She aint putting out!!

S

SV_Dude

Moderator
I'm not even really sure I have a problem but I figured I would throw it out to the masses.

Here's the deal: Bill (footofgod) put 35's on his runner (with stock 4.56 gearing) and he still spanks me in the power department on driving around town and on the freeway. I'm floored in 3rd and 4th gear to try and even get 70mph, I feel like it struggles to get up to speed around town. I have 35's and 4.88 gearing, I should be able to keep up with bill all day long. I have a built 22re motor with the following:

8k miles on a new motor
Bored .030 on the cylinders
268 cam from engnbldr
engnbldr street rv head
LCE headers
LCE underdrive pulley kit
new flow matched fuel injectors
all new electronics under the hood (engine sensors, etc.)

According to the folks at engnbldr and LCE performance, I should have around 140-150hp and 150ish for torque. My motor falls flat on its face at 4000rpm (I guess this is normal for a 22re?).

But I should have more power than what I am feeling. I should at least be able to keep up with Bill in the get up and go department.

As soon as I rebuilt my motor I did a compression test and was at 180psi in ALL cylinders. That test was also at about 1000ft ASL (above sea level).

I just did another compression test and was a little disturbed with what I found. Keep in mind that I am now at 5500ft ASL.

#1 cyl was at 125 psi
#2 cyl was at 130 psi
#3 cyl was at 135 psi
#4 cyl was at 145 psi

I know that this isn't the overall determination of the health of my motor but I figured that I should be at least 150-160psi and have somewhat of an even psi per cylinder, not a 20psi difference.

I took a picture of my spark plugs. They are a hotter burning NGK plug. From what I can tell on my plugs is that I am not running rich or lean, the cylinders are burning as they should.

#1 and #2 Spark plugs:
S6300745.jpg~original


#3 and #4 Spark plugs:
S6300744.jpg~original


This makes me wonder... do I have issues with my piston rings or valves? What gives? I have a bunch of money in my engine and it's very frustrating. I know the 22re isn't a monster for power but it should still have more guts than what it has.

Any suggestions? I'm starting to think that I should pull the head and check out the valves and possibly hone and re-ring the engine. I am going through about 1qt of oil per 1500-2000 miles that I just found that I have a slight leak on the back of the valve cover.

I'm ready to blow up my engine and buy a supra or newer 4runner for a motor swap.
 
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If she aint putting out you got to kick her to the curb.

If it really bothers you that much though then you should tear into and see if there is an issue.
 
looks like your getting uneven burn which will cause power loss.
i would look into the fuel system first, are the injectors new?
then look into the vacuum system for a leak.
i had the same issue and turned out my intake gasket had a small rip put a new one on and wow what a power increase.
 
I felt bad when I told you I was holding back on the highway. I could have blew past you in 4th gear at anytime.

Although, I do have to say........3.slow my A$$!!!
 
The lack of power is definitely an issue. But another concern I have is that if something is wrong with the engine and causing a lack of power, what is wearing down or what is broken? Can it be catastrophic to the engine in 2000 or 3000 more miles? I don't want to grenade a new motor because I'm living with an unknown issue. I'm thinking that within the next couple weeks I'm going to start tearing down my engine to see wtf.
 
SV, I know with previous engines I've messed with, I was getting low compression, every few weeks it would drop another 5 psi per cyl... ended up being a failing HG... that and the stupid headbolts weren't tight enough....
 
combatmedic said:
SV, I know with previous engines I've messed with, I was getting low compression, every few weeks it would drop another 5 psi per cyl... ended up being a failing HG... that and the stupid headbolts weren't tight enough....
Click to expand...

I have wondered about the head gasket but I always ruled it out because I'm not getting any mixing of oil and coolant. I know that is not always the way a head gasket fails but it's the main way.

I have a few extra gaskets so I'll start tearing into the engine next weekend when I have more time.

Maybe I can get nate to build me a new v8? :naughty:
 
combatmedic said:
SV, I know with previous engines I've messed with, I was getting low compression, every few weeks it would drop another 5 psi per cyl... ended up being a failing HG... that and the stupid headbolts weren't tight enough....
Click to expand...

I hate to say it, but I'd be worried about that variance in compression too. Would a leakdown test tell you anything more?
 
