Car had the butterfly idle going on (up and down at rest) so I cleaned out the air filter (didn't touch the TB at all) and widened the plug gap a bit (dumb idea) and then the car started to idle way worse (obvious misfire).

So I went and bought a brand new set of BKR6EGP plugs and put those in with no noticeable difference, ran the CEL code and got the cyl4 misfire. Swapped the coil packs between 4 and 1 with no difference, then 4 to 2 with no difference. Thinking it may be an injector by then, I took it in and they ran a compression test (no leak down) and said there was zero compression on 4 and that they'd have to take it apart and pass it on to the machine shop.

So my question would be, is that the best plan? Have it worked on for just one cylinder if its going to cost a couple grand? Would I be better off trying to find a used LSJ (or new, albeit rare) and drop that in? Or is it possible to find someone selling the block and buy that, putting it under the existing head?

I try to keep up on some of the low-level maintenance and whatnot but this is the first time this has ever come up so I don't have a clue what to do.

 

You don't know if it's something in the head or in the block that's the problem. You could have a cracked piston or one with a hole in it, or it could be in the head where one or more valves isn't seating.

 

get a used engine and put in your car it will save you time and money in the long run

 

Alright then, best place to look? I'm assuming since its no longer in production, a stock LSJ even used would be a bit hard to find. I called a couple of local wreckers today with no luck. Did find something on ZZP but I think the shipping/duty/excise across the border would make it unfeasible.

 

car-parts.com

 

I bet ur pistons look like mine did.
Do urself the favor and yank it out put a used one in unless u have the time to rebuild it.
Just put some forged pistons (im running diamond) and cometic head gasket and arp head studs. Then slap it back in.

 

Go to the classifieds section on here and look for some for sale threads by "Mongorat" or something like that. He always has short blocks, long blocks, heads, etc.. He might be able to hook ya up

 

Name sounds familiar, I think I've browsed one of his threads. That was the first place I looked when I found out about all this was on here. Another dumb question since you brought that up, what's the difference between a short and long block and how do I tell which one I have?

 

Short block is the block and rotating assembly
long block is usually everything minus the manifolds and sensors alternator.