Hello!

I gave up on trying to guess what was wrong with my engine on Monday, so I took it into the dealer to see if they could give me a head start. I told them the best I could find is that cylinder #1 was totally unresponsive and #4 was intermittent. After a $90 dianostic fee, they told me cylinder #1 was not working. DUH.

They wanted me to fork over $1,000 to replace the intake gasket and injector #1. I have two problems with that: First, I played musical chairs with the injectors and #1 ALWAYS came up dead, second I wasn't buying they theory that the gasket was blown simply because the tech said there was oil in the water. There is no way that I am so stupid that I can't tell what oil and water look like when they mix.

I took my car home and set a date for Christmas to strip the motor down. It went faster than any engine I have ever taken tools to. The teardown on this motor consisted of less than six steps, and I lost no skin, tools, or engine parts.

When I got the heads off, I was somewhat dissapointed to see that there was no obvious damage to the piston, bore, head chamber, or anything else mechanical. I wasted a lot of good gaskets to see the engine has no damage. This engine is basically a virgin that I could probably put another 100,000 miles on before I even think of it as broke-in.

I may take the heads in to have them magged just in case there is a crack in the intake chamber that I can't see, but I don't expect the money to get me any further than it did at the dealer. My final move will be to reassemble the engine and go from there.

If anyone is familiar with the electonic aspect of this engine, could you please arm me with too much information? I want to know how to test the injector leads for voltage, timing and everything else that pertains. The only thing I can think of is that injector #1 is not getting a signal. The cylinder is perfect in every way from spark, bore wear, carbon build up and compression. It just isn't producing a single bit of power.

Once the engine is back together, I will be putting in a new PCM unless I get negative feedback from anyone regarding the effectiveness of doing so. I am that lost.

One major thing that leads me to do this job myself is that the "tech" told me that I needed to put new plugs in the engine since the "leaking water had soaked the plugs to the point that they are damaged". He also recommened new plug wires. I was in the dealership the day before and bought a new set of wires and six Delco plugs for $9 each. The plugs are made by NGK and can be bought for a hell of a lot cheaper anywhere else but that is straying from my point...Anyway, I had new plugs AND wires in the engine with less than 30 miles on them and he said they were overdue for replacement. Ummm, wake up.

I want to do this myself (with help!) even if the long run cost overruns the dealship. If anyone is still hanging with the story and has anything to add, please feel free to help! I swear I need it.

Thanks,

Kerry!

Hey Kerry,

If it wasn't for the initial problem, I'd say....Bigger cam, rockers, headers......Hell U got it out.
But, with the problem, It's unfortunate U had to tear it down because of that.
I'm watching, wish I could help.
Later now,
Clint

[Kerry!

I suspect 3 possibilities for your problem.

1) a "chunk" of something is stuck in the boss on the fuel rail leading to the
two "dry" injectors. Try pulling the fuel rail off, and blowing air through the offending injector holes.

2) you have a wireing harness that is bad. You can check the signal to the injector with a digital multi meter (or even an LED) by connecting it to the injector connector. If no signal, then check the resistance of the wires back to the PCM connection. If there is an open circuit, or high resistance, then the harness/connector has a problem.

3) you have a bad injector driver (or 2) within the PCM. If you can borrow a PCM from someone, see if that fixes the problem.

Good luck.

--
Paul Jerkatis
mailto://prj@sandv.net
http://www.sandv.net

First:

Clint, you have the perfect way of seeing things! The engine that got torn appart will not be the engine that gets put back together. I won't do anything insane, but I agree that there is no need to keep things normal. I've already had it like that. Thanks for rationalizing it for me.

Now:

Paul, I really want to thank you for all three suspicions you've offered. Almost without trying, I can rule out the first one since gas pretty much dumped on me evertime I popped an injector off, but I will try it anyway since gas on my hands doesn't equal gas getting to the injector.

Next, I can't tell you how jacked I am that the test for a signal to the injector requires so little effort. I was under the impression that it would take a rocket scientist to figure out. The LED goes on, the injector works. DUH. I can handle that.

Finally, I never thought of borrowing a PCM, but that is only because I already decided that I need a new one anyway due to the fact that I am half a decade behind everyone else.

The engine will go back together in a few weeks with a new PCM, probably new injectors, and possibly something nifty like a cam at least. Form there I will chase the problem if it continues.

I have been reduced to driving a FoMoCo and that is a very painful thing to admit. I hope this is over as soon as possible.

Thanks again for the advice, I will definately keep you posted and let you know of the results good or bad. You have given me something to look forward to, and that totally rules.

Kerry

Jeeze Kerry. You've got too much energy. Tearing an engine apart because one of the cylinders wasn't working, and another was intermittant!!!! I usta do stuff like that too. But, as I've gotten older, my level of energy has declined and (more to the point) I've gotten lazier. Lazy can be good sometimes. I've elevated lazy to way of life. I've known for a long time to ALWAYS look for the easiest solution first (for example, years ago in the days of leaded gasoline almost ALL ignition or seemingly fuel related problems could be fixed by changing the spark plugs - didn't matter if you'd just done it 2K miles ago, do it again).

If you had mechanical problems with your engine, youda heard it as a clunk, click, bang or knock. Your diagnostic approach was great (swapping injectors) to eliminate that as a cause, but you're right when you say that only proved the injector was good, not that it was injecting. But, tearing the heads off was a pretty big leap. I too will be very interested in hearing what you ultimately determine the problem to be.

Regards, Gary in Sandy Eggo

I am over the fact that my engine is not damaged in any way. I was told I had a cracked intake and possibly head as well, but that is not even close to true. All I have right now is an engine that is stripped down to the pistons and waiting to be put back together. This is where I need opinions.

I have always used Fel-Pro gaskets on older engines and never had a fit or reliability problem with them. I don't know what the best gasket set would be to use on this engine and am again really leaning towards FP. Is there a better set out there?

My next question is about the reuse of head bolts. I have always heard that head bolts shouldn't be reused, but my experience with engines that are torn down on a regular basis has left me with the impression that if you don't stretch them out in the first place, then they can be reused as often as necessary. Is there something WAY different about an SC engine that I should really consider before deciding to not buy new head bolts? I am running nothing other than stock, with the possibility of a smaller pulley in the near future.

If all goes well, I will have the car up and running soon. I really can't wait, as you could imagine.

Thank to anyone with a reply,

Kerry