Heres the story. The car was turbo'd. The turbo blew, shot all the oil threw the exhaust. Took turbo off. Car smoked rediculously, stuttered and choked at idle. Finnally started running ok, and the smoke calmed down after alot of toying around (burnt all oil out of the cat?) After that the car ran alright for another 3 months, only alot of hesitation in low rpms and vacuum at idle would sometimes be a bit low ( - 14-16). Now about a month ago, I got on it for a short stretch and it shut down when i was slowing down (overheated?). It wouldn't start, turned over but wouldnt start. As it was turning over i could see smoke comming out of the breather... i about cried, figured blowby and the motor was shot. we let it sit for a bit occasionally trying to start it, and it started up after awhile of trying. Drove it 1/4 mile and it shut off again. Let it sit another 5-10 mins and it started and got me home with no problems. The next day I drove it 92miles to my girlfriends house in PA and all the way back. It ran fine. A few days later it barely got me home from somewhere, so i did a compression check. 210-200-60-210. Let it sit for a month figuring it was shot and I had to get a new motor. Got bored and decided to play with it. Checked compression again, 90psi on cyl 3. put some oil in the cyl and it blew my tester (too much oil) but compression was over 300?
Tried for about 10 mins to get the car to start and it mostly just turned over and got nothing, then finnally started to fire and eventualyl started. I had blowby comming out the breather and the dipstick. It was also a good amount of blue smoke out the back. I had the oil filled over max a good bit, maybe this contributed. But after about 15 mins the smoke stoped and blowby stoped. I drove it up the street and it seemed fine. drove it again a little further and it ran like crap, ran better when accelerating, by the time i got back to my house it was barely in motion.

checked cyl 3 and it was 90psi.

So I took the head off and can't visibly see anything wrong.
head apears fine, carbon build up on pistons and valves, but seems normal from lookin over 2gnt.

1) Any strong suggestions in my story as to what the problem could be?
I'm thinking rings or ring lands?

2) I broke the crank pulley bolt off in the crank, it wouldn't budge so i had to break it. I'm thinking the threads are stripped and a bolt extractor is not going to help. Drill it out and retap? It's going to be hell drilling that hard bolt out. Is this safe?

3) To take the pistons out to I have to remove the top ridge, or should they come right out?

I'm not doing so well with funds right now, but I plan to paint everything before I put it back together, as well as EGR block off, new gasket set, new rings, JE low comp pistons (can't afford rods, but these should make things a bit safer.) and returbo @ 10-12psi!

any ideas or suggestions appreciated. thanks.

head gasket, piston rings, could also be valves but not so likely.

Too bad you took the head off before asking. We would have told you to do a wet test and a leakdown test to rule out a head problem and diagnose it properly. Now, though, we have no fucking clue what it is.

Edit: <usefulness> My money is on a cracked ring land, though. </usefulness>

To take the pistons out...

Just drop the oil pan and unbolt the rod end-caps. And pop them out the top. But becareful not to hit the bore with the rods while you pull out the piston.

A good way to prevent it is to slip an old sock over the rod to protect the bore.

IMO: I recomend you pull the whole motor... check the bearings, since you had oil problems. Just to be on the safeside...

Its not fun being 30 miles from home with a spun bearing.

Originally posted by DegreE
Its not fun being 30 miles from home with a spun bearing.

Been there...done that...yup it's no fun at all...and the car is still sitting...

Wasnt visible at first, but ring lands were cracked in a few places, 1 peice fell out. I'll post pics later.

Well, fuck. I'm impressed. Nice chunk, man!

Holy Fuck!

Your pistons are cleaner than mine when I pulled my motor for a spun bearing.

My pistons were black/dark brown as fuck.

Considering the motor only had 20k mi at most, they should be pretty damn clean. I've got no luck with these motors. Can't wait to get her back together, and I better hurry... it's getting cold out there! :[