LinuxHead

I went and looked at a GSL-SE motor yesterday. It's really clean and fully complete,
ready to drop into my 84 GS, and they owner seems willing to make me a good deal.
Just two problems:

1) The engine has already been pulled and is sitting in the back of a pickup truck, so no
easy way to spin it for a compression check. So, I pulled the header off to have a look
through the exhaust ports. The rear port is nice and clean, but the front port has a
bunch of these little green pellets of some dry, crumbly material sitting in the port
sleeve. I have no idea what it is, but it looks like some kind of plant food, rat poison,
agrocultural chemical, ??? The engine sat stored in a garage for a couple of years since
the original car was wrecked; maybe a critter crawled up the header and stashed them?
I can't think of any way this could have possibly come from the engine itself. Anyone
ever seen anything that sounds like this?

2) Vacuumed out the green pellets and started turning the engine slowly with a
wrench. A few more of the green things were swept along by the next apex seal,
so at least some of them were down in the combustion chamber itself. Turned
it past the next compression point and got the "pop-hiss" noise...followed by a
big spurt of slightly rusty water out of the front port. Looks like the front rotor
is wet. No idea if it's from a blown water seal or a cracked water jacket, is there
a way to tell without teardown? (I fear not, but hoping anyway.)

So it sounds like this motor would need to be torn down at least far enough to
replace some water seals (assuming the jacket isn't cracked), but if I could avoid
opening the rear rotor up, I could at least save money vs full rebuild. Any
opinions as to whether this thing can be saved or I should just move on? I
don't have the cash for a full rebuild kit, so if that's what it takes I'd have to
pass.

(The owner claims it's a Mazda crate motor with about 10K on it before the
wreck, and the rear rotor looks just fine so far as I can tell with a flashlight
through the port. None of the apex seals look obviously damaged.)

Many thanks for any opinions.

Syonyk

I wouldn't put that motor in without at least tearing it down and inspecting it. It sounds like problems waiting to happen if you just try to run it.

Dig up a copy of a rebuild video, the Haynes manual, and the FSM. If the engine has 10k miles on it, all the hard parts (apex seals, side seals, corner seals, etc) will most likely be fine. You might have some fun rust to deal with though (if there was water in there, things are likely to be rusted).

As long as you spec the parts out and they're within spec, they will be reusable. You'll need to replace the soft seals (coolant seals, O-rings, etc), but a kit with those isn't terribly expensive. Plus, upgrading the coolant seals to the teflon encapsulated ones isn't a bad idea.

If the engine truly is a 10k rebuild, all the parts should be just fine. Pull it apart, clean out all the goofy junk, fix the water seals. Also, if something *is* damaged, replacement parts aren't very expensive if you don't mind used parts (look in the Parts area). It's much better to find out now that you just need to replace the water seals than to get the engine in the car, running, and find out 500 miles down the road that something needs replacing.

-=Russ=-

EpitrochoidMan

Those green pellets are probably rat poison, or the like. An idle rotor housing is a great place for vermin to nest. I've seen the same thing sitting on top of engines and in air filter boxes.

LinuxHead

I ended up buying the motor as-is at enough of a discount that I can afford some rebuild
parts. I'll tear it down ASAP and get the water and rat debris out before more damage
can happen. I'll definately check out that rebuild video, too.

Thanks for the help.

Syonyk

Good deal.

I can honestly say, after rebuilding the engine (with some help from a friend with an engine lift & air tools), I don't fear working on that car at all. I go home for the weekend, and do some minor work. My parents look at me funny as the entire intake manifold, exhaust manifold, and a bunch of other parts are laying in the driveway. I just wanted to replace the PD & oxygen sensor, remove the oil injectors (I'd removed the pump before), and replace a few vacuum lines.

-=Russ=-

LinuxHead

Yeah, I've taken apart two engines now (man, that apex seal shrapnel sure makes a mess of
things). Never put one back together yet. This one should hopefully be easier, if everything is
still in spec and I can just fix the water leak and replace the soft seals.