BaD Motor? SR20DET

[komedy]

The shop that did my swap said the motor only had 20,000miles and that they did a compression test, 150 across the board, i ask about the turbo and they said its good no shaft play. completly stock S13 redtop SR.
went home did a compression test, came out different
#1 140
#2 almost 150
#3 almost 150
#4 almost 150

so the shop was close but i dont know why the first one is 140. dut i didnt mind, still seemed ok too me.

then after breaking in the clutch and flywheel, i tried to see how good the sr is but while i slamed on the gas i hear the turbo hissing or studdering. it just wont spool up smooth, it has to studder its way up.
i thought it was my clutch slipping (maybe it is) but as i drive more often it seemed to be my turbo. so i checked the shaft play and it moves up and down. i can play with it practicully but decent enough to drive(i hope). so is it my turbo or clutch or both?

should the shop be responsible or is it a loss. do i have enough to take them too small claims court for lying that the motor was perfect 150 compression with no shaft play. I can get the compression done at a repitable shop for evidence and let them check the turbo also for evidence.

[mRclARK1]

Most places (that I've dealt with at least) only warranty the head and block on a motor; so they probably won't consider the turbo being bad as their responsibility to fix. That doesn't mean you can't try to go after them though, especially if the compression isn't what they claimed (but 140's on all cylinders isn't very far from 150).

Just look at what your warranty info says.

Who did your swap?, and how did they know the motor only has 20K miles on it?

[WilloW]

Sorry to hear about your swap. Alot of SRs I see now have a lot of km on them, one average about 90-110km on them stock or not. Even the S14 SRs has a lot of km. I don't beleive that BS about the clip only has "about" 35k on it. Good luck to you.

[fliprayzin240sx]

140-150 is still decent. As crappy as this may sound but the FSM states that all the way down to 125 is an acceptable limit on compression. Anyways, check the turbo, pull the intake piping and turbo inlet and visually check the turbo. If you see chunking on the blades, then its pretty much done. Feel for shaftplay. Moving it up and down is not shaft play, shaft play is when the shaft goes in and out. If the shaft play is bad enough, the blades have a tendency to hit the housing causing the blades to chunk.

[komedy]

I see, i will check on the shaft again. so up and down is not shaft play and is ok to boost, as long as its not in and out?
is up and down normal for all turbos?


yeah i dont mind about the compression. but just the fact that they tell me that its axactly 150 across the board and has only 20000mile. why would they lie like that?

but thanks your guys input. i appreciate it :)

[fliprayzin240sx]

They lied cuz theyre selling you an engine...140 is still not bad. Good rule of thumb is 10 psi off in every cylinder. 140-150 is within that rule.

[TheWolf]

yeah i dont mind about the compression. but just the fact that they tell me that its axactly 150 across the board and has only 20000mile. why would they lie like that?

Why would you belive that??

Think about this. how many 1991-1993 ka equiped cars in our junk yards have engines in them that have 20,000 miles on them? It's a 15 year old engine and turbo. If it's that low of mileage it's either been sitting for years and years and years outside or you just happend to get the one motor, the diamond in the ruff, that was never driven anywhere. 150 is descent and is not your problem with the acceleration studder. Either a boost leak or a turbo issue probably is. Why not take it to the shop and ask them to fix the problem instead of contemplating how to sue them.