Vicki needs a new heart...

[MSHardeman]

Vicki (my VX for those that don't know her) has been throwing a P0303 (misfire detected in cylinder three) code, and has been running rough for a couple of months now. After exhausting all of my shade tree mechanics knowledge I finally broke down and took her to a mechanic. The diagnosis was exactly as I had feared; NO compression in cylinder three. The mechanic checked cylinder one for the heck of it and it is down at 125psi. I don't know the exact specs on our engines, but he thinks that's pretty low too.

SO, with that it looks like Vicki is going to need a new heart. I know others have done this before so I am looking for opinions on who to go to to get a new engine.

I know this information is on the site, and I will do copious amounts of research later, but pressed for time right now so I just wanted to get the ball rolling.

I'm thinking of going the new engine route since the current engine has gulped 3/4 of a quart of oil every 300-350 miles since I bought the VX with 35,000 miles on it. Doesn't seem to make sense to try and rebuild and engine that is loosing that much oil.

Any opinions and experiences would be greatly appreciated.

[BigSwede]

Are you sure it's not just a head gasket?

[Scott Larson]

Pull the heads first, before you condemn the engine, might just be as mentioned above or has valvetrain issues like worn valves or excessive carbon buildup!

[H3_VX]

If/when my VX's engine is finished, I plan on replacing the drivetrain completely with anything but Isuzu parts. Will find something reliable and longer lasting than Isuzu mechanicals. Don't need 400hp, just something reliable. If I were you or anyone else i'd call a drivetrain specialist shop and have them put together a reliable "heart." There's a thread on here where someone from Maine did this and kept everything except the TOD of course. As long as I have 4WD, I personally don't need the TOD. I believe he even got a V8 istalled and even kept the A/C intact. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[Etfren]

Wouldn't there be plenty of other symptoms if it was a head gasket?

Sorry to hear about Vicki. I'm in the process of a motor swap myself, but like others here, I'm taking my sweet time with it since its not my primary driver. I opted for the 02 Axiom swap and plan to do a full write up when I'm done, but I don't think I will be of much help in time for you.

[MSHardeman]

BigSwede/ Scott,

How involved is it to take the heads off of the engine? Is it something that I can do in my driveway in a weekend? Do you have to take the timing belt off to get the heads off?

Guess I have a little research to do.

Thanks for the suggestion, because that would sure be cheaper than a new engine.

[Scott Larson]

A blown head gasket can show multiple symptoms or only one. Loss of compression, white exhaust smoke, antifreeze in the oil (never a good thing), oil in the antifreeze, etc. It all depends on where the breech in the gasket has occured.

[MSHardeman]

The only issues that I have had is that it throws the cylinder three mis-fire code. Hasn't smoked at all, and hasn't been burning any more oil than normal.

The mechanic did say that the oil looked ugly when they drained it out. Didn't think to ask what "ugly" meant. Guess I'll give them a call and find out.

[MSHardeman]

Looking at the engine a little bit more, I don't think that this is something that I could do in a weekend. Looks like I would have to get the intake manifold off first, and I tried to do that this past weekend when I thought that the issue might have been an intake manifold gasket. The intake would NOT budge. I had everything disconnected and unbolted, but that sucker still would not come loose even after a few "love taps" with a dead blow hammer.

After getting the manifold off, it looks like I would need to take the timing belt off too just to get the head off. Might be a job for a shop.

[Scott Larson]

Removing the heads, although time consuming, is really not that difficult. You will be unbolting the exhaust manifolds from the heads and pulling them away for clearance, removing the intake manifold, the valve covers, the timing belt covers along with timing belt and then unbolting the heads. You will want to unbolt them in the same manner that you would install them, loosening the head bolts in a criss-cross pattern so as not to induce torque-warp. The shop manual is a must for this whole job as you will find other necessary steps to take to complete the removal and reinstallation process. Keep in mind that you will be reseting your valve timing as you will be disturbing the valvetrain. You will also be removing the same parts as you would to do a timing belt replacement so keep that in mind. Basic mechanics skills and hand tools are essential as are a good torque wrench and patience!! Give yourself plenty of time and a well lit garage, cuz there's nothing worse then trying to rush a job in poor conditions, been there, done that and we all know it ain't fun! Anyone who has done this job on this particuar vehicle feel free to chime in as to any preceedures I may have overlooked in this basic overview...Best of luck and don't let it overwhelm you!

[Scott Larson]

And then there is always that option of having the pros do it... If you have a good, reputable shop in mind and you have the bucks to spend, there ain't no shame in that!!

[MSHardeman]

Just talked to the shop that did the test this morning and the "ugly" oil that they were talking about was a lot of gas in the oil. From what they said, no coolant or metal shavings, but there was a lot of raw fuel which means it wasn't getting burned in the cylinder and was slipping by into the oil. I could smell raw fuel at the tail pipe, and could easily hear a miss in the exhaust note.

I asked the mechanic about the blown head gasket theory or carbon build-up on the valve. Their opinion is that if either of those happened the cylinder would have SOME compression, even if it would be low, not ZERO psi. They said that they have had Subaru's with carbon build-up on the valves before and they still had some compression in the cylinders.

Removing the head by myself seems like a BIG job, especially if the timing gets thrown off. I replaced my timing belt myself, and it wasn't hard, but very time consuming. I also didn't fuss with the timing, and it was easy to put the new timing belt back on and get the timing right. Pulling the head completely off, and messing the timing up, really scares me. I really don't have the cash to have a shop do it either, so I'm sort of between a rock and a hard place. I could probably scrape the money together to have it done, but if after all of that I still need to replace the engine then I've wasted that money.

[Scott Larson]

"Ugly oil" tells me that there is a combustion issue. If you change oil and filter regularly with quality product and you have really dirty oil between changes either there are contaminants entering through the intake or being created due to a misfiring ingnition. That could be anything from a faulty sensor or engine management computer to bad coils or plugs. That also causes carbon buildup on exhaust valves and loss of compression and wasn't that the issue to begin with? Hmmmmmm...we may be getting somewhere Watson!

[MSHardeman]

"Ugly oil" tells me that there is a combustion issue. If you change oil and filter regularly with quality product and you have really dirty oil between changes either there are contaminants entering through the intake or being created due to a misfiring ingnition. That could be anything from a faulty sensor or engine management computer to bad coils or plugs. That also causes carbon buildup on exhaust valves and loss of compression and wasn't that the issue to begin with? Hmmmmmm...we may be getting somewhere Watson!

Scott, thanks for the suggestions. I would REALLY like it to not be a burned/bad valve so keep reading and keep suggesting some options.

See previous post about what "ugly" oil meant to the mechanics (gas in the oil). I change my oil and filter religiously with good filters and synthetic oil. Believe me, baby is well taken care of.

When the misfire code started showing up in mid-May, I swapped coils from one cylinder to the other and the code stayed at #3. I then replaced the spark plug in #3 with a stock Isuzu plug (the same one that were in it from the factory), and the misfire code still stayed at #3. Cleaned the EGR and MAF just to be sure. I also ran SeaFoam through the gas tank, AND sucked some up into the engine via the PCV tube. The engine never smoked like all of the instructions say that it should have after that treatment, but I usually have the PCV replace, EGR and throttle body cleaned at every other oil change.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I think I've been pretty thorough in trying to suss this thing out which is why I brought it to a mechanic, since I had exhausted my limited knowledge.

Any other suggestions/ opinions? I'm open to them all.

[Scott Larson]

Carbon contaminated oil will have a burnt smell to it and be black, really black... and although black may be beautiful, not when it's engine oil!