you know that oil cooler is from a 91 specifically? Any other indicator signs that the entire engine is of that vintage too?

Thanks for the info/work Nick.

the odometer disclosure law of washington does not apply to motors..... g/l with that one

[555BCTurbo]

Well, at any rate, it is gonna be fixed...

[Matt Monson]

Guys,
If this is going to become a pissing match between the shop that sold the car, the owner, and the current mechanic I will shut this thread down. Please try to keep it technical and on-topic. The rest is your private business and doesn't need to be aired on our board...

[jake15]

no pissing match.... my older brother owned the car at some point, i was just stating the condition it was in when it left our hands. i'm not trying to start anything.

[mr soul]

Figure it's time I join in here.

Frantic Four sold this car to Chris. I appreciate Jake clearing up the speculation which is incorrect in this thread. No motor was swapped on this car. Not during the whole three days I had posession of it anyway. Although anything is possible for the first 12 years of this cars life.

Chris inquired with us looking for a T-leg and I knew of one for sale that had been a PIA customer. Car had a bad tranny. Chris was fully informed of this and I explained that we had a 90K used auto tranny which we would be willing to swap into the car and then sell to Chris. I am very confident that part of the early discussion included comments about RISK, with this type of purchase scenario.

Chris had a tight deadline to take ownership of the car because he had to go to College. Because of this fact, and our tight schedule, we had PIA perform the labor to swap the tranny. When done, I took the car, detailed it and showed it to Chris. He paid in full and away he went to college.

I have been in regular contact with Chris, and have expressed my sympathy to what he has gone through with the vehicle. I have tried to help as best I can, but ultimately, with the car in Southern Oregon, there is not much Eric and I could do to support our customer. This supprt, which many of our customers have benefitted from is what I believe gives us a good reputation.

I am shocked that there is actually a thread on a public forum which suggests we did ANYTHING shady or against the law. Followed up by incorrect speculation and talk of small claims court. Do I really need to explain how a used car sale works, which is 12 years old and had 150K on it. There are lots of new car dealers who offer a warranty. If this is important to a buyer, they should strongly consider this route instead of a used car with high miles.

I guess we should be flattered to some degree, that since FF has a good reputation, people have high expectations about purchases they make from us. In the end though, we buy used cars all the time and try to sell them to make a meager profit. Of which there is next to NONE on these old cars. We only do it because we are passionate about turbo legacies, just like most of the people on this board. We've also been in been in business long enough to know tha it is impossible to keep everyone happy. Shit happens, to call into question our integrety and honesty is over the line. I take that pretty serious.

Matt, just to be clear, I have no objection to a discussion. I'm joining in now to set the reoord straight publically. I would encourage Chris or Nick to PM me if you have any other specific questions or comments about the car. I am still willing to offer whatever supoort I can.

Best regards,
Keith

[555BCTurbo]

The car is getting fixed, end of discussion...