Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

The incident happened about three weeks ago and since then my car has been sitting in the garage gathering dust. This is what happened - according to my brother who was driving at the time. My brother was taking the car around the block to a friends place ( no more than a 5 km away), when returning home (after he stopped at the petrol station to fill up the tank) the exhaust backfired - offboost, with visible black smoke and then suddenly the car shut down. He tried to start the car for the a few times without luck but then it started although struggled to idle and then died again. When he eventually got it home, we tried to start the car again - still idling very roughtly. but noticed alot of smoke leaking from between the seal where the turbo is joined to the dump pipe. The next day i had an inspection of the engine bay and noticed that one coil pack was split and the gasket between the turbo and dump pipe had indeed deteriorated. ATM the car starts but doesnt seem to be making an signs of induction noise or sounds from the bov as you would get by revving it at idle. i would like to ask is if my engine is in need of a rebuild or could it just be a minor fix. I havent had the chance to get the engine compression tested. btw the engine is a sr20.

thanks for any help/recommendations/opinions,

duc.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/60667-is-my-engine-dead/
Share on other sites

thanks for your feedback guys. I removed the dump pipe today as i though that maybe, just maybe the turbo died causing the smoke to leak from in between the gasket - the exhaust wheel was still intacted. Having done this, is it safe to say that the turbo was not the cause of the car to shut down. I'll try the ecu test and intercooler pipes that has been mentioned. Thanks so far guys.

Sorry couldnt help myself... Title of the post made me do it...

Black smoke.... ummmm piping could have a leak... but this usually happens when the piping has completlly blown off.... First fix the exhaust manifold then go from there... Fix all the visible signs... If oil is all over the place around the back of the turbo (dump pipe area) then dead turbo... (seals have let go).... The oil burning can also cause smoke of coarse, if you cant hear induction noise (ie. no piping let go) then replace exhaust manifold gasket as stated above. Then replace tubro.... This should be it.... If it still stutters, then rplace the AFM this is all the possible problems covered.... Should not cost too much....

Remember if it back fired badlly, it may have also back fired threw the intake as well, whcih is enough to bust a oild seal in the turbo...

thank you very much for all of your reply's. Yesterday, since i had the front bar offm so i decided to take the intecooler piping off also even though it was on very tight just to see if there was anything stuck/lurking in it. What i discovered is that in the pipe from where the outlet pipe from the cooler where the turbo side is was covered in what seems to be oil or some sort of dark liquid ( im thinking that it could be some form of sealent that was on the silicion pipe). But this liquid was nowhere found where the piping joins the turbo pipe nor was it on the other pipe which connected to the throttle body.

I have called for a mobile mechanic to perform a compression test on the engine today but as unsure if its better to take it to the workshop to get this sort of diagnostic performed. Is this a good step to take or should i be changing the exhaust maniforld gasket and coils firsts and go from there.

thank you very much for your replies guys even though its aint a rb engine.

regards,

duc.

Pay close attention to the coil pack comment... My coil packs are dying slowly, and one day my car just decided it didn't want to idle any more (until they were cleaned with contact cleaner). The black smoke is probably the unburnt fuel from the affected cylinder. A compression test is always handy though I guess.

Well not long after my previous reply the mobile mechanic arrived before i was contemplating cancelling it o i went ahead and had it performed. The results were as follows..

cylinder 1 - 150

cylinder 2 - 150

cylinder 3 - 150

cylinder 4 - 150 (cylinder in which the coul pack was spilt)

To say the least i was very happy. Does this mean that i still need to perform a leak down test to confirm these results - i wanted the guy to do it but he said that he didnt have the necessary equipment to do it. In saying this, im assured at least that the engine did not sustain any damage when it suddenly shut down, so i guess now i have too look at other parts to find out the problem. btw, the mechanic said that maybe it was a bad batch of petrol or was overfuelled due to the split coil. Could this be fule pump related than as the car did get petrol before the incident occured.

The problem seems quiet clear; Replace the faulty coil pack, which will allow the car to run on 4 Cylinders.

The reason its running rough, is because its not firing cylinder number 4, and the excess fuel is blowing out into the exhaust systems. Not to mention going though your ring lands and into your sump & mixing with your oil!!!

A leek down compression test doesn’t seem necessary, I would fix the most visible problem first. Coil Pack.

good to see the old bitch is still going I was worried for a sec there it shouldnt be a fuel pump related issue as I fitted a new high flow pump installed not long before I sold it to you it could be a coil as one of the was a little cracked when I first got the car I never got around to swapping it over or even just a fouled plug. Good luck

thanks mate, how are you? i was more worried that i had to get a new engine for it. Initially, it was going to get some cosmetic treatment ie respray, until this happened. ive noticed that you are looking for a cefiro, found one yet?

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Have a look at that (shitty) pic I posted. You can see AN -4 braided line coming to a -4 to 1/8 BSPT adapter, into a 1/8 BSPT T piece. The Haltech pressure sender is screwed into the long arm of the sender and factory sender (pre your pic) into the T side. You can also see the cable tie holding the whole contraption in place. Is it better than mounting the sender direct to your engine fitting......yes because it removes that vibration as the engine revs out 50 times every lap and that factory sender is pretty big. Is it necessary for you......well I've got no idea, I just don't like something important failing twice so over-engineer it to the moon!
    • Yup. You can get creative and make a sort of "bracket" with cable ties. Put 2 around the sender with a third passing underneath them strapped down against the sender. Then that third one is able to be passed through some hole at right angles to the orientation of the sender. Or some variation on the theme. Yes.... ummm, with caveats? I mean, the sender is BSP and you would likely have AN stuff on the hose, so yes, there would be the adapter you mention. But the block end will either be 1/8 NPT if that thread is still OK in there, or you can drill and tap it out to 1/4 BSP or NPT and use appropriate adapter there. As it stands, your mention of 1/8 BSPT male seems... wrong for the 1/8 NPT female it has to go into. The hose will be better, because even with the bush, the mass of the sender will be "hanging" off a hard threaded connection and will add some stress/strain to that. It might fail in the future. The hose eliminates almost all such risk - but adds in several more threaded connections to leak from! It really should be tapered, but it looks very long in that photo with no taper visible. If you have it in hand you should be able to see if it tapered or not. There technically is no possibility of a mechanical seal with a parallel male in a parallel female, so it is hard to believe that it is parallel male, but weirder things have happened. Maybe it's meant to seat on some surface when screwed in on the original installation? Anyway, at that thread size, parallel in parallel, with tape and goop, will seal just fine.
    • How do you propose I cable tie this: To something securely? Is it really just a case of finding a couple of holes and ziptying it there so it never goes flying or starts dangling around, more or less? Then run a 1/8 BSP Female to [hose adapter of choice?/AN?] and then the opposing fitting at the bush-into-oil-block end? being the hose-into-realistically likely a 1/8 BSPT male) Is this going to provide any real benefit over using a stainless/steel 1/4 to 1/8 BSPT reducing bush? I am making the assumption the OEM sender is BSPT not BSPP/BSP
    • I fashioned a ramp out of a couple of pieces of 140x35 lumber, to get the bumper up slightly, and then one of these is what I use
    • I wouldn't worry about dissimilar metal corrosion, should you just buy/make a steel replacement. There will be thread tape and sealant compound between the metals. The few little spots where they touch each other will be deep inside the joint, unable to get wet. And the alloy block is much much larger than a small steel fitting, so there is plenty of "sacrificial" capacity there. Any bush you put in there will be dissimilar anyway. Either steel or brass. Maybe stainless. All of them are different to the other parts in the chain. But what I said above still applies.
×
×
  • Create New...