Got the engine pulled last night along with the top, rear seat, carpet, seat belts, etc. Just got done spraying a bunch of engine cleaner on the engine and pressure washing everything. Now to tear into the block tonight or tomorrow and inspect everything and see if I can reuse any of it.

MMMmmmm, scoring. Knew there was something causing my oil pressure light to be on at idle. Some of the bearings are pretty bad, hopefully some new bearings and some machine work can take care of it all. I can catch my finger nails on almost every scratch.




Everything disassembled.




Wiped the skirts with gas so I could tape them off prior to blasting.



#1 piston cleaned up ('degreased' with gas, media blasted, then 1,200 and 2,000 grit sandpaper on the skirts to polish and deburr them.) Providing the machinist is confident that I can get away with a light hone, I'd like to reuse the pistons as the ring lands are square, minimal gap, and uniform.

Everything will be finely cleaned and degreased further to best of my abilities prior to assembly and possibly cleaned at the machine shop as well.

Was this engine just high mileage and worn out, or what?  Did you use a certain kind of oil that deteriorated?

Was this engine just high mileage and worn out, or what?  Did you use a certain kind of oil that deteriorated?

Engine is original to the Tracker, 117k miles, 60-70k of which was under my ownership. I always used 5w-30 oil and usually Castrol GTX and a few times Penzoil. Oil filter was usually STP and a few times Bosch, air filter was replaced twice in my ownership, currently have a Fram for the last ~1,000 miles.

35k miles worth or so it had blue smoke at startup, that stopped after head rebuild/machine work and new seals but under hard accel it still had a faint smoke, compression test resulted in low numbers, put 2 caps of oil in each cylinder and it bumped it up like 40-60psi each cylinder so I knew it was rings now and I also had developed a low oil pressure at idle (light would flicker) so I was about to stop driving it and it threw the timing belt. The new front main seal pushed out after ~1-2k miles and dug itself into the crank pulley and sprayed a little oil back there so IDK if that had anything to do with the belt walking forward and melting/eating itself after ~5k miles. It was a new Gates belt and tensioner set to factory specs via AllData.

WOW, when my motor goes I got to get you to build mine.

What do you know about strokers?

Quote from: djlantis57 on September 04, 2010, 12:38:35 AM

Was this engine just high mileage and worn out, or what?  Did you use a certain kind of oil that deteriorated?

Engine is original to the Tracker, 117k miles, 60-70k of which was under my ownership. I always used 5w-30 oil and usually Castrol GTX and a few times Penzoil. Oil filter was usually STP and a few times Bosch, air filter was replaced twice in my ownership, currently have a Fram for the last ~1,000 miles.

35k miles worth or so it had blue smoke at startup, that stopped after head rebuild/machine work and new seals but under hard accel it still had a faint smoke, compression test resulted in low numbers, put 2 caps of oil in each cylinder and it bumped it up like 40-60psi each cylinder so I knew it was rings now and I also had developed a low oil pressure at idle (light would flicker) so I was about to stop driving it and it threw the timing belt. The new front main seal pushed out after ~1-2k miles and dug itself into the crank pulley and sprayed a little oil back there so IDK if that had anything to do with the belt walking forward and melting/eating itself after ~5k miles. It was a new Gates belt and tensioner set to factory specs via AllData.

umiami80,
I have heard horror stories about Castrol oil, may want to switch oil. just my .02 cents

KJ

umiami80,
I have heard horror stories about Castrol oil, may want to switch oil. just my .02 cents

KJ

x2.  Honda Odyssey FL350, my father and brother had those years ago, and had pistons that looked like they were melted.  The Castrol GTX didn't hold up and was found to be a huge failure, especially in that engine.

Nice build up you make it look easy. FWIW I have been using castrol oil for 22 years and never has a problem, after the oil lite started to flicker you should have stepped up to 20w50.

Nice build up you make it look easy. FWIW I have been using castrol oil for 22 years and never has a problem, after the oil lite started to flicker you should have stepped up to 20w50.

Eh, lesson learned? haha

WELL, winter is fast approaching, which means only 1 thing... the Tracker needs to get back on the road. Since with overtime at work since we're in peak now, I'm bringing in an extra $160+ /wk now after taxes till at least the end of the year which gives me a bit of 'play' money in addition to the $200 of spare $ I have every week that I blow near 1/2 of.

Crank is going to the machine shop Friday to get evaluated and machined if it's salvageable, then I'm ordering all new main/rod bearings, rings, oil pump, timing belt/tensioner, and some T-gauges to check the bore size and if it's outta round or anything to determine if it needs machined. Hoping I can get away with a light DIY hone and reusing my pistons. Then a full gasket kit (for the 3rd time now LOL) and assembly begins!

