joedc5

Well guys bad news. I just got my car back 3 days ago from the shop and the turbo and motor ran great for 3 days until today. I was driving on the highway at 75mph and no boost. The EGT gauge when up to 1200 so I let off and the battery light came on along with the check engine light. I plugged in my OBDII scanner and sure enough cynlinder 1 was misfiring. So I opened the hood to see tons of smoke coming out and I opened the oil cap and pulled the dip stick to let the smoke out. I then pulled the spark plug out and to my disbelief it was covered in oil and so was the top head of the pistion down in the motor For reason I think the shop messed up because why didn't all the pistion rings go?? Just one messed up. I think I should call the shop and see if they really do stand by their work and maybe have them replace the pieces for free. By then I might as well upgrade the pistion rings,rods,and port and pollish the head. I am acutally considing selling the car. It has a ton of extras inside and out and I feel if the shop can't do the labor for free then I am going to have to part with the car because I can't imagine what it will cost to drop the subframe and pull the entire motor apart. Anyone know on average the cost of that?? What do you think I should do. Open to all suggestions. Man was it fast REALLY fast. Was nice

civic01vtec

iTrader: (20)

What exactly did the shop do to your car?

It is obvious that they messed something up if one piston went when u were under mild boost.

joedc5

1. They built custom piping.
2.They installed the BOV on
3. Installed Rev Hard turbo/Manifold/sparco intercooler
4.Installed all oil lines (steel braided)
5. Installed the wastegate 7psi spring (tial waste gate)
6. Tuned the ECU on the dyno (Hondata K Pro ECU)
7. I installe the EGT gauge
8. Was very happy for 3 days

They also changed the gapping on the NGK plugs.
They put in Mobil 1 10w30 synthetic
I also noticed that when I would sit and idle for 5min or more I would have to shut the car down because the stock temp gauge would go past half way mark and the check engine would come on. But I would drive with a little boost and the intercooler made the temp go down to normal immediately along with check enige light going out. I check the OBDII and it said over temp condition. So I called the shop and they said thats normal until you get a bigger radiator and high performance fans. All the heat under the hood was causing the sensor to detect slight over heating. I would sit at a light for a min or 2 and it's fine when you are driving. I am running stock internals and my compression is 11:1 or 11:5 I know it's high. But when he tuned it he added the extra fuel to make sure it would stay cool. Still boggles my mind why only one pistion did this. Does not make sense and I just don't know what I should do.

yourinmyw0rld

iTrader: (12)

That sucks man. U just got it back too. Go back there and tell them to fix it

Anotherslo1

Maybe your piston was bad to begin with, and the turbo was the "straw that broke the camels back". You don't have to drop the engine to fix the piston. Since you are not taking out your transmission the engine will come out the top. As for the 11:1 compression, that is what I run, it is said the k20a2 is built well enough to handle up to 11 psi with stock internals. There are many members on Clubrsx.com that run 11:1 compression and turbo'd. Find out for sure it's just the piston and replace or pay to replace it. Not sure on estimate, but piston rings and pistons get blown all the time, replacing it shouldn't be expensive. The expensive part is buying the piston itself, and if you decide to go lower compression, to replace all 4 will be costly.

joedc5

I am running 11.5:1 compression. It's the JDM motor

civic01vtec

iTrader: (20)

^^^ he had a k20a motor.....his compression is 11.5.

Anyway........get a leakdown test and see if it is your HG first.

Most likely you fried a pison

Titleist71

iTrader: (1)

Plain and simple...K20's do not like boost. You have to bulletproof the motor to boost it...8:1 or 8.5:1 with ofrged pistons is the only way to make the thing run. For some reason k20's have a bad day when it comes to turbocharging.

joedc5

So, Should I go with Low Compression pistons and get a Toda racing head gasket. How much do you think a performance shop will charge to install the pistons? Thanks Guys!!

Anotherslo1

The thread was titled I blew my Turbo charged K20A2 so I figured that is what you had. Not K20A motor. But like civic01vtec said, start small on the tests, but as you stated earlier, the piston is probably fried.

joedc5

^^^^ is this true? In my case it seems to be
Then how come all the RSX members with turbos don't have issues?

civic01vtec

iTrader: (20)

if your EGT raised that much, then for some reason you were detonating.

opto_isolator

iTrader: (8)

Sounds like your shop doesn't know what they were doing....K20's have been boosted for quite some time on stock radiators with no problems. Go to clubrsx.com and see for yourself....

abmerop18

iTrader: (26)

thats what i was thinking

Titleist71

iTrader: (1)

