zoso

Hi all,

Not really sure what I'm looking for here. I guess validation that what I'm thinking is correct.

'03 EVO - about 110k
stock with minor mods - intake, U/LICP, EBC set to ~22 PSI, tune

Brief history of what led up to now:
- Was changing plugs and noticed that the wires were toast (electrodes came right out of boot - wires inside looked corroded.)
- While I had the plugs out, did a compression - got (from pass. to driver side) 110 (ouch!), 165, 175, 165. Poured a little oil in (perhaps a little too much oil) and compression on 1st cylinder shot up to 195.
- So, I'm thinking bad ring. Car was still driving ok, so I put the plugs in, old wires back on (just barely) and went to pick up some new wires.
- Took a couple of days to get the new wires in. During that time, it started to act up. The idle started to get a little rough. Just chalked it up to the wires barely holding together.
- Put new wires in and had a noticeable increase in power (at least from before plugs and wires).

Seemed to drive great for a day or so, but then the idle problem started to get bad. At times it sounded almost like a v8, with a sort of rumble to the exhaust... like a blub blub blub blub type idle.
It would drive great about 2500 rpm, but the idle kept getting worse.

So, I've finally gotten some time to start poking around and:
- No loose vacuum hoses.
- Boost leak test seems ok. A couple very small leaks, but shouldn't be doing this.
- replaced PCV valve with no difference.
- Here's the real kicker - If I pull the hose off of the valve cover breather inlet, it's blowing white smoke. Not very thick smoke, but enough pressure that it blows out of the hose about 7-8 inches.

So, this seems to support my bad ring (or scored wall) theory I guess? If I unplug the other end of the breather hose from the intake (setup goes breather, catch can, intake), my idle problem goes away completely. So, there is enough blowby going into the intake that it is severely throwing off the air fuel mixture. I am also seeing some oil in my intake pipe as well, pooling just before the turbo.

The odd thing (and this may have nothing to do with it) is that if I remove the PCV valve, I get no smoke whatsoever out of the elbow there. I figured that if there was that much pressure out of the breather, I'd be getting some out of the PCV valve as well? I took the valve cover off, and all looks ok under there. PCV outlet isn't plugged.

So, does it sound like I'm on the right track. I'm getting MAJOR blowby which is being fed back into the intake via the breather, causing the air/fuel mixture to be way off?

If this is the case, and I have to at least do a ring, I may just take the opportunity to rebuild the thing as it's got 120k on it anyway. I have 2 weeks vacation coming up and it seems like a good time for it.
If this is the case, should I keep it garaged for the next couple of weeks while I get the cash together? I haven't been driving it for fear of making things worse, but it's going to be tough without the car for the next while. Can I just unplug the breather hose from the intake are keep driving?

Any advice anybody can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

sr20det91

iTrader: (59)

Any new developments?? I'm in the exact same boat as you and oddly enough I have the same mileage as you on an 05. My bad cylinder is the driver side, #4 I believe. Are you getting any white smoke from the exhaust??

Derock2gspyder

iTrader: (25)

it sounds like a ring seal problem and ya if thats what you decide to do is replace it then ya do the complete overhaul your so far into it mise will! but ya you obviously are driving on it and ya its just gonna get worse but no biggy if you are doing a rebuild on it!