I started my car up today, after letting it sit for a day (sunday) after the dsmtoonerz meet... #1 cylinder sounds... really loud... sounds like metal tapping metal...not my usual piston slap... It gradually gets softer after my 3 minute warmup, and now that im at work its completely gone...

Whats my next course of action? I'm already planning on picking up some oil+changing this afternoon, hoping I wont see any metal shavings or.. fluids that shouldnt be there... Oil is probably at mid-life, still somewhat transparent. 5w30 Mobil 1 iirc... do I _have_ to pull the oilpan to check for this sort of damage? if so Ill have to add oilpan gasket+silicone to my shopping list...

Should I switch to a thicker oil? The engine has 8k on it since the rebuild at 62,000

FS: 2.5" Test Pipe 25 shipped

The oil pan gasket is designed to be re-used.

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~Chris
03 SRT-4

compression test

myspace.com/coastiecobb

175 172 180 185 8.5:1 wiseco pistons, .020 over.. (engine warmed up of course)

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I checked compression yesterday, also replaced my plugs and oil (probably prematurely, both were in good shape)

but now it culminates into a CEL... the sequence is

12-43-43-55

43="misfire on one or more cylinders" but why does it occur twice?

and i can hear a definite ticking noise coming off of at least one of the injectors


I checked the cel sheet on 2gnt, found that this is it

43 PO351 43 Ignition coil #1 primary circuit Harness and connector / Ignition coil #1 (or #2) the thing is, I disconnected the coil harness from the relay on the firewall, as well as fuel pump yesterday so i could do my compression test... is this the root of my cel?

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misfire is either fuel or ignition related. you might have a toasty injector and it needs to be replaced. try some fuel system cleaner or something

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96 Black ESi
91 Red TSI AWD (RIP)
02 WRX


"turnin wrenches for nine hours in the pouring rain, just to get the beast up and running again"

Aerospace Certified TIG welder for Precision Castparts in Portland, OR.

JoshSpair.com

yeah i picked up some gumout on my way back from work... only put maybe 2 miles on it since i put it in so i guess ill give it a chance... as well as using... contact cleaner on the relays/harnesses... :o

what are the largest injectors I can go with using stock fuel pump/fmu without having clouds of smoke/ton of tuning? I have 550's on hand, but that would definitely require tuning. 390's made smoke too..

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Woah, did you say STOCK fuel pump? You did mean the whalbro or another upgraded pump right?

I edited to the wiki!

stock

its pretty new, but it already sounds kind of loud... probably not long for this earth

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96 Black ESi
91 Red TSI AWD (RIP)
02 WRX


"turnin wrenches for nine hours in the pouring rain, just to get the beast up and running again"

Aerospace Certified TIG welder for Precision Castparts in Portland, OR.

JoshSpair.com

Well I may be miss informed here but you are turbo right? I see the IC pipes in your sig, and I see you are using low comp forged pistons, so WTF mate?... IF you are turbo you need a new FMU and a new fuel pump.. Are you still turbo?

I edited to the wiki!

is an upgraded one necessary for 5.5psi? I've kept it low because my fuel system is so lacking

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Well I don't have a clue what turbo you are using, nor do I know if you monitor an EGT guage or an O2 meter to see rich / lean conditions. I would suspect that you would be a little on the lean side, although it may not be by much. But repeated lean conditions that cause knock can cause things to go wrong even with forged pistons.. Do you get any serious knock that you know of when you boost?

I edited to the wiki!

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__________________________________________
~Chris
03 SRT-4

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Yeah you will be a little lean on the completly stock fuel system. That's why both hahn & star supply a rising rate FMU with their kits... However the stock fuel system may be "ok" for a few pounds of boost, like 2-3 really. Some people with the 8 inj setup start fueling at around 2-3psi but then the fuel comes right in. That's a different story as compared to a WOT 5.5psi run that goes all through 3rd or 4th gear... on a long run at WOT with 5.5psi in the pipeline you may have fouled something up.
EDIT: I see you ran a comp check and got some decent results. You could have fried an injector... It seems unlikely that an injector would tick cold and then not tick when warm....

I edited to the wiki!

Originally posted by Kirby
Yeah you will be a little lean on the completly stock fuel system. That's why both hahn & star supply a rising rate FMU with their kits... However the stock fuel system may be "ok" for a few pounds of boost, like 2-3 really. Some people with the 8 inj setup start fueling at around 2-3psi but then the fuel comes right in. That's a different story as compared to a WOT 5.5psi run that goes all through 3rd or 4th gear... on a long run at WOT with 5.5psi in the pipeline you may have fouled something up. EDIT: I see you ran a comp check and got some decent results. You could have fried an injector... It seems unlikely that an injector would tick cold and then not tick when warm....

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Ok so it is the FMU with the star kit then? That's not a stock FMU that's a riseing rate fmu So the only question is does the rise rate on the fmu overrun your pressure available on the stock pump. Do you have a fuel pressure guage? The vortech FMU with the kit is a 12:1 fmu so your fuel pressure should raise by 12 psi for every 1 psi of boost. So your fuel pressure would be raised by 66 psi for your 5psi of boost. So you may very well be running that stock pump to death with the extra pressure, it was not ment to double it's output...

I edited to the wiki!

Um... yeah dont boost anymore without a rising rate regulator and at least a walbro 255 intank.

What are your compression numbers when cold? Are you getting any blowby? (oil out the breather hose) Do you see any smoke when you pull the dipstick out or open the oil cap with the engine running?

Have you checked your plugs to see if they're melted?

Does your oil have any sparkly metal bits in it?

Definitely pull the pan asap and if you can wiggle any of the rods at all in any direction or see any metal, you need to at least replace the bearings.

Have a mechanic use an optical scope to inspect your cylinder walls at BDC.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

96 Black ESi
91 Red TSI AWD (RIP)
02 WRX


"turnin wrenches for nine hours in the pouring rain, just to get the beast up and running again"

Aerospace Certified TIG welder for Precision Castparts in Portland, OR.

JoshSpair.com

Changed my oil right after I started hearing the sound, I couldnt see any metal...

I'll definitely cut the boost as soon as I get it back

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Shop says my pistons are fine, though at this point I'm not sure theyve even touched the car since I dropped it off on Wednesday... I was kind of leading the conversation, asked them if they had gotten my message regarding going in with a scope... say they dont have one... Did tell me that the compression is fine cold or at operating temperature... and that if there were major piston ownage it would be off by a lot. Its a good shop, very large, good flow of cars in and out... seem to know their stuff.

I'm still preparing myself for the worst, getting used to being demoted to the volvo beater.

If I get let off easy... I'll have to just continue dumping paychecks on it + upgrade fuel system

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