JunkYd EJ22 testing

[Skip]

I got an '94 EJ22 (154 Kmi.) from the local boneyard, yanked the lump myself.

Came from a car that had been sitting for only two months.

Car was crashed in the pass side front (popped both air bags thus the total)

but damage did not hit the cam sprocket.

Engine looks real clean and well maintained, as did the remains of the car.

 

The coolant overflow bottle still had coolant in it.

The level was between the two marks and was not milk shaky,

oil was also clean and non frothy with no signs of coolant.

But..

I was bothered to find no thermostat in the lower housing.

This set me to wondering if

this engine may have a

headgasket problem / overheat issue

and the owner removed the T-stat in hope of repair.

(Rad was totaled in the crash but did not look antique,

I did not look inside of it though)

 

With the engine now on a stand, I decide to do a leak down test on the engine.

I built the leak down tester pictured here

Pulled the cam covers (very clean inside) so I could verify compression TDC for the

cyl. I was testing.

Used a clamped T wench on the crank bolt to lock the engine.

Timing belt looked new and all marks lined up as they should.

Cylinders one and three showed 50 psi with balanced leakage from

intake and exhaust.

But 2 and 4 both showed goose eggs - nada!

Air could be heard coming from the exhaust on four and intake when testing # two.

 

I next put another leak down type spark plug fitting in cyl # 2 with a 0-30 PSI gauge (read rather sensitive)

locked the engine so both #2 and #4 valves were closed and fed #4 full air compressor pressure, no reading showed on the gage in #2, the needle never twitched.

 

Listening for air in the cooling system, I could not verify any leakage.

So I sealed the cooling system and

used and very sensitive (inches of water column) gage to monitor the cooling system pressure.

Again not a twitch in the needle of the gage.

Fed the cooling system 15 psi and pressure held.

 

I rolled the engine so I could look at the exhaust valves through the ports.

The exposed parts of the stems showed some rust.

What could be seen of the valves looked normal.

No large carbon deposits.

 

What is the chance that #2 and #4 were open while sitting and rust has formed on the valves/valve seats preventing them from closing (this rust would probably be dislodged are a few revolutions with fire

in the hole)????

As it takes what? all of one or two hours to install and test -- should I chance it??

 

I thank you for taking a few minutes of your life to read this diatribe and..

All comments and suggestions are appreciated.

 

________________________________________________________

Be careful - its a bone yard waiting to happen out there!

[edrach]

Skip, this is Qman.

 

I think you are spot on with your hypothosis. With the described condition of the vehicle it sounds like there could be a slight build up on the valves. For the money though, I would just reseal and gasket the motor for no other reason than an insurance policy. It is already out and you will be able to check the valves visually that way.

 

On a complete side note. I have a better set for you now that it has been way too long. Send(pm) me an address and I will attempt to get these in the mail before the 2nd coming!!

 

Ken

[hankosolder2]

Seems like your bench testing was very thourough. Here's the thing: you know that there's no way the car could have been driven with 50psi compression on two cylinders and zero on the other two, so whatever happened to the motor must be the result of it sitting. I think your rust on the valve seats hypothesis is a good one, but what if the lifters (OK, HLAs if you want to be technical) have bled fown collapsed? I think that could account for low compression (i.e. if the intake valves don't open, there's not a lot of air to get in to compress on the compression stroke.) The only thing that makes me doubt that is when you say you can hear leakage past the valves...

My JY ej22 had been sitting for a year and when started did not run on all cylinders, had the tick of death, etc on startup...it all squared away after running a few times and seems to be fine.

I guess it's a question of how lucky you're feeling!

 

Nathan

 

 

 

I got an '94 EJ22 (154 Kmi.) from the local boneyard, yanked the lump myself.

Came from a car that had been sitting for only two months.

Car was crashed in the pass side front (popped both air bags thus the total)

but damage did not hit the cam sprocket.

Engine looks real clean and well maintained, as did the remains of the car.

 

The coolant overflow bottle still had coolant in it.

