iv looked everywhere but i can't find anyone with a problem this serious. i bought this 97 1.8 5 speed and everything seemed to be straight on the car before i bought it but every since i bought it iv had nothing but problems with it. for starters, when i start it in the morning it smokes a little bit until i get on the gas. it will bog down around 2-3k rpms then clears up once it warms up. after that i only notice smoke when i hit high rpms. i drive about 50 miles a day to an from work and i have to add a least half a quart every other day if not every day. i checked the compression and cylinders 3 and 4 are low. i don't know if its a combination of bad valve seals and rings or what it is. it just seems like way too much oil is being consumed for how much smoke I see. sry if i left some info out but thanks in advance

 

Visible smoke from the exhaust is extremely bad rings. How low are 3 and 4?

 

I'm using more than that on the red car right now. Save up for a rebuild. It's time.

 

Lol, did you steal my motor and put it in your car???

 

yea the odometer only says 107k but the speedo hasn't worked since iv had the car. i can't remember but i think the cylinders were around 140? i know it should be around 200 and the numbers go down from cylinder #1 to #4. so do y'all think its the valve seals that is letting oil drain into the combustion chamber which is what is making it bog down until it is burned up and the rings are just burning up whatever is left?

 

haha I'm sure yours is in better shape than mine. this thing is a pain in the ****!

 

this is terrible timing because ill have my first baby here any day now so money is reallll tight right now. I'm going to try to do this as cheap as possible. my buddy has a motor from a ford escort gt that he is giving to me but it has been stripped down to the block and head and the head is removed so i can't test the compression on that but the engine looks like its in great shape. the head where the cams are isn't very discolored and the cylinders look really smooth. should i just try to rebuild that engine first then just drop it in when its done?

 

to be honest if i were in your situation i'd visually inspect things and if they looked to be ok i'd just swap the escort head/bottom move all the accessories over and then plan on rebuilding your current block.

 

The reason I say that is because now that you are having a kid your priorities may change and If it were me i'd probably wait to spend money on a motor build when it's very possible i may be selling the car. my .02

 

you need a new motor.

 

Save money for babies and ****. Well, **** cleaning up supplies.

If the car must run (aka, it's your only means of transportation), the cheapest and safest route would most likely be to throw a rebuild kit in the escort motor consisting of just seals. This is if and only if you trust the rings and bearings. Roughly $225 will surface, clean, R&R valves seats, and R&R seals on which ever head you think is in better shape.

 

Yeah... Uh standard refresh items. Timing belt and water pump + headgasket kit.

 

Yea it's not my only transportation but it saves a lot more money on gas than my Silverado. What do yall think about the piston kits you can buy from eBay? I want to get more power out of it and maybe turbo or rotrex one day so It seems foolish to me to not go ahead and bore it out a little bit while I'm in there especially if it goes to the machine shop anyways. I just did the water pump and timing belt like 3 weeks ago so I would just swap them to the other motor

 

If money is tight, then you absolutely should not do any different internals then stock. Waterpump and timing belt will be fine to swap over.

 

Careful. This is a slippery slope that can easily lead to visitation rights.

 

Stock decent condition 150k mile motors handle plenty of boost up to around 220-240ish tq and live to tell about it. No reason to build the motor before you boost. Id boost then build. Then I get to have fun without dropping 5-7k $$$ all at once. If I blow up a motor in the learning process at least it's not my expensive one.

 

yea good point. does anyone have anything bad to say about these ebay piston and ring sets? what about just ordering pistons and going with weisco rings from 949? this is the set iv been looking at, let me know what y'all think
91 98 Mazda Protege Miata Ford Escort 1 8L "BP" Pistons Rings Main Rod Bearings | eBay

 

Problem is that you don't know the condition of the cylinders. You might need an overbore. Personally, I wouldn't order parts until after teardown and inspection.

 

It should run for years with low compression as long as you monitor the oil. Wait to you have money to pull the motor. Run cheap non synthetic and top it off twice a week.