92stockmx3 "Troublemaker"

[92StockMx3]

Sooo i came acrossed a deal i couldn't pass up, well at least what i think was a deal. And the nickname Troublemaker will be apparent as things go on.

[92StockMx3]

What uses more oil than BP, Has the power of a bull, and smokes more than a small town in the winter?...........





That thing would look something like this...




Supposedly has 85k miles
Should of figured it was going to be bad, I drove ~200 miles and oil level went from full to low.
Looks like the timing belt broke breaking open the cover. Including bunch of oil in that area scattered around.
I think a majority of it is coming from the valve cover gasket because there's fresh oil right underneath it on the block.
It smokes white from a cold start and after warmed up it smokes slightly
A bit of oil in the intake but no idea if its ever been cleaned.

Some good things are:
new clutch ~1k miles ago
New Alternator
New Battery
New Timing belt ~3k miles ago
New Front Brakes



Over all it drives very strong lets loose in 2nd and 3rd fairly easy. Didn't stumble. hesitate, or have any problems on a ~200 mile straight drive home just used a lot of oil. Rides smooth also.

I plan on doing a compression test and see what that says. After that bring it somewhere for a better look than what i know. I don't want to Junk it but if i do taking a lot of things off since the interior is good and could use the rims as a spare.

[SuperK]

sometimes a compression test won't detect an issue. If the rings on teh pistons have collapsed it will push oil straight through. In my B6 with no rings just about, I burned through all the oil in 250 miles ish.

Thing is, you'll have to pull the ngine out to get it fixed. looks like you have a KLDE or a KLZE. Either way, I'm going ot say that your problems are on the bottom end.

[92StockMx3]

Got to love the trunk of spare parts.






Included was a water pump, knock sensor, oil filter, hatch struts, two belts, valve cover, OBX under drive pulley, and a distributor. Along with various liquids such as smoke stop, lucas oil treatment, quart of shell 10w-30, power steering fluid, and some other oil treatment.


I topped off the oil with a can of Engine Restore just for giggles can't hurt right. I plan on it being a long road to recovery for this motor at least until i can get some spare cash and find someone who can look at it properly.

Also included was a Supra style and an RS raised spoiler. Car came with a short shifter with some generic red stitched knob, what did i happen to find under the seat but a brand new stock looking knob. The shift boot was cut half out and the radio was literally ripped out with wires just laying and looks like missing.


What i would like to do is swap the engines between my two cars and sell the black one.
Im sure it will work since i have the two cars but there's something telling me there will be a problem.
If anyone knows any hang ups with putting a ZE in an RS please let me know. Thanks!

[SuperK]

everything will hang you up putting the ze in the rs. not an option.

[92StockMx3]

Looks like the PCV valve is bad, free flow both ways.
Well looks like a lot of thinking on what to do now is in order.
Time to get the welder out.

[92StockMx3]

Took off the intake hoses to find some oil, the hose going from the PCV to the manifold, at the manifold was caked with tar like oil. This leads me to believe that its a good source of where the oil is going. I'll clean the entire system, ordered the new valve and will continue to clean and look over things.

Smokes at cold start up, and at take off.
barely after warmed at idle, and a tiny bit when cruising.

Here's to hoping

[92StockMx3]

Looks like the cars done, i'll be swapping the dash and some random parts over to my RS and most likely junking this one. Wish i had the knowledge to rebuild it, live and learn i guess .

Just so happened to pull the timing belt cover back and found.




Also took off the splash guard off to clean off some things and there was almost 1/4 inch of Dirt/oil covering it plus the entire side the oil pan covered. Looks like a main seal of sorts.




Looks like its back to the computer games for my spare time because i'm done with cars for a while, maybe next year.

[92StockMx3]

PCV valve replaced slight difference in oil loss.

Front valve cover gasket looks to be bad, a sliver of the gasket was broke and falling out, i removed it and oil poked its head out.
Explains the oil right above the header that kept reappearing. Also can be where all the oil is going, about 1/2 quart for 40 miles, and it doesn't smoke THAT much.

One thing at a time, can't let go of the car, let alone the surprising power. Now i know what all the hype is about.

[92StockMx3]

More depressing find, but i think it will be ok when im done.

So i starting taking the interior out to swap the carpet and dash to my RS when i found what everyone hates to see.




Some wonderful rust! same thing on both sides, so i figures ill scrap, wire brush and grind it off and put some rust reformer on it.






Started scraping and well, it got bad


I wire brushed most of it off and now its solid. I'll finish the rust removal and put some rust killer on it, grab a piece of sheet and attempt to weld it on. If the welding doesnt work i will JB weld the piece on, put truck bed liner over it and call it a day.

On a lighter side i found a bunch of audio cables under the carpet, and some crossovers/ tweeters. Since the car doesn't have a radio i'll test them and put them in my other car.

And just for some giggles i wanted to see what the spoiler looked like. From the back it doesn't look too bad.


But from the side where it mounts it looks pretty awful.