I just finished putting on a new head gasket and having the head worked over and tested. On the second start it was rough at first so i pulled the number 2 plug (the source of the leak last time) and swabed the cylinder and it came out blue. I'm thinkin cracked block. The engine is running great once I get it warmed up, but it is still a little rough at start up.
I am looking at options for another engine to replace mine...Ideas????

aw dude that sux talk to pham hes doing a swap maybe u can grab his m44 if u wanna keep the 4cil and ur head!! or if not m52 is the way to go !!

would it be hard to go from a m42 motor to a m44 motor

prob not I really cant say But I would say it cant be that hard its mostly the same engine

would it be hard to go from a m42 motor to a m44 motor

Nah, bolts right up!

the mechanical aspect isnt the hard part. it is the electronics that will bite you. i havent heard about anyone doing an OBD1 swap to an M44 but i am sure it can be done. otherwise you will be doing and OBD2 swap to your car so that it can handle the M44.

i would say get rid of the old gas. your car was sitting for how long? my bro just got a lexus that was sitting for 4 month and the gas had already gone to crap on it. i would say give it a little time for it to come around, if not then you might have a problem.

you know what that happened to my car and it was one of the valves on the idle control system I took it out cleaned it and now it idles perfect and the Check engine went away! It didnt have a gastkes so i put some gastket maker on it!

anyways if you wanna try the gas thing go to autozone(or whatever else u want) and get some gas stabilizer if u dont want to drain it and some new premium gas and see what happens!!

i put a fresh tank of gas and have driven it a little and it still seems to be doing the same thing and when i got home tonight i noticed that the
Exhaust had a white-ish tint and smelled sweet. how did u clean the idle valves that sounds like a good idea?

Sounds like a coolant leak into the exhaust. Cross contamination via head/head gasket or cracked block. Please don't guess anymore and have a proper leakdown and compression test performed. You'll spend forever on a wild guessing game.

would it be hard to go from a m42 motor to a m44 motor

What year is your car?

his is a 1995,
still has coolant in #2.
all other cly are clean.
# 2 was the cly that had coolant when the engine was tore down first.
Car runs rough at first, clears within 45 sec and then runs great.
????????

who did the headgasket install?? a shop? you??
sounds like it is not sealing very well, may be improper torque down procedures....or crack on the block/head....
rough starts could be because of an oxygen sensor, idle control valve, improper fuel mixture, dirty MAF, clogged injectors....number of things....i wouldnt worry about that until you fix your headgasket problem...

Stan

Uhh....the rough start up idle is because there is coolant in the cylinder. Can't do a great job of the whole combustion process with coolant in there. Which shop did the head-work? Did they do a pressure test? I'm not trying to come off bad but seriously. Listen to me. Stop jacking with all these other thoughts. Get a proper compression and leakdown test done. The compression will tell you if all the cylinders are close and the leakdown will tell you the % of the leak and where the pressure is leaking past. It's not an idle valve, it's not your muffler bearings, nor your blinker fluid.

I did the head gasket install. As for the head being pressure tested they did that at the machine shop and it came out good.

How do I do a compression and leak down test and what tools do I need to do this test. Does any one have the tools to do it or could I rent the tools from auto zone.

My dad and I talked to mr. sim, at sims automotive, and he shed a little light on the head gasket install and gave us some tips incase we have to do it again, and pointed out some things we did wrong, but he seems to think that it can be fixed with out another tear down. we followed the Bentleys’ manual on the torque settings but we did not bottom tap the holes we just cleaned them out Mr. Sim thought that was the source of our problem that the bolts did not go down far enough and seal the block properly.

I have my doubts considering that it happens to be the exact same cylinder.

Compression tester is easily acquired. Leakdown tester that is decent is not......a lot of the guys on here can verify how I know this.

i agree with you something seems a little fishy being the same cylinder and every thing

but on another note went to bmp design and looked around its a pretty cool little shop the guys there were really nice and gave my dad and i a tour. they had a e30 with a supercharged 95m3 motor that looked sweet

well if you need any engine part from a M44 im going to have a full extra engine soon!

well if you need any engine part from a M44 im going to have a full extra engine soon!

You need to find a motor so we can see who does it faster. :D You want to split for cherry picker? :D

haha I'll get an engine dont worry but I need a daily driver first :P

today i did what mr sim suggested and so far it seems to have worked. i shaved a little off the head bolts and then bottom tapped the block so ill see what happens in the morning (crossing my fingers)

i hope that worked Prom King. hope to see you back on the road soon.

Please tell me you bought and had used new head bolts.