legacycentral bbs

my ej22t is having problems running when it sets for a day or two of not being run. it starts fine but then it gets a miss and bog then stalls. if you keep the rpms up it smokes oil smoke till the miss stops. what could it be? i fear it needs a rebuild. is it better to rebuild or replace? how much does it costfor a rebuild? if replacing what engine is easist to do the swap? should i keep it auto or switch to stick? any input would help.

thanks
steve

My advice:

Crate up the EJ22T and send it to me for $50 plus freight, it's worth nothing to you, and it needs a rebuild. ( Psst, guys, you think he'll buy it?? )
Buy an EJ20t, drop that sucker in, and GO! Oh, and convert to 5sp while you're at it. The autos just don't cut it, believe me.

I've got a low mileage '98 RS 5 spd for sale. lol

But seriously, sounds like either your rings or your valve guides are done. Do a leakdown test on it, and see what that says.

If it is just the heads, used heads are a dime a dozen and can be swapped in in a weekend. If it is bottom end based, much more extensive to do.

Have you check the oil for flecks? What is your oil consumption like? Could also be the infamous thrust bearing failure. Even better would be to pull the oil pan and check the pick up for chunkies...

You can try a compression test if you don't want to do a leakdown. Check compression, squirt oil into the cylinder crank the engine over a little bit, then check compression, if it's higher then it was previously....more then likely you have ring issues. If compression is relatively the same, it's probably valve related.

I'd rebuild the engine. If the thrust bearing did go and damaged the crank, I have an N/A one in excellent condition which I believe is the same as the turbos that I'd sell you cheap. I couldn't see a difference between the two. Short of the unlikely scenario that you've scored the cylinders beyond a honing fix, there's nothing that can't be done fairly easily. Even if you have scored the cylinders, the block may still be worth something to sell, even if just a core to a performance shop.

Steve