So I took the head off and From a quick visual inspection, I don't see anything wrong. I did find a little bit of oil on the back of the head which makes me wonder if I had two separate problems that I considered one problem. Maybe I had a bit of an oil leak coming from the back of the head (valve cover maybe). But I wasn't dripping any oil on the driveway and the bottom of the engine is clean. After looking a little more carefully I did see some oil build up on the back of the transfer case. If oil is leaking on the back of the motor while the engine is running, it would make sense that the oil would make its way to the back of the drive train. The second problem is a lack of power which may have been caused by the mechanical timing being off a tooth or two. But this (in my mind) still doesn't explain why the #1 cylinder wasn't holding pressure while I am able to wiggle the rocker arms. I talked to one of the guys at engnbldr and he said that it's a far stretch to assume that the machinist messed up the machining in the #1 cylinder that badly because the piston would wobble around too much and would come apart well before 8000 miles.
Anyways, here are some of the pics of the pistons, head and head gasket.
#1 Piston:
#2 Piston:
#3 Piston
#4 Piston:
#1 and #2 piston valves (#1 on the right)
#3 and #4 Piston valves (#3 on the right)
The headgasket
#1 and #2 piston area (#1 on the left)
#3 and #4 (#3 on the left)
With the exception of what I would think is excessive black junk on the pistons and the bottom of the head, I don't see anything wrong.
I'll get the deck of the block cleaned up and shave the top of the timing chain cover a little bit and make sure it's smooth with the top of the deck of the engine. I'll replace the head gasket and reinstall everything. I'll adjust the timing chain on the upper sprocket, replace the seal around the valve cover and give the engine some fresh fluids. Then we'll go from there unless someone wise has any input.
Anyways, here are some of the pics of the pistons, head and head gasket.
#1 Piston:
#2 Piston:
#3 Piston
#4 Piston:
#1 and #2 piston valves (#1 on the right)
#3 and #4 Piston valves (#3 on the right)
The headgasket
#1 and #2 piston area (#1 on the left)
#3 and #4 (#3 on the left)
With the exception of what I would think is excessive black junk on the pistons and the bottom of the head, I don't see anything wrong.
I'll get the deck of the block cleaned up and shave the top of the timing chain cover a little bit and make sure it's smooth with the top of the deck of the engine. I'll replace the head gasket and reinstall everything. I'll adjust the timing chain on the upper sprocket, replace the seal around the valve cover and give the engine some fresh fluids. Then we'll go from there unless someone wise has any input.
