[Pezzar]

Interesting. Did they give a reason?

I am using 50/50 mix and I inject about 12 inches away from the throttle body. My main goal was to deal with the hot weather I have most the year.

Bigger turbo has helped because with the oem turbo I remember it was slow when Temps where in the 40 to 45 celcius range

Wth bigger turbo, their is a difference too but not as bad.

Yup, tuneplus require the nozzle 6 inches from the throttle body otherwise they reckon you dont get a consistent mix\atomisation

 

[Biznatch]

Interesting. Did they give a reason?

I am using 50/50 mix and I inject about 12 inches away from the throttle body. My main goal was to deal with the hot weather I have most the year.

Bigger turbo has helped because with the oem turbo I remember it was slow when Temps where in the 40 to 45 celcius range

Wth bigger turbo, their is a difference too but not as bad.

I can only assume it doesn't guarantee enough mixing to flow evenly across the cylinders injected that close. How did you set it up 12" away? Did you add a bung into the pipes?

 

[mexrs]

I can only assume it doesn't guarantee enough mixing to flow evenly across the cylinders injected that close. How did you set it up 12" away? Did you add a bung into the pipes?

Yes, used a bung welded to the ets charge pipe.

also had the option to add to the silicone hose via a special adapter from aquamist.

-- 806-384/5/6 -- silicon hose adaptor (4 or 5 or 6mm)

Aquamist direct sales site

www.aquamist-direct.com

 

[Pezzar]

The aquamist adapter is the route im going for

 

[mexrs]

It has been a while since I updated.

My pump gas tune was completed and get to about 28psi. We then started the wmi tune and I have been noticing excessive blowby on the engine from the valve cover breather to the radium catchcan. I notice it only at high boost and does not do it driving normally and staying below certain boost levels. If I do 3 WOT runs I fill more than half the can.

It is not the PCV valve, checked that and also using the Radium baffle plate and their pcv valve. Maybe if I use the second port on the radium baffle plate I can get more vent under boost and solve the blowby.

No smoke at idle
No smoke revving the engine either
No coolant loss
No oil from dipstick if removed
Oil looks good

I think this issue started way back early on but at that time I was running lower boost maps and was not as noticable at the lower boost levels. once I got to twin port wastegate and upped the psi blowby was more noticable. Before that I started to see oil on the upr vented filler cap and assumed it was failing... now I believe it was just early symptom of something.

I believe this started early on because also early on (in earlier posts) I had the vacuum pump leak that would not seal between pump and cyl head and the hpfp housing to cyl head leak that came installed from esslinger. That started to leak after a few months. Several failed attempts with new gaskets and to fix both I ended up using new gaskets and some PERMATEX "BLACK STUFF" on the rim surface as a second gasket. Has held up excellent. I think the leak was crank case pressure.

My Esslinger Engineering Engine has only 3000 miles on it and I did a compression test and will do a leak down test during the week and then I can share results.

If it is bad, I will be done with it.

 

[Pezzar]

I also experience excess oil in my catch can, when giving it a boot full i get puffs of smoke. I have the mountune plate with radium catch cans. Im running about 28-29 psi at present

 

[mexrs]

I also experience excess oil in my catch can, when giving it a boot full i get puffs of smoke. I have the mountune plate with radium catch cans. Im running about 28-29 psi at present

built engine?

The puff of smoke is oil escaping catch can. if you vent the tube that goes to intake tube in a big bottle with holes up top and seal the intake tube hole no more smoke.

you will get some error codes due to the sensor not being connecfed. but that test will prove it

 

[axelr]

I did a compression test

What did you get? Who is doing the tuning (just curious)

I also experience excess oil in my catch can

Single or dual, and if dual which one? Also curious to know who is doing the mapping and if you use special fuel (e-something, aux, or WI/WMI)

 

[rdriggett]

Your build's unfortunate setbacks seem really demoralizing and I'm just an onlooker.
As fun as the RS is, anything involving a built motor or its supporting mods just seems to be a money pit and not worth it unless you enjoy lighting cash on fire.
Seems like if you want more power than a tune offers, you should go buy something that makes the numbers you're looking for from the factory.

 

[mexrs]

What did you get? Who is doing the tuning (just curious

Single or dual, and if dual which one? Also curious to know who is doing the mapping and if you use special fuel (e-something, aux, or WI/WMI)

Stratified Auto tune, more on that later.

The compression test showed 2 and 3 had less than 1 and 4 BUT I did not run the engine to operating temp previous to that test just ran it to deplete fuel in the line after pulling fuse.

I would imagine rings and forged pistons did not seal as good due to not getting engine to operating temp and also cam profile might affect compression test.

