i'm pretty sure my head gasket's blown, but here's some info on the progression of problems:

95 eclipse rs

been burning oil for almost a year now. prolly maybe up to about 1/2 quart per week now. whitish smoke from exhaust been occuring more and more frequently. a month or two ago started over heating. i found a small crack at the top of the radiator so i've just been topping it off (haven't had time to do any work on the car).

last night it was over heating again. after a 30 min drive it sat for the night. this morning, topped off the coolant again and the heat was ok. after driving for about 15 minutes, cel started flashing and sudden loss of power. started idleing like crap.

did a comp test when i got home and came up with: 170/0/200/210

i forget which way they're numbered so i'm using passenger as number 1.

i had a lot of oil in spark plug well 3. enough that there was oil up inside of the cable's boot. a little oil in well's 1&2 also. the spark plugs are at least a few years old and look like crap also...


soooo

is this prolly just a headgasket? worth fixing? i'd have to bring it to a shop to do the headgasket, radiator i can do myself. i'm also overdue for timing belt so that should be easy to do along with the headgasket.

any advice on other stuff to look for?


oh yea, cel codes:
12 36 32 43 55

the only new one is 43. the others are from the stupid EGR crap.

-marc

Only way to really tell is to pull it apart.. If you fix it might as well put new water pump and timing belt pulleys on there to..

97 Eclipse GS, 2.2 stroker,Gt35R,MSNS,E85 @20psi. 450hp 370tq..With issues

I would definitely try to figure out what's up with cylinder 2. 0 compression is indicative of a much worse issue than a blown headgasket.

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If a sentence found online has 35% misspellings or greater and includes at least two racially charged expletives, chances are it is a YouTube comment.

'95 Eclipse TurboGS (garage deco)
'95 TSi AWD (restoring a survivor)
'97 Talon ESi-T (poor impulse control)
'99 Eclipse RS-T (daily beater)
'13 Evo X (mostly stock)
'17 Sienna (Middle Aged Dad Mobile)



Factory Service Manuals: http://nawdu.de/files/

anything else i can do myself? i don't have an air compressor or a lot of time to take too much apart..

-marc

oil in the spark plug wells is most likely from leaking valve cover gaskets.

0 compression in cyl 2 is scary. do a wet compression test and see if it comes up any. that will let you know if it has bad rings too.

Erik P.
Official 2GNT thread Hijacker
Some say that he's driven over more Covenant than he's shot, and that his grenades aren't where you'd expect them to be...
All we know is, He's not The Stig... But he is The Stig's Spartan cousin!

ok well wet compression test came back: 235/0/240/240

when i started it up after the wet test, a little smoke started coming out the front of the block. i couldn't tell if it was from the exhaust gasket or from lower down (head gasket) though...

bleah. idk what to do..

-marc

Pull the valvecover and inspect the valvetrain for cylinder 2. Look for any obvious signs of damage. With 0 compression, you may have lost a valve keeper and dropped a valve. If the valvetrain looks okay, I'd pull the pan and inspect the bottom end for any obvious signs of distress, e.g. big fucking holes, missing pistons, etc.

With a flat zero compression, whatever problem you have is going to be really obvious.

______________________________
If a sentence found online has 35% misspellings or greater and includes at least two racially charged expletives, chances are it is a YouTube comment.

'95 Eclipse TurboGS (garage deco)
'95 TSi AWD (restoring a survivor)
'97 Talon ESi-T (poor impulse control)
'99 Eclipse RS-T (daily beater)
'13 Evo X (mostly stock)
'17 Sienna (Middle Aged Dad Mobile)



Factory Service Manuals: http://nawdu.de/files/

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Outside of Corona: "That sucks, peace out..." (jamie walks away)... "Sweeet, what we doin?" -Zac
Tim's garage (prior to motor install): "Im gonna smoke real quick, that way if you fuck up I am already nicotined up" -Tim

Wow...your still alive?

-MIKE-

Stroked 2.2L

Erik P.
Official 2GNT thread Hijacker
Some say that he's driven over more Covenant than he's shot, and that his grenades aren't where you'd expect them to be...
All we know is, He's not The Stig... But he is The Stig's Spartan cousin!

hmmm... i can't seem to locate my chilton's..

is there anything special i need to watch out for when removing/installing the VC? just unbolt everything, right?

-marc

______________________________
If a sentence found online has 35% misspellings or greater and includes at least two racially charged expletives, chances are it is a YouTube comment.

'95 Eclipse TurboGS (garage deco)
'95 TSi AWD (restoring a survivor)
'97 Talon ESi-T (poor impulse control)
'99 Eclipse RS-T (daily beater)
'13 Evo X (mostly stock)
'17 Sienna (Middle Aged Dad Mobile)



Factory Service Manuals: http://nawdu.de/files/

ya. There is going to be something obvious above or below cyl 2. 0 compression is no good. Go to autozone and get a valve cover gasket. It takes hardly any time at all to remove the VC. If you can find a half hour of free time, go pull it off and take a look at the valvetrain.

k well i pulled the VC and oil pan and couldn't see anything noticeably wrong.. i'll post pics later.

i tried shining a light from the spark plug well but didn't see anything from the bottom..

also, what does it mean if i can hear a slight hissing as i advance the crank? it sounds like the sound is coming from different cylinders at different times. is that just air leaking past the rings?

