Subaru sound :(

[20v_rollaboy]

Car is a ep82 Gt Starlet. Mods include td04, manifold, exhaust, safc, fuel reg, fuel pump. It has been dyno tuned with the safc.

Now, we spent saturday at Pukekohe racing. Made sure all fluids were good and nothing loose. Went for 3 laps, on the 3rd lap noticed a little bit of smoke under the bonnet, so cruised into the pits. Only to find a sh#t load of oil everywhere! Dipstick had popped up! So, cable tied that down, cleaned up most of the oil and headed out again.

Went for another lap, came into pits, checked, and all was good. Headed out again for another 3 laps, all good still. Stopped a bit because the bikes were out. Headed out for another 3, came back, and oil everywhere again!! Dipstick was still in, and no holes in the block!

Only place we thought it could have come from is the breather on the rocker cover. So cleaned up oil again and called it quits.

On the way home, noticed on idle it started sounding like a Subaru!! Rough idle, small amount of white smoke. Ive checked the plugs, vacuum leaks.

It still drives fine, and isnt making any knocking noises. I havnt done a compression test yet because I dont have a tester.

Sorry for the long story, maybe got a bit carried away

But any help will be appreciated!

[escortman]

sounds like a lot of blow by

[20v_rollaboy]

So stuffed rings? Any reason?

[RS13]

Sounds like damaged piston or rings perhaps, especially if it happened suddenly. Too much boost on a bad tune perhaps? Worn out motor?

[escortman]

yeh could be 2much boost or it leaned out around the track? fuel surge and detonated, or just old motor

[AceSniper]

Piston Ringland comes to mind

[Flannelman]

might be silly but was alittle extra oil added because it was going to be thrashed? might not have liked the extra oil.
could also be a crook rocker cover gasket. small split can look like a big one with the way oil moves.
just looking for a simple answer

[RS13]

Make sure the breather isn't blocked either. I had that stupid problem with my Corona, it was so blocked that the pressure vented out a little hole on the distributor, which made the car miss, kinda like a dodgy plug lead.

[20v_rollaboy]

Finally started pulling the engine apart this weekend!

After pulling the head off, I found the headgasket was wet! Like it had been soaked in water. Also there was water on top of the pistons.

I also noticed that where the gasket blocks off one of the water galleries, it was broken. Like there was a hole where there shouldnt have been.


Do you think this would have been the cause of all my problems? The cylinder walls look smooth aswell, would ring failure have left marks?

[rollaholic]

did you drain the coolant before you took the head off?

[20v_rollaboy]

Yes, radiator was drained and the pipe going to the water pump behind the head was drained aswell.

[rollaholic]

and there was water on the pistons? not a good look, are the sparkplugs brown?

[tsoob]

might be silly but was alittle extra oil added because it was going to be thrashed? might not have liked the extra oil.
could also be a crook rocker cover gasket. small split can look like a big one with the way oil moves.
just looking for a simple answer

that was the first thing that comes into my mind also, i find if i fill mine up to the dipstick full line i get blow by. i dropped a little oil out (about 250ml) and this problem went away.

[Lloyd]

Pics of plugs, pistons and the valves may help in the diagnosis

[Dragger_Dan]

Crack in the head?

[flygt4]

probly obvious by now , the subaru sound and rough idle is a sure sign of running on 3 cylinders. good indictation you've lost compression,spark or fuel on one cylinder at idle.

[20v_rollaboy]

While it was together and running, i removed each lead and could distinctly hear it change note.

Will do my best to take pics of said items.

We did not top up the oil before going out on the track, it was at 3/4 .

[Flannelman]

Wet gasket... sounds like the way Santas FX GT was when we teared it down.
When it happened at the track there was steam out the exhaust, hard to start and the smell of burning anti-freeze. tell tale signs of blown head gasket. Motor was around 100,000km un-opened.

For a quick repair, get head crack tested and checked to see if its warped. If it passes, buy a good quality head gasket and put it back together.

[Dell'Orto]

And interestingly with that FX, there was bugger all compression loss either...was I think 5psi down in #1, the rest were 200psi, so basically normal.

[20v_rollaboy]

Yes, starting was becoming a bit difficult. Also there was steam/smoke coming out the oil filler cap:(

Getting head checked and skimmed if necessary, and have a TGP headgasket to go back on. Will also be getting new head-bolts.