So I took some of my own advice and opened up the FSM. I messed up my first compression test so throw those results away. I didn't warm up the engine before I did the compression test.

After warming up the engine and doing the test again I got the following pressures:

#1 155psi
#2 160psi
#3 165psi
#4 170psi

According to the FSM, as long as I'm above 149 psi, I'm good. But the FSM also says that any variance of more than 14psi is bad. I have a 15psi difference which still isn't good and the fact that I'm getting a low of 155psi on a fresh motor is still concerning.
 
leak down would tell the hole story.
remember the head gasket has many chambers and passages if the bad section is from the coolant passage to the cylinder head you wont get oil mix until the leak is so bad it douses the chamber fire.

you could be shooting air into the coolant or oil pan. causing loss of chamber pressure and power.
 
A leak down test will only tell me if the cylinder is holding the pressure (if I am thinking of the right test). In my case, the pressure is low and varies too much between the cylinders. I leak down test won't exactly be a bad move but I don't have a way to test that right now.

I think my next move is to tear apart the intake side of the engine and check all my gaskets and the whole 2 vacuum lines that I have connected. The brake booster and the idle air control valve.

If everything on the intake side seems fine then I'll pull the head next weekend and do a visual inspection of the cylinder walls and the head itself as well as replacing the head gasket.

If I still feel that the engine is gutless after that then I'll drive her till she breaks and do an engine swap. I regret from the start not doing an engine swap. I honestly feel that dumping 3 grand into a 22re was a big mistake. For the same price I could have done an engine swap and had twice the power. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes right?
 
Bad_Vision said:
leak down would tell the hole story.
remember the head gasket has many chambers and passages if the bad section is from the coolant passage to the cylinder head you wont get oil mix until the leak is so bad it douses the chamber fire.

you could be shooting air into the coolant or oil pan. causing loss of chamber pressure and power.
Click to expand...

That's a good point. I will see if I can find a leak down tool.
 
Timing is spot on and the valves were adjusted a couple thousand miles ago.

I'm getting ready to go to harbor freight and buy a leakdown tester.

On the bright side, Bill gets to learn about the 22re now :D
 
lol leave it to Nate, at least consider that nate no longer has a toyota 4runner his is just blazer with a body kit.....lol
 
New development!!! I think my motor is absolutely fudged!!

I haven't really checked my oil in the last couple weeks. As a matter as a fact, I put a quart in it on the 4th of July. I not added 3 (yes, 3) quarts of oil in the motor and the oil is now showing up on the dip stick. Not only that, I have some metal deposits on the bottom of my dip stick.

I did the leakdown test on the #1 cylinder. It showed 100% compression loss. I didn't test the other 3 cylinders.

Between the fact that I lost 3 quarts of oil in one month, and the loss of compression in the #1 cylinder leads me to believe that either the piston rings are shot or the machine work on the cylinders weren't done right... or both!

FML!!! At this point I think that I need to tear apart my motor or drive it till it breaks.

I guess it's a good time for a motor swap??

Nate: If I do a motor swap, I'll still only have 6 spark plugs but I think that's good enough :D
 
Just swap in a 3.slo. There is a ton of them laying around from 3.4 swaps. Mine runs great! Lol!

This thread is sounding all too familiar.
 
SV_Dude said:
New development!!! I think my motor is absolutely fudged!!

I haven't really checked my oil in the last couple weeks. As a matter as a fact, I put a quart in it on the 4th of July. I not added 3 (yes, 3) quarts of oil in the motor and the oil is now showing up on the dip stick. Not only that, I have some metal deposits on the bottom of my dip stick.

I did the leakdown test on the #1 cylinder. It showed 100% compression loss. I didn't test the other 3 cylinders.

Between the fact that I lost 3 quarts of oil in one month, and the loss of compression in the #1 cylinder leads me to believe that either the piston rings are shot or the machine work on the cylinders weren't done right... or both!

FML!!! At this point I think that I need to tear apart my motor or drive it till it breaks.

I guess it's a good time for a motor swap??

Nate: If I do a motor swap, I'll still only have 6 spark plugs but I think that's good enough :D
Click to expand...

That sucks. :(

Hard to justify the rebuild, though. I think you're right, drive it until it brakes and start collecting parts for the swap. You might get another 100k out of it... it is a 22re. ;)
 
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