-marc

Yes

---

2012 2500HD LML

how bad is it to drive like this?

-marc

its not bad to drive aruond like that if you dont care about your engine. if you have extra cash i would just drop it off at a garage and tell them to take a look at it.

Thank you mobil one for rust proofing my driveway.

If your sparkplugs are not in and you hear the hissing on different cylinders when you rotate the crank, that is not air passing by the rings, that is the air from the piston pushing it out of the spark plug hole.

-marc

hmm....maybe valve seals? have you done a compression check?

ok well, cars been sitting and the battery kepty dying for some reason. i'd have to drive it short distances every couple days so i've just been jumping it as needed. started ok last nite after a jump. this morning i tried to start it and got nothing. hooked up the jumper cables and the lights and stuff came on but it will not crank. the CEL does not come on at all. is this a dead ECU? the stock one died in 2004 and i replaced it with another used one.

-marc

Erik P.
Official 2GNT thread Hijacker
Some say that he's driven over more Covenant than he's shot, and that his grenades aren't where you'd expect them to be...
All we know is, He's not The Stig... But he is The Stig's Spartan cousin!

which connections would i check? when i hookup the jumper cables the interior lights come on along with the other alert lights on the dash that normally come on during startup. the cel is the only one that does not come on at all.

-marc

Mainly the cables that go to the starter. I've had them so coroded inside that I didn't even get a click out of the starter but the lights would come on and everything else worked fine. corrosion seems to grow exponentially from what I've noticed, at first it will just screw with you and then all of a sudden it'll slap you in the face with a big fat "Fuck You".

cut open the jacketing on the battery cables a few inches from the battery end with a razor blade, not so far that you can't just use a little electrical tape to fix it if it's still good. if you've got corrosion more than in inch back inside just replace the cable. you might also want to check the power lines going to the alternator and power distribution box too, just because the inside stuff works doesn't mean that the underhood stuff is ok.

I keep my battery terminals spotless but I've still had the corrosion monster get most of my cars bad enough that I've had to rewire the battery.

Erik P.
Official 2GNT thread Hijacker
Some say that he's driven over more Covenant than he's shot, and that his grenades aren't where you'd expect them to be...
All we know is, He's not The Stig... But he is The Stig's Spartan cousin!

hmm i don't see any obvious signs of corrosion.

are there any other reasons why i would get no CEL at startup?

-marc

Erik P.
Official 2GNT thread Hijacker
Some say that he's driven over more Covenant than he's shot, and that his grenades aren't where you'd expect them to be...
All we know is, He's not The Stig... But he is The Stig's Spartan cousin!

hmm well it started ok the next time i tried jumping it and ran enough to get to sears. battery checked out dead. replaced for free under warranty.

i guess i just gotta take it in to a shop to get the block checked out now.

since they're gonna prolly be pulling the head, is there anything else i should have done besides timing belt/water pump?

..or if i'm prolly gonna need head/block work, is it better/cheaper to just get a new/rebuilt block/head and get it swapped?

-marc

I'm surprised it runs on 3 cylinders...it would run like crap I'm sure. The "0" compression on cyl 2 is your biggest concern right now.

I wouldn't worry about anything else until you figure out whats going on with that cylinder--be it with the valves or rings or something completely different.

Depending on what you find there will guide the rest of your plans.

95 Avenger 2.0 - Hahn 16g, DMS 8 injector setup, UDP, Big FMIC, HKS SSQV, MSD Coil & Wires,
ZEX Nitrous System, QTP Cut Out, Mandrel 2.5" Exhaust with cat delete, MP 60mm TB...and tons of Carbon Fiber

ok well the shop said it's a bad exhaust valve. they're estimating about $2k for everything. does that sound about right?

i've never pulled a head before so i'm kinda debating whether i should even try doing it myself and sending the head to a shop.

-marc

Captain Caveman

96 RS Turbo 11.414 @ 119.62 MSNS, Crower 2 NA cams, BW366, 10.5 comp, UDP, 60mm TB, W/A intercooler, 3.55 tranny 567.9whp 430tq
97 RS NA 13.188 @ 103.87 MSnS powered 12.5 comp, Crower 3's and 219.4whp with 175tq
98 RS DD 12.5 comp on stock ECU, LTH, Crower 2's, Koni, GC, Hypercoil, DG hats
99 OZ 5sp Stocker 15.856 @ 85.97
99 GS stocker auto 17.7@77mph!

wiki home page:http://www.2gnt.com/index.php?d=bullettdsm

-marc

thats a rip off, do it yourself and it will cost you only 180 to get the head redone and looking new. thats not including the parts.

what else should i replace on the head? i talked to the guy at the shop when i picked up the car (told them i don't want the work done). he confirmed the compression numbers i got. he said he said he did a leak down test and found the exhaust valves on cylinder 2 leaking. he pulled the valve cover and couldn't find any play in the valves so he doesn't think it's a bad seal or anything.

should i be replacing all the valves at the same time? which other hardware should i get replaced as well? i think my dad's friend is gonna pull the head at his shop for cheap.

what else should i get done while the head's off? i'm at 170k. last owner had the head rebuilt at about 110k when his timing belt broke (didn't believe his mechanic when he told him to get the belt replaced ASAP). i'm guessing i should do the timing belt/water pump/pulleys/tensioner now?

-marc