Hey everyone, this is posted for my younger brother because he got himself in too deep and I'm trying to help him out as much as I can since he has little experience with engines and cars in general. Anyway, he bought a 1997 Lexus SC300 with the 2jzgte swap. You can see the swap here http://www.carolinahorsepower.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9217 Anyway, since this thing has been running, it never ran right. It always hit fuel cut and never boosted like it should. The fact that it is in front of a slushbox probably doesn't help things either. Fast forward a few months. It hasn't been running all that well for a little bit, and at my recommendation, he finally gets a leakdown test and compression test. Here is a copy of the results...
"Connor,
We received your voice mail this morning. After inspecting the running condition of the vehicle we decided to do a compression and leak down test. Upon removing the spark plugs we noticed that they are the incorrect heat range. With set-ups like this we prefer the NGK 7 series (BCPR7ES). Results are as follows below:
Compression Test:
Cylinder 1: 200psi
Cylinder 2:200psi
Cylinder 3:185psi
Cylinder 4:195psi
Cylinder 5:200psi
Cylinder 6: 150psi
Usually you do not want a variance of 10% between cylinders. Due to the lower compression found on cylinder 6 we performed a cylinder leak down test in attempts to further troubleshoot cylinder 6. The cylinder leakdown test results are as follows:
Cylinder Leakdown Test:
Cylinder 1:11%
Cylinder 2:13%
Cylinder 3:60%
Cylinder 4: 15%
Cylinder 5: 8%
Cylinder 6: 55%
A healthy engine should have numbers below 20%. Anything above roughly 25-30% indicates damage and/or issues. The leakage on cylinder 3 and 6 have been found to be related to the bottom end (Piston rings/Piston). There is a small possibility it could be head gasket related but cannot be confirmed until the engine is taken apart. That would help to explain the variance between cylinder 3's compression test vs cylinder leak down test."
Well unfortunately, I am stationed on Whidbey Island, Washington and Connor is stationed on the other side of the country from me, so me being there to oversee his mechanical abilities is not possible. He did get together with a friend who is 'mechanically inclined' (the most dangerous people out there as far as I'm concerned) to try to remove the head. Of course, they couldn't even do that properly because they tried to use a hex driver to remove the torx head bolts, so a few of them have been stripped. :: facepalm :: Anyway, in their attempts to remove the head, they removed the cams. When they removed them, this is what he found...
Well, I know that is pretty bad, but do you guys think it is worth rebuilding the motor, or just finding a stock 2jzge to swap back into it to make it driveable? We've removed the car from Connor so that he doesn't fuck with it anymore, so it is currently sitting in Boise with our parents. My plan is to get things prepared over here so when he transfers to this state, we can trailer it up and I can work on making it a reliable car and hopefully sell this failed abortion of a car. I don't know too much about this engine, but I have built many high performance engines before and I take my time and keep things clean. Hell, I would love to get that turbo off his car and put it on my MK3...:naughty: Anyway, I'm open to suggestions and your thoughts on this, especially what could have cause damage like that to the cam bearings.
"Connor,
We received your voice mail this morning. After inspecting the running condition of the vehicle we decided to do a compression and leak down test. Upon removing the spark plugs we noticed that they are the incorrect heat range. With set-ups like this we prefer the NGK 7 series (BCPR7ES). Results are as follows below:
Compression Test:
Cylinder 1: 200psi
Cylinder 2:200psi
Cylinder 3:185psi
Cylinder 4:195psi
Cylinder 5:200psi
Cylinder 6: 150psi
Usually you do not want a variance of 10% between cylinders. Due to the lower compression found on cylinder 6 we performed a cylinder leak down test in attempts to further troubleshoot cylinder 6. The cylinder leakdown test results are as follows:
Cylinder Leakdown Test:
Cylinder 1:11%
Cylinder 2:13%
Cylinder 3:60%
Cylinder 4: 15%
Cylinder 5: 8%
Cylinder 6: 55%
A healthy engine should have numbers below 20%. Anything above roughly 25-30% indicates damage and/or issues. The leakage on cylinder 3 and 6 have been found to be related to the bottom end (Piston rings/Piston). There is a small possibility it could be head gasket related but cannot be confirmed until the engine is taken apart. That would help to explain the variance between cylinder 3's compression test vs cylinder leak down test."
Well unfortunately, I am stationed on Whidbey Island, Washington and Connor is stationed on the other side of the country from me, so me being there to oversee his mechanical abilities is not possible. He did get together with a friend who is 'mechanically inclined' (the most dangerous people out there as far as I'm concerned) to try to remove the head. Of course, they couldn't even do that properly because they tried to use a hex driver to remove the torx head bolts, so a few of them have been stripped. :: facepalm :: Anyway, in their attempts to remove the head, they removed the cams. When they removed them, this is what he found...
Well, I know that is pretty bad, but do you guys think it is worth rebuilding the motor, or just finding a stock 2jzge to swap back into it to make it driveable? We've removed the car from Connor so that he doesn't fuck with it anymore, so it is currently sitting in Boise with our parents. My plan is to get things prepared over here so when he transfers to this state, we can trailer it up and I can work on making it a reliable car and hopefully sell this failed abortion of a car. I don't know too much about this engine, but I have built many high performance engines before and I take my time and keep things clean. Hell, I would love to get that turbo off his car and put it on my MK3...:naughty: Anyway, I'm open to suggestions and your thoughts on this, especially what could have cause damage like that to the cam bearings.