So, a leak test this weekend since I could not get a hold of the leak down tester and had to buy one 🤷 arrives today.

Your build's unfortunate setbacks seem really demoralizing and I'm just an onlooker.
As fun as the RS is, anything involving a built motor or its supporting mods just seems to be a money pit and not worth it unless you enjoy lighting cash on fire.

Seems like if you want more power than a tune offers, you should go buy something that makes the numbers you're looking for from the factory.

Pretty much my conclusion too 🤣 They said it costs to play now I believe.

It is a hobby car though. I also learned a lot playing around with it. So it was all a valuable experience.

Hopefully leakdown test is good, and I just add a vented cap that I got rid off and maybe some other setup as I gave seen here

Bye-Bye Blow-By

Bye, Bye, Blow-By is loaded with diagrams, and explanations of various PCV arrangements using OCCs, and PCV plates. It will help you understand how they work, and help you decide what's best for your specific setup.

damondmotorsports.com

 

[axelr]

anything involving a built motor

The reality is building a solid engine costs far more than a typical enthusiast is willing or able to pay.

A production-based 300hp 2.0L rally engine costs around $50K without accessories, and needs about $20K in rebuild costs every 1500km (900 miles) or so. Half of the initial and rebuild costs is workmanship. Then you can add another good $40K for the turbo, headers, engine management, wiring harness... some cars you cannot run without flying an engineer over.

With the off the shelf aftermarket options you get what you pay for. Either stay stock, or build it yourself or with the help of a trusted friend, assemble it carefully and don’t count your time.

 

[mexrs]

Either stay stock, or build it yourself or with the help of a trusted friend, assemble it carefully and don’t count your time.

That is why i picked an engine from Esslinger Engineering, a reputable shop to not give me much hassle but.... well here i am again with issues. They are too proud of their builds to even consider the possibility that they failed.

 

[mexrs]

I did a leak down test today and compression test the other day, but when i did the compression test the other day I did not have it fully warm so I disregard those values.

I repeated the leak down test twice today to be sure on the numbers. I will need to pull the head & change the head gasket. Current head gasket is the Pro Seal head gasket.

5,000 km on the engine that has not been beaten, never overheated. I did reach out to a Facebook user who had an engine from them in a mustang and it blew a head gasket within the first year. I do not know how much the user was pushing, i will ask. How much WHP could i possibly be making on a 91 OCT Tune to blow it? I don't think over 440ish

Cylinder 1	Cylinder 2	Cylinder 3	Cylinder 4
Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI
Held 66 PSI	Held 40 PSI	Held 63 PSI	Held 68 PSI
12% Loss	46.6% Loss	16 % Loss	9.33 % Loss

Video of coolant on Cylinder 2 leak down:

coolant - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Borescope:

Even bough a Borescope and checked all cylinders, pistons and gasket seal last week. In Cylinder 2 I saw this that made me suspect a Head Gasket issue as seen in this image:

I could not tell i had an issue as I still have coolant and not smoking. Only reason i found it is because of the blow by i was collecting from the valve cover CCV catch can when doing WOT 3rd gear data logging at 28-29 psi. I then drove around and staying out of the full boost and was not collecting blowby.

So, how fun is what follows? I think it is worth pulling the head and throwing on a new head gasket and do a leak down test on that cylinder after replacing it.

I did inform Esslinger, and was just told I need to replace the head gasket to prevent further damage. They did not comment anything about % loss on other cylinders.

If i look at the bright side, i definitely learned a lot working on the car! Lots of valuable hands on experience.

 

[Big Jim]

indeed..sounds like you've learned a lot, in a positive way.

I had an e30 m3 that had the motor rebuilt 3x's...and it kept eating head gaskets. I owned the car for 5 years and was able to drive it for a total of 6 months. so i feel your pain brother.

so esslinger doesn't even want to look at the motor now?

can you swap back to stock bottom block/turbo and run meth injection and enjoy the car in that setting?

 

[jefferysanders]

I did a leak down test today and compression test the other day, but when i did the compression test the other day I did not have it fully warm so I disregard those values.

I repeated the leak down test twice today to be sure on the numbers. I will need to pull the head & change the head gasket. Current head gasket is the Pro Seal head gasket.

5,000 km on the engine that has not been beaten, never overheated. I did reach out to a Facebook user who had an engine from them in a mustang and it blew a head gasket within the first year. I do not know how much the user was pushing, i will ask. How much WHP could i possibly be making on a 91 OCT Tune to blow it? I don't think over 440ish

Cylinder 1	Cylinder 2	Cylinder 3	Cylinder 4
Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI
Held 66 PSI	Held 40 PSI	Held 63 PSI	Held 68 PSI
12% Loss	46.6% Loss	16 % Loss	9.33 % Loss

Video of coolant on Cylinder 2 leak down:

coolant - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Borescope:

Even bough a Borescope and checked all cylinders, pistons and gasket seal last week. In Cylinder 2 I saw this that made me suspect a Head Gasket issue as seen in this image:

View attachment 349411


I could not tell i had an issue as I still have coolant and not smoking. Only reason i found it is because of the blow by i was collecting from the valve cover CCV catch can when doing WOT 3rd gear data logging at 28-29 psi. I then drove around and staying out of the full boost and was not collecting blowby.

