98RedBird

iTrader: (77)

I built a new motor recently and had to mail order tune it because there were no tuners anywhere near me (Carbondale, IL). Well when I first started the car up we had some idle issues and driveability issues to deal with. We also noticed that the car was burning through a TON of gas and the LTFT's were up around 18%-21% which is crazy high sitting at idle. So I sent the PCM off to get it fixed up and the second time around it idled and drove a ton better but now I was burning oil and the car felt a little more sluggish than I had expected. Also, I noticed that when changing the oil that the oil smelled very strongly of gas. So I did a compression test... 160psi hot, not good on a car that is running around 11:1 compression regardless of the cam size. I wanted to see it up around 185. Then I did a leak down, all cylinders were between 16%-21%... ouch. This was all done after about 500 miles so the rings should have been seated no doubt at this point. I broke it in just how I was told to, varying RPM, dyno oil take it to about 5k in short burst to load the rings up.

So I was confused as to why they didn't seat. But then I was wondering if maybe the fact that it was running so darn rich could have been part of the reason? Also, I'm worried that maybe I'll have some piston scuffing if the walls were washed down? I am pulling the motor next week and re-honing and re-ringing it to get the rings to seat the way they need to, but if the pistons are scuffed will that cause a problem on the rebuild?

Thanks.

ssmith512

I cant answer your question, but I am bummed just reading your post. I feel for ya friend. Hope ti works out OK in the end!

chpmnsws6

iTrader: (70)

get on fastlouis.com

they have more then a few good tuners running around that can help you out

red02Hawk

iTrader: (9)

The answer is YES, running rich will wash the cylinder bores and keep the rings from seating.

AFASTYZFR1

iTrader: (55)

I thought positive LTFT's meant computer was having to add fuel

CamaroSS22

iTrader: (1)

It could have been a negative number, i think he was just saying the absolute value. I had the same problem with mine, i washed the cylinder walls down when we first started the car and it scored the cylinder walls and i ended up with a lot of leak past the rings.