K20's dont like high boost levels. I'm sure that they have all done things to build their engines...if not then they are messin with the devil.....sort of speak.

aznboysrfr

iTrader: (10)

if your car was the jdm motor, then it's a k20a, not k20a2.

see? I warned you about blowing your motor, as noted in your previous thread

Jodster

iTrader: (8)

Dude, the K-series motors are fine with boost. May people on clubRSX run 10psi on the stock motor and have no problems. The Stock Rods of a K20A2 are Forged. Hell the stock sleeves on a K20A2 are good to hold up to 22psi. So with better pistons and Rods, tons of guys are running 18psi daily. Just because its a high compression motor does NOT mean it is not good for boost. You just have to tune it.


Joe, you have a K20A. Not an A2. So your compression is 11.5:1. Which requires alot of tuning to get everything correct. Sounds to me that the shop that did the install did not turn things correctly. Also, what kind of radiator are you running again? RSX Type S radiator? Which should be fine. You said you have K-pro correct? That is a awesome tool to use to tune your car with. Is your shop sure they knew what they were doing with the K-pro? I would make them fix everything. Did they dyno tune the car? Do you have any Dynos to post?

joedc5

I am running a Civic Si Radiator. I do have the K-Pro and they did not know the program but they watched the DVD and learned it so to speak. The guy said it's just like all the other stand alone ECU's Greddy E-manage, AEM etc.. But here is the weird thing. If I would let the RPM get to about 4-5000 just before boost in like 2nd gear when I stomp on it I hear a crackling sound but if you go through all the gears with your foot to the floor you don't here that sound. You only here it if you are crusing and at low rpms you step on it and wait for the boost to slowly start kicking in. They did dyno tune the car. I don't have the dynos to post.

Hawk

iTrader: (5)

how much boost were you running?

MadWheel

iTrader: (11)

DUDE!?!?!?! That crackling is DETONATION!!! Your boost was up too high for how it was tuned... Your head gasket is most likely cooked which is why you're over heating when you idle. I over-heated at idle late winter and it was due to a blown HG. BUt yeah, the crackle noise is detonation. Sounds like the boost controller was set a little too aggressive for high rpms.

joedc5

The boost was set at 7psi.But that crackling was going on for 2 days

dezod

iTrader: (74)

EGTs for Cruise at 70 MPH not under boost is circa 1200 degrees. Nothing wrong there.

joedc5

^^^ The guy told me to get out of boost when you hit 1200. Normally my car on the highway 75-80mph would be at 10.5-1100 When I would start to boost it would start going up to 1200 deg.

02fpcivic

It def was not tuned correctly. They should be held responsible for taking care of it. If they werent sure about it they shouldnt have touched it. Also while the compression may be high tuning would take care of the detonation. I dunno what is a safe boost level for an 11.5:1 CR on pump gas but 7 psi may be a lil high if you dont use super all the time. I run sunoco 94 in my car or nothing at all. Despite what some people may say, every little thing matters when you are trying to get the most HP from your car.

02fpcivic

Basically Id be willing to bet my life that they didnt take enough ignition timing out and/or have the fuel curve anywhere near close. This is why I have learned to do tons of research and do things myself. I am less likely to fudge together my own stuff and if I screw up I learn from it. Also its not gunna be a legal dispute trying to figure out who will pay for the screw-ups cause it will be my fault hehe.

gotti

iTrader: (6)

4 new pistons cost around $500. Figure another $600 or so for installation. I'm in the same boat as you are in my boosted d17

Jodster

iTrader: (8)

Sorry about getting off line earlier Joe. I'm at work and my PC here sucks. It kicked me off. haha. Anyways, the car is not tuned right. Just like Madwheel said, you had deionation problems. And the over heating is a bad HG. Hopefully thats all the car needs is a new HG and propper tuning. The K-pro is not like all the other systems. It seems like they have know idea what they are were doing with the K-pro or else you would have no problems. Take it back to them and have them fix it. It take it somewhere else that knows what they are doing and send the bill to the first shop.

beastiek2

iTrader: (1)

RPM is the best in NY so they will fix it no problem.
Im me let me know when your going back, I'll come down there
I wanna check out the car.

dezod

iTrader: (74)

EGT's in VAC in my car are 1200 DEG at 70 MPH. Then again, your speaking about a K20, I am about a D17.

AllEyEsOnMe

iTrader: (2)

Dam man. Not for nothing Joe RPM is known for doing lousy installs. The only reason I say this is because alot of my friends in the past had bad experiences with them and the way they tune their cars. Good luck fixing it man. I hope everything turns out good.