Rebuild current engine or do a JDM swap?

Hi everybody,

Just found out yesterday my rings are going bad, compression test showed 135 psi, 160 psi, and 160 psi and intermittently emits a huge white cloud of smoke out of tail pipe if going 55 mph or higher. So much for my "great deal" on a 67k mile car. Which is the better option, getting a JDM engine or rebuilding or reringing the pistons? Where is a good place to buy JDM engines? Thanks again for your help!!

i would go with jdm engine, its cheaper to put one of those in than to rebuild a engine and a lot less work. go to aoneengine.com. they have a outlet or warehouse in arizona i think. if not get your local little nickle paper or one like it and look under auto parts, usually a couple places selling them. should be around 350-400 and make sure it has at least 6 month warranty

I would also check PCV valve function too. One more thing 135 to 160 is not really bad and if it is not requiring you to add a lot of oil to it I would not worry much about it and if you are using 5w30 oil, stip using it because in a engine that is a bit worn it will go through it fast, especaily in summer heat. Try at least 10w30 or possible 15w40 if it is really hot a lot to control problem. If heavier oil does not change anything then it tends to suggest that you do not have a ring problem.

Thanks for the replies guys. I decided that since my car is running so good and doesn't smoke unless its above 55 mph, I am going to keep her. Instead of having the hose connect to the pcv valve, I made myself an oil catch can from a massive water filter that I bought from Lowe's and hooked a 3/4 inch rubber hose to the filter with a 3/4 barb fitting. This has solved my problems and the car runs excellent. I will try and post pics of what I'm talking about soon. I know, I'm prolly gonna get flamed to a crisp but it works and it looks very professional.

you know what weird? my metro has 130k miles on it and it burns no oil. I mean I went 9000 miles between oil changes last year, and lol I often left the car on all night powering my laptop so those were terrible miles, and it had consumed 0 oil. in about a year.

now im the 2nd owner and when
I got the car, the engine looked entirely new. I mean the body had small rust from being an ocean area car but the engine looked almost new. This doesnt tell me anything but its possible that my engine has like 40k miles total on it now or something along those lines.


my friends xfi wore out the rings twice during the time I knew him, like about once ever 1 and a half years.

He drove that thing like a granny It has some funky rings that are no good. Is that what your car is, an xfi?

Thanks for the replies guys. I decided that since my car is running so good and doesn't smoke unless its above 55 mph, I am going to keep her. Instead of having the hose connect to the pcv valve, I made myself an oil catch can from a massive water filter that I bought from Lowe's and hooked a 3/4 inch rubber hose to the filter with a 3/4 barb fitting. This has solved my problems and the car runs excellent. I will try and post pics of what I'm talking about soon. I know, I'm prolly gonna get flamed to a crisp but it works and it looks very professional.

Stop using 5w30 regardless as it is not helping you or your engine any at this stage.

The XFi only uses 1 compression ring, while the rest use 2, that's why they wear out faster. I've noticed the big oil burners are the automatics mainly. Probably from high RPM's and people flooring them constantly. You never know how the previous owner treated it

I actually use 10w 40 at the moment but I will prolly switch to 10w 30 at the next oil change. I just installed the catch can, so I don't know how much oil I will consume per week or month, but I will keep you posted. The "mosquito sprayer" smoke cloud is gone for good, thank goodness, that was so embarassing and scary at the same time. I gotta say, my cam shaft lobes and under the valve cover looks brand new, I'll take pics of it soon.

You may want to try a "piston soak". I have a 93 metro that burns some oil (yes it's an auto).

This is what I did:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=24;t=003771


It not only stopped my pinging, put dramatically cut down on the burning oil. Theory is that the ring pack is now clean.

Ross

I actually use 10w 40 at the moment but I will prolly switch to 10w 30 at the next oil change. I just installed the catch can, so I don't know how much oil I will consume per week or month, but I will keep you posted. The "mosquito sprayer" smoke cloud is gone for good, thank goodness, that was so embarassing and scary at the same time. I gotta say, my cam shaft lobes and under the valve cover looks brand new, I'll take pics of it soon.

For what it is worth, 10w40 is the worse oil you can use because of its hi VI content (Viscosity Improver) which is know to cook out around ring and gum the up and make it burn oil worse. GM and a lot of problems with this in 80's and you will not longer find it on they recommand oil chart. 15w40 is a different "animal" and does not cause this problem.