Just a quick bit of history - i rebuilt this VE back in 04 and for the most part ran very well minus your periodic electrical/sensor mishaps. Within the last 1-2 years though ive been having problems with the heat, only getting warm when on the highway or under a load. Heater core seemed to be fine, no leaks or smell inside under the dash, and i also removed the thermostat, that was fine too. I noticed in the overflow tank that the coolant smelled like gas, not exhaust, but pure gasoline and was a bit smokey-colored. There's air bubbles flowing in the tank too, so now i was onto something...

Next problem is a periodic misfire - always cylinder #1. (coil & plug are both fine) Typical behavior is as follows:
1 - Id start the car in morning, it would have a sloppy turnover kind of like a cold carb'd engine with no choke
2 - Engine starts, and cyl 1 would be dead, and would remain that way until i get to work/school etc
3 - After sitting for a few hours, i go out on lunch and it has the same sloppy startup, then the misfire subsides after a few seconds and car runs fine the rest of the day

^ rinse/wash/repeat that pattern every day.... However at times the misfire would re-appear and subside at random in addition to retaining the above cyclical behavior. While doing this, the exhaust smelled incredibly rich, but then fine when cyl 1 fires. My thought was a faulty injector maybe getting stuck open and flooding out the cylinder. This has been happening for the past 3-4 years

Back to coolant - about a year ago it blew a crack in the radiator right in front of where the upper hose enters. I fixed the crack, i plastic welded the ish out of it and it blew again along with periodic white exhaust smoke upon acceleration from a stop.

So all things considered, i thought head gasket or something else allowing combustion pressure and coolant to exchange paths. The car has been sitting since Feb 2008 when the radiator blew a crack.

The valvetrain has always been a bit clacky/noisy too (not the VTCs, although they do sing sporadically)

At this point my eyes were set on a JDM swap, so yesterday i start it real quick to bleed the fuel pressure to prepare for the engine pull this weekend.... and it starts right up and runs perfect! The freakn car talks to me - its as if the motor knows its getting pulled so it behaved perfectly, sounded real clean out the exhaust, no smoke, nothing. So i unseized the ebrake and took it for a run around the block and it drove nice, but as it warmed up i got steam shooting out of my cracked rad so i went back home and parked it. Heres the thing though - i let it run again and it lost a lot of coolant out of that crack since last year but the temp gauge read fine, it didnt overheat


So im just trying to resolve these issues if nothing else for my own knowledge before i pull this motor out; have at it!

 

1. More then likely you have a bad injector on cyl. 1

2. yep, sounds like a blown h/g (white smoke) as long as you are not loosing oil(again white smoke)

3. replace the dam rad already!!

4. meh.. just swap it out..

 

Yes you have a cracked head gasket. That was exactly what was wrong with mine which is why I got it for $250. Already had my heads done, and about to send my block off for the machine shop Monday. All while body work and prep are done this week for paint next weekend. I had the same bubbly gasoline water in my overflow tank.

Oh and if I were you or had to do this myself again I would just swap. Quicker return time to the streets.

 

im not letting this excuse the reason for another motor, but was just put off from the erratic behavior

injector, yes im betting thats it, ill probably have the ones from the JDM **** tested and whatnot

i redneck-fixed the rad at the time since i didnt want to blow a crack in a new one, but yes thats on my nice heavy list of things to buy

i prefer 'beh' over 'meh'

 

I just put that out there cuz I don't know your time frame nor If you wanted to go through the work. Quick fix JDM/ if your determined like me FIX IT.

 

i actually rebuilt it back in 2004 (got about 50-60k on it now) but im in the dark as to what EXACTLY it is (head gasket, etc) which annoys me... I want to know where to start pointing fingers, either at myself, my machine shop or the parts

i could just do a new head gasket but at this point i just want a complete fresh(er) virgin motor to drop in and boogie again

 

I would probably recommend new VTCs on a JDM engine if you can afford it. My JDM started clacking maybe a year after it was installed. It is inconsistent now -- sometimes clacks, sometimes not. It is a bit loud, overall, too. Probably needs new guides, as well as VTCs. I think that because these engines sit for so long (maybe they were pulled 10 years ago!) that they still have sludge and/or weak spring issues. Just my theory, I could be totally wrong and my engine was used more than the importer claims.

Otherwise, my JDM is very strong and I have been happy with it (knock on wood). Been in the car since 2004, but I have only driven maybe 12-14k miles in that time.