Rex7-93

If my motor has a blown apexi seal, how would the car be acting. THe motor has a little over 100,000 miles.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

A blown apex seal would idle fairly rough with the engine shaking like a paint shaker (if it even ran). However, the rest test is a compression test. Using a piston engine compression tester can give you and idea on where you stand with the engine.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

let it warm up, observe your idle rpm and also your vacuum on your boost gauge. You want to check the actual vacuum level as well as if the needle is moving back and forth or if it's steady. If you have the shaking engine mahjik mentioned along with a chugging exhaust note and the stuff I mentioned above, it's not looking too good.

hercdriver

iTrader: (2)

Just do a compression test (use a regular tester but take the schrater (sp?) valve out). It should be approx 90, 90, 90. Make sure you test both rotors (sometimes a blown seal will show 90 on one face and it can be hard to tell if your getting 90, 90, 90 or 90, 0, 0). Also there are probably a few previous posts about this subject so doing a search before posting the question will help.

Rex7-93

yea, the symptoms that mahjik and goodfella mentioned is what i am experiencing. this sucks.

RiON

No warm startups and idle till warm it would die.

spandy

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, mine sounded really choppy on idle when it went. It still runs, but it won't idle over 450-500rpm.

It sucks, but you gotta pay to play with these things.

rynberg

Hey, you made it over 100k miles, really no room for complaints.

Good luck with the rebuild.

cbf246

if you blew the seal/seals you will know right away. engine sounds horrible, idle is really off, and the car wont be able to accelerate properly. smoke in the exhaust on cold startup is a good indicator that the compression is getting low. id also check the turbo and make sure you didnt 'chip' any fins on the exhaust side of the turbo. thats what happened to me. had to get a rebuild and new turbos. good luck

mdpalmer

iTrader: (24)

^^ Ditto on the very difficult hot starting symptoms. You'll probably see a noticable reduction in off-boost power too.

Rex7-93

everything you guys are mentioning is what i'm experiencing. Cold startup isnt bad but warm is a little tough. Idles very low, 500-600, can really tell a huge difference in power. also cannot boost over 4-5 pounds. Well when i do get around to the rebuild i know it'll be better then ever, thanks guys.

Davin

iTrader: (14)

you wanna know something bomb as ****, i just got a $5000 re-enlisting bonus, plus add in my 13000 from iraq and my tax return coming in... with it going towards my batmobile and stocks

see what happens when you have a blown coolant seal and a chipped apex seal, you decide to get a 500r turbo with a streetported 13b

WAHOO!!!!

GregFD3S

your car will usually have a choppy idle, and it will sound off (like its only firing 1/3 of the time). Your engine will jolt around like somebody is shaking it under the hood. As mentioned about 3 times in this thread, the only way to be certain is a compression check, using a standard piston checker or a special rotary checker. I believe the correct compression is between 80 or 90, which should be consistent with the 3 chambers in each rotor, healthy compression is about 90-90-90.

if you have 1 apex seal out, then it will read low or no compression in 2 of the chambers. If you have a side seal out, then it will only read low on 1 of the chambers. for instance, if it reads 0-0-80 on your back rotor and 80-80-80 on your front rotor, you have a blown apex seal in your back rotor. If it reads 0-80-80 on your back rotor and 80-80-80 on your front, you have a bad side seal in your back rotor. The numbers are an example, and they can be different between rotors, but usually its low, or none at all.

My apex seal went out on my front rotor (go figure) and my compression was reading 30-30-80, which is a sign of a bad apex seal.

Test it, and if you get these results, you will have to rebuild your motor.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

......Or if the motor is too damaged/high enough mileage, you'll have to spring for a reman motor, you can have that taken apart, ported, clearanced, and re-assembled.

GregFD3S

yes very true.

Montego

iTrader: (1)

disconnected map sensor maybe? grasping at straws here on a 100k mile engine. But ya never know!

Rex7-93

I had the map sensor come off a bit ago and i thought i blew a seal, so when it started actin like that again, the map was the first thing i checked, and i was very disappointed to discover that it was Not the Map sensor.

GregFD3S

Check your vacuum lines. Do you have a Boost gauge or aftermarket ECU? Normal vacuum should be about 15 In. hg (or maybe 20 In. hg if your pulling a good vacuum). If its really low, then you probably have a vacuum leak.

FYI - Some ECUs and gauges read out in mmhg instead of In. hg, so its usually 400-500 mmhg.

mmhg = millimeters of mercury
in. hg = inches of mercury

GregFD3S

sounds like a vacuum leak, because usually you dont lose that much power when you crack an apex seal (boost makes up for lost compression). Most of the time, a cracked apex seal wont effect how much your turbo can put out, but a vacuum leak could.