cylinder blow-by

[kaz98gt]

Hey all, I was just thinking the other day about an issue I had way way back that involved pressure building up in the vacuum lines causing a "squeak". Long story short, the PO swapped in a 2.2 but didn't take the intake manifold with it, and he was one hose inlet short on the manifold, so he plugged a couple up coming from the crankcase (I think) and one of the valvecovers. Result: a squeak that came from...honestly, I don't know where in the engine. But I knew pressure was building up somewhere because when I pulled the plug on one of the valve covers, it was such a loud pop that I thought the engine had stalled or something.

 

Fast forward...the 2.2 isn't about power, but is it possible that I was getting cylinder blow-by or some other serious side effect, as noted by the repetitive "squeaking" going on? I'm worried I might've been blowing out some of the gaskets too...I don't know where to begin, but I'm sure something bad was going on inside the engine, and I want to trace it down. Any ideas where to start?

 

Adding to the fun factor over my vacation, apparently coolant is starting to pour out of it. When my dad took it for a drive the other day, he lost maybe a cup of it just driving around the street (at least that's what he told me). So that's gotta be addressed...

[broknindarkagain]

I think the spots you're talking about have vacuum on them anyways - thats probably why you heard a "pop" when you took the cap off. If its what I'm thinking of, its suppose to go up to the air intake.

 

Is your car a manual? I had (actually still do) an elusive "squeak" that took me forever to figure out. What it turned out being was the slave cylinder rubbing against the arm that goes down to the clutch. I figured it out one day when I was sitting in traffic resting my foot on the clutch (just giving it light pressure).....when i let go of the clutch, the noise started again. After that, I went under the hood and whenever I would grab the arm that goes down to teh clutch, the noise would stop.

[subikid90]

He has a lame slush box haha jk. I have a pressure issue with my car somewhere also, it is in the canister system though. Every time I open my gas cap it is pressurized. You could try tapping that hole into another hose, like from the other side valve cover.

[kaz98gt]

I accept that it's lame dude, don't push it I already found the issue and fixed it and everything, I'm just worried about what effects the pressure build-up did on the systems of the engine, seeing as I couldn't find out where exactly it was being released from. I wish you guys could've seen/heard it...it was the strangest thing ever haha.

 

Right now I'm looking into a new motor. Not because this one is bad or anything, but I'm looking for a project. What I'll do is get a (insert motor name/displacement here), keep it out of the car until I go through and clean it all up, then swap it in and sell the 2.2 that I have now. But, I do have options. I plan on this being the first and last swap, and I decided to not go crazy with 300+ hp or any ridiculous shit because I'm only a college kid and need this as a regular driver when I go on co-op/internship/back for summer. So, the question is, what should I throw in?

 

2.2?

2.5?

2.0t?

 

I'm looking for something that won't need any reworking of the frame or radiator support (like the eg33) and that won't cook the 4EAT because to be honest, I don't feel like swapping in a 5mt. Just too much of a hassle, and I can buy a manual once I get out of college or something So, what do you guys think?

[Zues Marine]

2.5 block, 2.5 heads, cams, etc

[Zues Marine]

2.2 heads.. oops

[subikid90]

Atleast do delta cam, msd ignition, 8mm wires and ngk plugs. Sounds like you dont want to touch internals to much. Replace as many gaskets as you can when you are building it you will be happier later on haha

[kaz98gt]

I think I'm going to swap over the bosch fusion plugs that I have on now; they've given me a little bump in economy and power, and no issues yet after 5k miles. New wires and msd sounds good though. The frame is solid, and after I throw up the rsb I should have a pretty worthy dd, but I'm looking for some more power

 

What's a delta cam?

 

Yeah I'm definitely going to do the headgaskets if I get a 2.5 (leaning more towards that one), probably oil pan, valve covers, and probably timing system just in case. I don't mind touching the internals...I just want to know what I'm doing before I dive into it so I don't botch anything, and this is the first car engine I'll be tearing down. I was reading somewhere that if you throw the 2.5 heads on the 2.2, or something like that where you interchange the block and the heads, that you can get alot of power out of it. Anyone know what I'm talking about, or is this bullshit?

 

I'm in the process of hunting down a cheap 2.5 now, so if anyone sees anything let me know. Would I need the ecu from it? I'm not sure if mine has a 2.5 ecu in it...I heard somewhere that they're pretty much the same thing? Call bullshit? I'm feeling my way slowly through this; I doubt I'll like the electronics behind the swap.

[subikid90]

You will need the 2.5 ECU for sure. Delta cams is a company in washington that you send your stock cam to and they grind them for you. They are well priced and do an awesome job. They will even tell what grind to get based on the build you are doing. They even do port and polish now.

 

http://www.deltacam.com

 

 

Internals will cost money and lots of it. If you want to stay NA they you go for high compression piston, this is the expensive part. If you want to boost then you can be cheaper and throw stock sti pistons in. Is you go over to nasioc and check the build motor section there is more information then you will ever need to building. There are a million different combos of stuff to do.

[Zues Marine]

Putting 2.5 heads on a 2.2 block would lower the compression significantly and make an n/a engine run like shit, although that method would be great for boosting.

 

Im running a 2.2 ecu on my 2.5 now and its producing more power due to the injection timings and such from thinking it's a 2.2 engine..

 

Delta cams is great, they cost around$ 90 per cam for a grind.. just for the record

[kaz98gt]

Ok delta cam is definitely something I'm putting on the list. Looks like the thing to do, and that's pretty cheap! And that's what it was, the 2.5 heads on the 2.2 block for boosting. Interesting...figured internals would be expensive

 

This job isn't going to happen soon, I'll probably get the engine over the winter break, build it up a little bit/make sure it's all set to throw in, then make the swap at the start of the summer. I'm really looking forward to it!