bambbrose

I've got an old worn down 22RE that is sitting in my pickup currently. I'm working on an engine swap that will be going in next winter but for now I need to get this motor into good enough shape for this season. I needs to last another 10k RELIABLE miles.

I haven't owned the pickup very long and have put less than 500 miles on the current motor. The previous owner said that the motor was rebuilt at 150k and the truck currently has 187k. It is a 91 4x4 even though that likely doesn't matter.

On to the symptoms.

-Timing chain is going bad, lots of clanking and sounds like a diesel. Needs replacement asap.

-very minor milk forms on the underside of the oil cap (takes about 150 miles to collect). No noticeable milk in coolant. Small enough that it's probably a very small head gasket problem OR perhaps coolant is making it's way into the oil somewhere around the timing chain problem.

-Excessive blowby. There is absolutely no smoke in the exhaust at any time during running or warmup, but if you remove the oil cap or breather while it is running lots of crankcase pressure is trying to escape and smoke is coming out.

-Various oil leaks on the engine, I haven't been able to pinpoint them all just yet but it seems like it all eventually makes it's way back to the bellhousing and drips off. There are usually oil puddles on the top of the valve cover after a long trip, probably leaking out of the breathers from the blowby. Lots of random oil all over the front timing cover as well.

-Low power, rough idle, smells like smoke when beating on it or revving high (probably the blowby pushing out somewhere).


So basically I'm guessing it was rebuilt by an amateur and needs a lot of work, but I don't want to put any money into it because I want to just get by for another year until I can put a better motor in.

On to the compression results:

DRY
146, 104, 96, 145

WET
152, 132, 110, 159

TOTAL INCREASE DRY TO WET
6, 26, 14, 14

PERCENT INCREASE DRY TO WET
3.9%, 21.2%, 12.7%, 8.8%

So....

obviously I have a problem. Normally the large difference between 2 & 3 and 1 & 4 would be an obvious head gasket issue, but that wouldn't explain the blowby. I'd love to get a leakdown tester in on it but that's more money that I don't want to waste on the 22re. Also it is strange that the increase from the wet test wasn't nearly as strong on cylinder 3 as on 2, and even though the wet tests are showing a decent increase, 2 & 3 are still much lower than 1 & 4 even when wet.

I'm almost thinking that when it was rebuilt that cyl#2 had the rings clocked wrong or maybe the piston to bore clearance was a bit off, and now that is showing up as blowby. Then on top of that maybe the head gasket is failing as well?

My current plans are to just order a timing chain and gasket kit from engnbldr.com and doing the chain and head gasket. When I have the head off I'll have it checked and decked.

but that said I really don't want to put all the work into it and have the problems of low power and and excessive blowby to be strong as ever.

Questions for the experienced 22RE people

Can blowby be caused by something head gasket related such as some sort of port such as the oil drain that runs between the head and block (keep in mind it doesn't smoke out the tailpipe)?

Is there anything that has to do with the timing chain issue that could cause excessive crankcase pressure?

Any other insight?


Thanks in advance. Sorry for the long read.

vital22re

iTrader: (2)

I wonder if the guy cleaned out the pcv system or replaced the pcv valve. Thats supposed to control the pressure in the crank case. have you checked the valve adjustment? get it warm and adjust the valves then recheck your compression. Maybe the valves are a little tight. good luck!

Flash319

I have 3 worn out 22re's. They all have quite a bit of blowing out the oil filler cap. You will have some blowing as this is normal because of the piston movement. Because your compression numbers are low I would say that you have some bad rings. I would not worry to much about that if you only need it to last a bit. You change the timing chain and you will get another 50k out of it .

The last 22re I tore down every ring except for 2 were broken into 10 or more pieces. This engine was still running fine. Worn out but idled and ran good on the highway.

Search the youtube video's and you will find some nice videos of 22re's with windows (missing block)to watch the pistons go up and down, and still running.

Bigblock

The only thing I believe is what I do myself!
Bigblock