So i blew my engine..., UPDATE 5/17/08! Options

[6strngs]

well, I did a compression test on my car the other day and cylinders 2 and 3 had low compression. Then I did a wet compression test and the numbers went up... so, that means worn piston rings. the next day, as I was drving my car fairly aggressively, the car sputtered and died as I was driving it. I pulled into a parking lot and tried to start it. it cranked, but wouldn't turn over. The cranking noises it made were not consistent either, indicating low compression in one or more cylinders... meaning, I more than likely fried my piston rings. so, I'm planning on selling all the aftermarket stuff off my car, using the money to buy a new car, then buying a new engine or rebuilding my engine for the celica, and then selling it too. I want a car that comes from the factory witha turbo, so it'll be a little more reliable! I'm thinking about MKIII supra turbos, MKII mr2 turbo's (a little out of my price range though), ST185 alltracs (again, a little too expensive, but more-so just hard to find), 95-99 mitsubishi eclipse GSX, and also looking at some miatas, and S14 240sx's. I might be able to get a 7th gen if i take out a loan, but I don't know if I'm willing to do that. anyway, there's the low-down and what-not... I'm gonna miss this car.

This post has been edited by 6strngs: May 17, 2008 - 3:08 AM

[6strngs]

ok, well, I did a compression check on it the day before the engine blew, and this is what lead me to believe that the piston rings were going out. here were the results:

178, 150, 155, 176

then a wet test showed these numbers:

200, 190, 185, 202

so, it indicated that the piston rings were going out. so, today I finally did a compression test again and here were the results:

90, 10, 50, 45

and a wet test was something like:

130, 50, 80, 90

so, it seems to point towards blown piston rings, however, it seems strange to me that all the cylinders would go at the same time so I'm not really sure what's up. I don't know what could affect them all. the only things I could really think of were the timing belt snapping and bending a lot of valves, but since this is a non-interference engine, that's not possible. anybody have any ideas? or is it definately the piston rings?


anyway, yes, since I live in california, it's not so easy as to just drop a 3s in. What I was planning on doing to smog my 5s was remove all the stuff and throw stock stuff back on when smog rolled around. it's not so easy to do that with a 3sgte... And the only way to have a smog legal 3s is to have a same year or newer engine and all the same smog equipment. So, that means getting one from a 94 or 95 MR2. I don't know if JDM ones will be legal. However, I don't know how a smog referree could tell the difference between an engine from a JDM 93 alltrac or a USDM 94 mr2. do they have a VIN or serial number on them or something? plus, all 94+ JDM 3sgtes are 3rd gens, which, apart from being too expensive for me, would probably be even harder to pass. If I did get a 2nd gen 3s, I would probably need to use a USDM ECU, and I would definately need to get a USDM intake manifold and all the EGR equipment just to pass smog. So, yeah. I'm also not sure if I would need to also find a california spec engine too. If I did, then that rules out all JDM engines, and it would be next to impossible to find an engine from a 94 or 95 cali-spec MR2!


anyway, right now I'm trying to decide between buying a 2002 celica GTS 6-speed for $9000 and having to make payments on it for a couple years while having to pay way increased insurance bills. Or, buying my dad's 94 honda civic 4-door 5-speed for $750. having to pay almost no money for insurance, and getting about 34 mpg in the city and 42 on the freeway while I save my money up for a year or whatever to buy a really uber nice car, like an ST185, or a WRX, or a 7th gen, or whatever.

As for parts, they will almost definately go for sale in the next couple of days. I will be selling mostly my celica-specific or 5sfte-specific parts at first and holding onto some of the universal parts for a little bit until I make up my mind. Please don't call dibs on stuff yet though. I don't know how motivated I'm gonna be to pull all the stuff off and I don't want you to be waiting on me for too long and all.

oh yeah... to top it all off, my T3/T4 turbo came in the mail today finally

This post has been edited by 6strngs: Apr 21, 2008 - 11:00 PM