Blew a ring? Faulty coilpack? Buggy ECU? HELP!

**TBird713** · 08-04-2011, 01:18 AM

Well recently i've been having some major problems with my gts-4 with an rb20det that I THOUGHT ran good. Well now I've been getting a dead piston that only seemed to pop up after hitting like 5k rpm but now it seems to be all the time. My exhaust smells like an old golf cart and it sort sounds like a subaru >_< I'm almost positive it's a dead piston because the entire car shakes through the rpm range. When I slowly bring up the rpms you can hear it cut out and the car begins to make sounds resembling a chainsaw (but not so ear piercing). I was only able to test two coilpacks but the testing was not effective as the problem would cut out when i got under the hood and started up again when i sat down (gah) Some helpful hints would be lovely because I really need to know wtf is goin on before I end up doing more damage.

**evilgtr** · 08-04-2011, 01:23 AM

do a compression test.

**TBird713** · 08-04-2011, 01:53 AM

Doing that tomorrow hopefully so I'll post the results when I get em. What gets me though is that it runs smooth most of the time, but it'll **** out and kill a cylinder and IT decides when to work again. If anyone has a working RB26DETT /w trans that they don't want give me a hoot too :P (it's worth a try haha)

**DarkCaporaL** · 08-04-2011, 08:10 AM

Sounds like a classic missfire....figure out which cylinder stops working (by unplugging coilpacks when it's missfiring), check your plugs, check for airleaks.

There is a detailed thread on here called "Fix your hesitation", I would suggest going through it.

But yeah start with the comp test and go from there.

EDIT: This one: Fix your hesitation

**TBird713** · 08-04-2011, 05:54 PM

Well didn't get much time this afternoon but i did test cylinder #1 and it gave me about 118-120psi. Car has 105,xxxkm on it so i dont think is really high enough. The battery is new and the engine was fairly warm. Only testing one at a time so it ran on 5 and tested on 1. Don't know if that advised or the easiest way but im no mechanic :P

**Marus92** · 08-04-2011, 06:08 PM

What's the whole board numbers? If they're all the same it's something else (even if yes, 120 is low)

**TBird713** · 08-05-2011, 12:09 AM

Well got 4 of em done now. So far it's 118-110(but got 60 the second time i tested so ill do it a third to make sure)-120-130-?-?. Seems like maybe the gasket is bad around 1 and 2?

**amnash** · 08-05-2011, 12:13 AM

should only take like 45 mins max to check them all, why are you doing the test in segments?

**TBird713** · 08-05-2011, 12:18 AM

A. I'm by no means a mechanic, B. There is a LOT of **** covering the coil packs and C. My car is 20 years old and is all stock. Everything is very stiff and some screws are almost rusted on. Did I mention I'm not a mechanic?

**cschepp** · 08-05-2011, 12:24 AM

Dude seriously don't let that bring you down! I'm no mechanic and will never be. I enjoy the simple fact of taking things apart and fixing them. Provides a sense of accomplishment. Anyways enough banter. If your either too lazy or just simply don't have enough time take it into a mechanic. They will charge you 100-150 for the job and then you will know wet and dry compression numbers.