So, how fun is what follows? I think it is worth pulling the head and throwing on a new head gasket and do a leak down test on that cylinder after replacing it.

I did inform Esslinger, and was just told I need to replace the head gasket to prevent further damage. They did not comment anything about % loss on other cylinders.

If i look at the bright side, i definitely learned a lot working on the car! Lots of valuable hands on experience.

I blame excess heat allowed by the headifold having to cool the ever increasing EG temps and creating even more backpressure with restrictive twin scroll small flange turbos, BMW changed their design for the same reason (S. Papadakis talks about it in one of his videos) #TeamPorted4port!!! Do you have the 2.0 Block or 2.3 open deck? Upgraded thermostat, radiator, oil coolers?? How hot is it where you are in Mexico??? You would think that motor would have held together a lot better being from a reputable builder, they seem to do a good amount of volume watching their Facebook and the amount of engines they send out; your build shouldn't have been anything special...(typical machine work, etc). What does Stratified say about all of this???

 

[axelr]

I did a leak down test today and compression test the other day, but when i did the compression test the other day I did not have it fully warm so I disregard those values.

I repeated the leak down test twice today to be sure on the numbers. I will need to pull the head & change the head gasket. Current head gasket is the Pro Seal head gasket.

5,000 km on the engine that has not been beaten, never overheated. I did reach out to a Facebook user who had an engine from them in a mustang and it blew a head gasket within the first year. I do not know how much the user was pushing, i will ask. How much WHP could i possibly be making on a 91 OCT Tune to blow it? I don't think over 440ish

Cylinder 1	Cylinder 2	Cylinder 3	Cylinder 4
Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI	Tested with 75 PSI
Held 66 PSI	Held 40 PSI	Held 63 PSI	Held 68 PSI
12% Loss	46.6% Loss	16 % Loss	9.33 % Loss

Video of coolant on Cylinder 2 leak down:

coolant - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Borescope:

Even bough a Borescope and checked all cylinders, pistons and gasket seal last week. In Cylinder 2 I saw this that made me suspect a Head Gasket issue as seen in this image:

View attachment 349411


I could not tell i had an issue as I still have coolant and not smoking. Only reason i found it is because of the blow by i was collecting from the valve cover CCV catch can when doing WOT 3rd gear data logging at 28-29 psi. I then drove around and staying out of the full boost and was not collecting blowby.

So, how fun is what follows? I think it is worth pulling the head and throwing on a new head gasket and do a leak down test on that cylinder after replacing it.

I did inform Esslinger, and was just told I need to replace the head gasket to prevent further damage. They did not comment anything about % loss on other cylinders.

If i look at the bright side, i definitely learned a lot working on the car! Lots of valuable hands on experience.

I see quite a bit of vertical marks. Blow-by is combustion pressure getting past the rings and into the crankcase, the head gasket may be perfectly innocent.

You can remove the oil pan and have a look from underneath. It’s doable relatively easily, I did it twice. This is far less work and much cheaper than removing the head, literally 15-20 minutes to remove and just a few dollars in gasket maker and cleaning supplies.

The most annoying part is cleaning the RTV on the block side and the pan side, that’s a one hour with some 3M brake cleaner and some scotch brite to do a good cleaning job, then another 20 minutes to put it back.

I used Permatex Ultra Synthetic the oil pan, it requires 24h before filling up the oil. No leaks on mine.

Check the oil jets and the piston skirts.

 

[mexrs]

Indeed..sounds like you've learned a lot, in a positive way.

I had an e30 m3 that had the motor rebuilt 3x's...and it kept eating head gaskets. I owned the car for 5 years and was able to drive it for a total of 6 months. so i feel your pain brother.

So esslinger doesn't even want to look at the motor now?

Can you swap back to stock bottom block/turbo and run meth injection and enjoy the car in that setting?

Esslinger, are very far away and another country. I am pretty sure if I was in California they would be interested but being here... i definitely can't send anything back. It would simply not be worth it. They could at least say, we will send you a head gasket or whatever. But to your question, no nothing.

The shop i normally go to, said they have lots of time this coming month and we can take it apart and do it calmly with no stress. So i will order parts and prepare to learn some more on engines. This time head gasket replacement lol My wife keeps telling me to just get rid of it. Even my 9 year old but i can't haha Maybe after i put the head gasket and finish tuning the wmi.