Have to figure out what I'm doing with the top now since the rear zipper broke. Maybe cut the end of the zipper line off and slide a new head on and crimp something on the end so it doesn't come off... have to swing by my old upholstery job and see if I can get a zipper head like the ones we used for marine covers/tops.

Quote from: djlantis57 on September 04, 2010, 12:38:35 AM

Was this engine just high mileage and worn out, or what?  Did you use a certain kind of oil that deteriorated?

Engine is original to the Tracker, 117k miles, 60-70k of which was under my ownership. I always used 5w-30 oil and usually Castrol GTX and a few times Penzoil. Oil filter was usually STP and a few times Bosch, air filter was replaced twice in my ownership, currently have a Fram for the last ~1,000 miles.

Did you ever have any coolant loss?  The reason I ask is that the color of your oil stains on the crank and rods is quite brown, which usually happens when you have coolant mixed in the oil.  Ideally, the staining should be more to the blue/black color.  Of course, I've never pulled down a Suzuki motor, so maybe that is a difference, but I've torn down a lot of other makes, and when I first saw the pic of yours I thought you must have had a head gasket leaking coolant into the oil for a while.  That also would explain why your oil pressure was low at idle.  

Any brand of oil doesn't do well when it has coolant mixed in.

Quote from: yellow2000S/R on September 04, 2010, 08:42:21 PM

Quote from: djlantis57 on September 04, 2010, 12:38:35 AM

Was this engine just high mileage and worn out, or what?  Did you use a certain kind of oil that deteriorated?

Engine is original to the Tracker, 117k miles, 60-70k of which was under my ownership. I always used 5w-30 oil and usually Castrol GTX and a few times Penzoil. Oil filter was usually STP and a few times Bosch, air filter was replaced twice in my ownership, currently have a Fram for the last ~1,000 miles.

Did you ever have any coolant loss?  The reason I ask is that the color of your oil stains on the crank and rods is quite brown, which usually happens when you have coolant mixed in the oil.  Ideally, the staining should be more to the blue/black color.  Of course, I've never pulled down a Suzuki motor, so maybe that is a difference, but I've torn down a lot of other makes, and when I first saw the pic of yours I thought you must have had a head gasket leaking coolant into the oil for a while.  That also would explain why your oil pressure was low at idle.  

Any brand of oil doesn't do well when it has coolant mixed in.

Never had coolant loss, before or after the prior teardown ~5k miles ago. Oil 'stains' in a clean engine are always a gold/bronze/brown color, black is when you let the oil cook/bake/breakdown too much prior to changing. Too much baking and it turns to sludge and gums up in the head among other places.

Only thing the engine used was .5-.75 quarts every oil change (~3-4k miles).

I have found over the years that Castrol is a quality oil, and leaves your
inside a golden but clean color.

And I have also noticed that Pennzoil leaves that darker brown and also
a coating of sludge on the valve cover, I think Pennz has improved their
oil additive package to reduce the buildup issue, but I still will not use
their oil

Wild

Taking the block to the machine shop this week to see if I can get away with a hone or if I need a little more. Regardless, with overtime now, I'm going to get new YCP Vitara pistons like all the Honda budget builds use.

Think I sourced a low mileage d16z6 crank also, if they still have it, I'll be getting it and doing my own comparison to verify and either get it machined down on the mains or get the block bore/alignhoned to fit depending on cost differences and what the machine shop says. Then I'll be checking on rods.

Anybody know our stock 16v rod length?

I used to know, but all I could find is 139.57 mm but it might be wrong,
for a 1.6 engine, both 16V and 8V engines have the same rods

Wild

I used to know, but all I could find is 139.57 mm but it might be wrong,
for a 1.6 engine, both 16V and 8V engines have the same rods

Wild

TeamSwift says 139.6mm / 5.489 inches

Looks like FJT Distributors has custom length D16 rods which are 138.633mm / 5.458 inches which is closer then 'standard' d16 rods which are 137mm. Unfortunatelly still 1 mm short from the g16 rod. If I can't find something 'perfect' or closer, I'll probably go with them.

OH, another thing, I have some ARP head studs from a k24de build I started but never finished and the studs screw into the block right and are the right length, but I believe they get caught up passing through on the exhaust side... I may see about getting the passages for the studs enlarged so they fit just cause I have the studs already and they'll be better then standard head bolts.

Any good options for a head gasket?