That sucks Steff.
I don't think the compression is going to just come back up on its own though, at least not with it being that low.

It kind of sounds like the cyl failed because of the pump not being hooked up.

This post has been edited by lagos: Apr 3, 2009 - 8:11 PM

oh wow. thats crazy, im actually kinda worried right now. i have a semi-serious oil leak from my valve cover, everything feels fine while it runs, no mis-fires. but im a little worried about my catch can after reading what you did. atm, i have a line running from my pcv to my catch can, and the other line running to my compressor side of my turbo. anybody think thats a bad idea? or should i maybe just put a breather on it?



*hope everything gets better steff*


-Allen

>


Thats the right way to hook it up. Just keep an eye on it and empy it before it overfills.

ok just making sure. wasnt sure if the suction would pull oil out and push it into my turbo.


thanks

>
That's possible. Right now if I knew what happened first and which things caused what it'd be a lot easier to fix, but I really have no idea.

It may regain itself, it may not, it all depends on what the original problem was. But right now it's worth trying and seeing what happens. The car runs just fine right now, runs awesome actually; no smoke, no misfires, it's like normal again just faster.

>
I wouldn't out it to a vacuum source, I'd just let it push out what it wants when it wants. Don't listen to Art, he had a 5S and now has a 3S, the 7A is completely different than either of those. I'm still experimenting with my PCV system right now, trying to find out what works, I've already gone through some things that don't work and yours sounds similar to one of the setups that didn't.

>


oh wow. wel thanks for that. so you think i should just put a breather on the other end? is that what youve got going on? whats working for you so far?

First crankcase ventilation system I had was this:

PCV to manifold like stock ---- and the second smaller vent hose off the valve cover going nowhere cause we didn't know where it should go

Problem with this was when over boosting (like over 11psi) for prolonged periods of time it would build up too much pressure and it spit out about a qt of oil through the small vent hose.


I revised this system thinking there was a problem with it to this:

Hollowed out PCV valve--->catch can--->intake before turbo
second vent hose still went nowhere, I was hoping it was just a backup and most of the oil vapors would be caught by the catch can.

Problem with this setup: the hollowed out PCV coupled with the fact that the other end was connected to vacuum source was pulling out way more oil than it would without being hooked up to a vacuum source and spitting a lot of that oil right into the intake. of course I didn't know this until the mess had already been made.


So I returned the PCV system back to the first way I had it for now. It seems like the PCV valve itself isn't allowing vapors to escape when the intake manifold is pressurized since the pressure in the manifold holds the PCV valve closed so whatever can't get out then is coming out the small vent line which just goes into my engine bay so now all those oil vapors are making a mess so I need to do something about it.

My plan is this, I will try leaving the normal PCV and connecting it to this:
(It's a Stef's Fabrication Non-recirculating Breather/Overflow tank...and it has my name on it )
then cap off the intake manifold end of the PCV hose and try to T in the smaller vent line to go to the same breather tank.

haha nice little piece of equipment you got their


ok so i took ur advice steff and i pulled my hose from the intake-->catch can off. and just put a breather on the second nipple of the catch can. so my current setup is kinda like ur second.

PCV--->Catch Can.
Breather attached to Catch Can.

but my *smaller* vaccum hose is still connecting the Valve cover to the Intake Manfiold.

>
This is causing your oil leaks at the valve cover... and it will damage a lot more if you leave it this way. When you hit boost with this hose connected you pressurize the crankcase and the tiny pcv valve won't be able to release this pressure. I removed the stock lines, plugged the small tubes, removed the pcv valve, fitted the biggest hose available and routet it to the air filter. No problems so far..

>
ahh... I didn't know that, that might be your whole problem for the reasons mentioned above.
The crankcase should not be hooked up to the intake manifold or anything that sees positive pressure at any time.

you should just weld a bung to the oil pan and re-route all the oil blowing out of the pcv back into your oil pan

haha... yea I've thought of that, the 3rd gen 3S has a stock catch can that reroutes it back into the block.



New compression test results....but first the old results for comparison

First compression test--216,181 mi
cyl-1----cyl-2----cyl-3----cyl-4
-160-----160-----165-----60-

Second--216,234 mi
cyl-1----cyl-2----cyl-3----cyl-4
-160-----160-----165-----75-

Third--216,905 mi
cyl-1----cyl-2----cyl-3----cyl-4
-190-----180-----180-----90-

Still going in the right direction at least.

>

haha its trying to get back up there. thats impressive that its *rebuilding itself* in a way. im guessing youve just been taking it easy? or is that with a little harsh driving.

and on the note of the vaccum hose... i guess ill be taking that off tonight. and just plug the intake manifold.

Actually I've been beating the hell out of it. Since I reconnected the intercooler pump and it felt so much better that just made me want to drive faster.

>
have you done a wet compression test or a leak-down test to be sure that the low compression isn't caused by something simpler to fix than piston rings?

alright i set up my pcv system like you stef. and disconnected my smaller vacuum hose and just plugged both of the holes.


ran the car yesterday, full boost a couple times, got home and popped the hood....

No oil leak!!

i was excited lol.

i used to not be able to hit boost at all without seeing some oil under the hood!


Thanks!


-Allen

p.s. post pics when you get your Non-recirculating Breather/Overflow tank hooked up. i wanna see

So I began the tear down this afternoon around 4pm when work was over. About two hours later this is what we found...

I broke it! I broke it real good...



A few chunks of piston in the oil pan


and the piston from cyl #4











top of the piston, the rest of them looked much much cleaner



kind of hard to tell but the top compression ring is warped


you can see it better here











and the cylinders look fine
cylinder 1


cylinder 2


cylinder 3


cylinder 4



So I'm relieved to find the problem and not too much damage to anything else. Tomorrow is clean and re-assemble. Should be fun

NICE!
damn steff you HAMMERED that ringland with detonation to break it all apart like that.

Nice, I spent about 4 hours last night getting plugs out of the block LOL. Looks like you did a number on that ringland. If you get a chance while your re-honing the cylinder -- see if the tech has any idea what kinda of abrasive material the hone is, if ya get a chance

Damn girl. I ditched my catch can completely on my 7a. PCV valve hooked to intake manifold. Second nipple on intake manifold blanked and nipple on valve cover attached to a breather filter.

We got the new wastegate on last week, I just haven't had a chance to post any pictures yet,
Manny and Dustin took everything apart while I was at work, Manny welded everything together, and I went on my day off to help Manny put everything back together.
Here's the pics from out of the box followed by some from the install process. I still have to get some finished pics, maybe later today...


>

this is the best looking 7AFTE here... I just love your engine bay.

a few pics i took during the process:

nice work!, that waste gate aint goign any where lol

>
Yeah I got rid of mine too and got a breather thank. The small nipple is capped and the PCV hole goes to the breather tank, it catches oil and moisture and lets the air out... plus it's made by Stef's Fabrication so it's got my name on it

>
Thanks Martin!

Here's some finished pictures...

i dig the new wg a lot.
so hows it run now?

It runs awesome now, better and smoother than ever. I just need to get to the dyno and do some more fine tuning. It's not easy to tune by myself while I'm trying to drive and pay attention to traffic at the same time.

Nice to see it back together Steff.

Well done Steff. Awesome.