The level was between the two marks and was not milk shaky,

oil was also clean and non frothy with no signs of coolant.

But..

I was bothered to find no thermostat in the lower housing.

This set me to wondering if

this engine may have a

headgasket problem / overheat issue

and the owner removed the T-stat in hope of repair.

(Rad was totaled in the crash but did not look antique,

I did not look inside of it though)

 

With the engine now on a stand, I decide to do a leak down test on the engine.

I built the leak down tester pictured here

Pulled the cam covers (very clean inside) so I could verify compression TDC for the

cyl. I was testing.

Used a clamped T wench on the crank bolt to lock the engine.

Timing belt looked new and all marks lined up as they should.

Cylinders one and three showed 50 psi with balanced leakage from

intake and exhaust.

But 2 and 4 both showed goose eggs - nada!

Air could be heard coming from the exhaust on four and intake when testing # two.

 

I next put another leak down type spark plug fitting in cyl # 2 with a 0-30 PSI gauge (read rather sensitive)

locked the engine so both #2 and #4 valves were closed and fed #4 full air compressor pressure, no reading showed on the gage in #2, the needle never twitched.

 

Listening for air in the cooling system, I could not verify any leakage.

So I sealed the cooling system and

used and very sensitive (inches of water column) gage to monitor the cooling system pressure.

Again not a twitch in the needle of the gage.

Fed the cooling system 15 psi and pressure held.

 

I rolled the engine so I could look at the exhaust valves through the ports.

The exposed parts of the stems showed some rust.

What could be seen of the valves looked normal.

No large carbon deposits.

 

What is the chance that #2 and #4 were open while sitting and rust has formed on the valves/valve seats preventing them from closing (this rust would probably be dislodged are a few revolutions with fire

in the hole)????

As it takes what? all of one or two hours to install and test -- should I chance it??

 

I thank you for taking a few minutes of your life to read this diatribe and..

All comments and suggestions are appreciated.

 

________________________________________________________

Be careful - its a bone yard waiting to happen out there!

[johnceggleston]

would pulling the valve covers help diagnos the problem. at least you could see what 's moving and what's not. and if you do the HG that's step one, right? and it's bound to be easyier than HG.

 

would it help to remove all of the plugs put oil in the engine and spin it with a drill or eletric motor of some kind. this might free up the valves?

 

obviously you know what you're doing, i'm just thinking out loud.

[cookie]

A head gasket problem would only show on a leakdown if very bad. They seal back up when they cool down. Do yourself a favor and pull the heads and do the valves and look at cyl walls.

It sure would be a lot easier to fix out of the car.

[Skip]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

 

For those of you who I confused with my wording,

I did a "leak down test" not a "compression test".

If you would like to read bout this test procedure please visit

http://www.xs11.com/tips/misc/misc3.shtml

 

I did have the cam (valve) covers removed. With them removed and with

the aid of a long screw driver I could verify that the cylinder I was testing was

on TDC and was on the compression stroke.

 

 

Your replies are all very sound and I know I should heed your advise.

But,

I have more time these daze (sic) than money (or common sense for that matter).

I was hit with forced retirement due to redundancy (read I trained the monkeys too well)

Feel sorry not as a shot of my shop shows I'm in a fine state of confusion.

 

I have the EJ25 boat anchor hanging in effigy and think I may

roll the dice and plop the EJ22 in - I probably will come up craps

but I need the practice.

 

 

Once again I thank you for your replies and your time.

I will be honest and tell tale of my foolishness after the fact.

[idosubaru]

i'm not an EJ22 expert, but think your 94 has hydraulic valve lash adjusters right? if so they could be bled down. if it's leaking somewhere you should be able to hear it. i'd listen through the oil dipstick tube (remove dipstick), remove the valve covers and open the throttle body. through the throttle (intake), exhaust, dipstick or valve covers you should be able to hear where the pressure is being lost too.

[cookie]

If time is not an issue you can always deal with it after running it a bit. You should have room to remove the heads in there quite well.