Major engine leak... to rebuild or not to rebuild?

[Aznspice27]

Ok first off i purchased the car around feb with the only problem being a small leak coming from the head. replaced the gasket = no more leak. Recently i noticed a small oil leak right under the crank casing, where my oil pump would be located. the leak got larger and larger and then just miracously stopped. im driving to hot import nights and next thing i know im spewing out antifreeze all over the garden state parkway. the oil leak had softened up a few of my antifreeze hoses and they bursted. when i had the car up on the lift there was so much sludge and gunk from the oil all over my pullies and timing belt all over the oil filter area. My shop told me i could repair the leak by purchasing a whole new front case with the new oil pump gears and water pump timing belt and p/s belt. or for just a little more money replace the whole engine with a jdm from japanese engines inc. the engine has 145k. i want to keep my 7bolt what do you think i should do? is this a sign of more problems coming internally?

 

[MichaelSuch]

I don't see what the deal is with the jdm engine thing honestly.. They're used motors too, and probably have been ran harder than yours has. The logical thing to me would be to just do it yourself.

 

[Aznspice27]

yeah i was thinking that... what the whole hooplah of the jdm engine was about... i think im just going to start rebuilding the whole engine... im gonna go with the evo3 turbo path for now..

 

[lacroixdp]

If you have the tools and the necessary knowledge, I'd rebuild it personally. You'll end up with a new engine, rather then an engine you don't know anything about maintenance-wise. Good luck man!

 

[Aznspice27]

im sticking with my 7bolt ... im going to have my shop fix the front case and all the damaged gears ... i necessarily dont have the time or tools to do it myself.. and i wish i did... i dream of having a house with a huge lift in the back... but living in nyc thats impossible... another question .... im going with the evo3 setup turbo and 02 im also upgrading to a walb. 255 fuel pump with fic 750 injectors and a apexi afc neo... is that suitable for my setup?

 

[lacroixdp]

The AFC Neo isn't going to be up to the task of controlling 750cc injectors. I'd recommend Jackal if you're on a budget, and DSMLink if you have a bit more to spend.

 

[kenamond]

If you don't plan on making a monster eventually, a wally 190 and 650 injectors would do and would work with the SAFC. You might also want to upgrade fuel lines and get an AFPR. The stock fuel lines limit fuel flow pretty badly, and you'll run rich at low RPM if you stick with the stock FPR.

 

[Aznspice27]

yeah i plan on purchasing the afpr kit from extremepsi with new fuel lines... but to get dsmlink i would have to find an eprom ecu also and both are pretty expensive for me right now... so the apexi neo wont be able to handle 750's? whats the jackal?

 

[lacroixdp]

If you stick with Kenamond's suggestion above, the SAFC Neo will work for you with no issues. Jackal is a MAP conversion for EPROM'd ECUs - you'd run into the same price constraint there, not having a socketed ECU. If you already have the Neo, it wouldn't be worth the added expense.

 

[Aznspice27]

is there any other afc units like the neo i can purchase to run with large injectors 750+?

 

[knochgoon24]

I doubt that you need to replace the front case because of an oil leak. They probably want to replace it at the same time as all the other timing belt components. When was the last time the timing belt was replaced?

You don't need to replace the whole front case. You could just replace the front main seal, and the several other seals on it. I'd also recommend replacing the cam seals at the same time, since every thing is apart.

I had the same type of leak this summer. I ended up just replacing every gasket, seal, and o-ring on that end of the engine.

And the gears and pulleys can be cleaned with Simple Green or Power Purple. You didn't damage the metal with the oil.

 

[kenamond]

is there any other afc units like the neo i can purchase to run with large injectors 750+?

You might look into EvoScan. I've heard folks claim that you can reflash a '98 ECU, but you should check into it. If you can reflash, presumably, you can tune. There is a thread about evoscan that's been active for about a year, and it certainly has a lot of info in it.

The problem with 750s on a Neo is that the Neo intercepts the air flow signal and "lies" to the ECU to get it to pulse the injectors less. But airflow is used for timing, too, and you end up advancing timing the more you lie, and that leads to knock. The general consensus is that 650s are as high as you should go with a Neo-like controller.

 

[Aznspice27]

well the oil leaking started screwing with all the belts... the belts were all changed winter 08 pretty recent ... the leaking oil screwed everything up... so you think i should just change all the gaskets and not mess with oil and water pump?

 

[Aznspice27]

i heard from a few members the evoscan is great ... and i found a few places that i can pick up an evo8 ecu for a mere $100-150 and then purchase the wire + software for another 150

 

[kenamond]

well the oil leaking started screwing with all the belts... the belts were all changed winter 08 pretty recent ... the leaking oil screwed everything up... so you think i should just change all the gaskets and not mess with oil and water pump?

If the water pump has a lot of miles on it, I'd change that while you're in there. I'm not sure about how long the oil pump lasts, though.

 

[kenamond]

i heard from a few members the evoscan is great ... and i found a few places that i can pick up an evo8 ecu for a mere $100-150 and then purchase the wire + software for another 150

If you can find one, a '95 2g ECU is $150-$200. I didn't know you could swap in an Evo8 ecu (not saying you can't, I've just never heard of that). But EvoScan is free and the cable (interface) is ~$100 which you'd need for a logger anyway.

 

[Aznspice27]

yeah there was a member who was telling me they swapped in the evo8 ecu with evoscan and it ended up costing half of what dsmlink would be... and that the evo8 ecu was compatible with any injector combination and had the 2 step timer plus many other features all built in

 

[knochgoon24]

yeah there was a member who was telling me they swapped in the evo8 ecu with evoscan and it ended up costing half of what dsmlink would be... and that the evo8 ecu was compatible with any injector combination and had the 2 step timer plus many other features all built in

The Evo 8 Ecu has been put in a 2g with great success. Check out the threads in the Tuning Forum.
H8 support for the 98ECU is reportedly present now, but you need and Openport 2.0 cable, which no one seems to have dropped the money on yet. Right now, the Evo 8 Ecu has all the support already in place.

As for the water and oil pump, the water pump is usually replaced with the timing belt. The oil pump is just two gears in the front case. From the sound of it, you just had an oil leak from one of the seals.

You can get new front case seals from your local auto store. Since you got oil on the timing belt, and all over the other belts, you might as well just do the timing belt now, along with the water pump. The oil pump is up to you. Some replace it after xxxk miles, some don't.