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you do a compression test. you either got cracked ringland or valvetrain issues. Either way, the head has to come off.
these cars aren't known for headgasket issues.
a smart person would take the head off, inspect it to see if anything is broken. then go for a piston.
Or just replaced the motor because the cost to get to a new piston is approaching a new motor all things considered. He's not high mileage but hell he'd get an additional 100k miles from a new motor.
Or just replaced the motor because the cost to get to a new piston is approaching a new motor all things considered. He's not high mileage but hell he'd get an additional 100k miles from a new motor.
His quote for the LDK shipped to AK is still cheaper than what mine cost including shipping.
And btw... chances are if he detonated it via tune, bad gas etc... he knows this but is not sharing that info--- just straight to a new piston.
I haven't changed anything with the engine or tune for the last ~18,000 miles since I had my tune updated by John in Connecticut. Until recently I haven't noticed any significant misfires or knock. Did bad gas destroy my engine?... probably not. Does every gas station in Alaska sell fresh clean high octane gasoline?.... nope, that's why I add a certain amount of Torco Accelerator octane booster.
I'm getting a shipping quote for barging a new LDK from Washington to Alaska to see about a better shipping option. Hopefully ZZP will work with me a little.
I'll consider doing a leak down test. I'm borrowing a better endoscope to peak around the engine with before taking the time to take the engine apart. Meanwhile I have my old Dodge work truck to drive everywhere.
Anyway, I put 11 miles on the car doing a break-in procedure. No problems! Then I checked for leaks yesterday morning and saw my hydraulic clutch elbow is leaking. I thought I could get away with not replacing it because I put in all new clutch parts 15k miles ago. Not a big deal, just one more thing i have to order from ZZP. I've not been super impressed with ZZP's customer service. They could have made more money off me if they offered me some things I would need like exhaust gaskets, flywheel bolts, etc.
Also if you order a new engine from ZZP to be shipped 5,000 miles, all they do is set it on a pallet with some cracked 2x6's screwed around the oil pan. The forklift driver at the shipping company was nervous to even load it onto my truck.
Upon installation, I removed the nipple rubber seal from inside the elbow and placed it on top of the clutch pipe as show in the photo. Then i pressed the elbow onto the pipe and installed the metal clip. It held enough pressure to drive 11 miles but leaked sitting the next day. I really hope a new elbow fixes it and I don't need to replace the clutch pipe.
You could source a single good LNF piston, pull the rod out and hone it with a drill hone then get some new rings. gap them and see what happens.
I wouldn't do that.
but you could
win
that was my suggestion. if you need to be cheap this option will work fine. just make sure you don't damage the crank taking the piston and rod out and lay a rag over the crank while you hone it.
i've done this several times. i used to break stock honda pistons all the time when i was turboing them, its pretty easy to do this with the short block in the car.