Maybe I am simply not meant to have a high hp focus RS and some divine force keeps interrupting the build so that i do not get to that point. 🤷‍♂️

I blame excess heat allowed by the headifold having to cool the ever increasing EG temps and creating even more backpressure with restrictive twin scroll small flange turbos, BMW changed their design for the same reason (S. Papadakis talks about it in one of his videos) #TeamPorted4port!!! Do you have the 2.0 Block or 2.3 open deck? Upgraded thermostat, radiator, oil coolers?? How hot is it where you are in Mexico??? You would think that motor would have held together a lot better being from a reputable builder, they seem to do a good amount of volume watching their Facebook and the amount of engines they send out; your build shouldn't have been anything special...(typical machine work, etc). What does Stratified say about all of this???

Perhaps, got me thinking if maybe the boost tapper i was having was leak out of cylinder to coolant resorvoir... and twinport was not needed.... just a thought.

I have the 2L block (I believe it was the fusion block) bored out to 2.3... I have the mishimoto oil cooler but stock radiator and thermostat. Weather gets hot in the summer but the past 6 months about 30C high 24C low and occasional 20C max and 14C lows. I can see where you are going with this but:

1- Car never overheated
2- Mostly driving in town short distances
3- Never out abusing it
4- Always kept eye on oil gauge and coolant gauge. Neither ever got past mid point, not even to the midpoint.

I emailed stratified today, been waiting since Feb 1st since last email i sent 🙁

As for the build, I will change head gasket and repeat leak down on cyl 2 and cyl 3. When i reported the blowby issue coming from the valve cover breather to my catchcan everytime i did a WOT run and empty when not doin wot and lower boost Esslinger told me "Never seen rings seal at low boost and not at high boost without their being another cause" So, now that i did leak down test and found cyl 2 head gasket issue, maybe what they said makes sense 🤷‍♂️ one way to find out, pull head, and change head gasket.

I see quite a bit of vertical marks. Blow-by is combustion pressure getting past the rings and into the crankcase, the head gasket may be perfectly innocent.

You can remove the oil pan and have a look from underneath. It’s doable relatively easily, I did it twice. This is far less work and much cheaper than removing the head, literally 15-20 minutes to remove and just a few dollars in gasket maker and cleaning supplies.

The most annoying part is cleaning the RTV on the block side and the pan side, that’s a one hour with some 3M brake cleaner and some scotch brite to do a good cleaning job, then another 20 minutes to put it back.

I used Permatex Ultra Synthetic the oil pan, it requires 24h before filling up the oil. No leaks on mine.

Check the oil jets and the piston skirts.

The head gasket definitely has a leak or i would not have had the pressure going to the coolant reservoir as in the two videos I shared in the earlier message above. The vertical marks seen when i did the borescope inspection can also be just markings and not actual scratches in the surface. That too, i showed to Esslinger and they did not make a remark regarding it. Also the borescope had a pretty decent resolution to it and close up makes things look big/ worst that they may be.

It sure does look straight forward to do as you state but either way head has to come off to change the head gasket at this point.

 

[mexrs]

Also found this in another post on the forum shared by travisroeAU

"The official revised 17/01/18 Focus RS HG replacement procedure is mirrored here and seems not 'too bad', but i wouldn't want to do it myself personally "

Checked it out and it is a nice find even the video links in the manual are funcional! Will need to find out when i signup once i get the parts

 

[axelr]

Esslinger, are very far away and another country. I am pretty sure if I was in California they would be interested but being here... i definitely can't send anything back. It would simply not be worth it. They could at least say, we will send you a head gasket or whatever. But to your question, no nothing.

The shop i normally go to, said they have lots of time this coming month and we can take it apart and do it calmly with no stress. So i will order parts and prepare to learn some more on engines. This time head gasket replacement lol My wife keeps telling me to just get rid of it. Even my 9 year old but i can't haha Maybe after i put the head gasket and finish tuning the wmi.

Maybe I am simply not meant to have a high hp focus RS and some divine force keeps interrupting the build so that i do not get to that point. 🤷‍♂️




Perhaps, got me thinking if maybe the boost tapper i was having was leak out of cylinder to coolant resorvoir... and twinport was not needed.... just a thought.

I have the 2L block (I believe it was the fusion block) bored out to 2.3... I have the mishimoto oil cooler but stock radiator and thermostat. Weather gets hot in the summer but the past 6 months about 30C high 24C low and occasional 20C max and 14C lows. I can see where you are going with this but:

1- Car never overheated
2- Mostly driving in town short distances
3- Never out abusing it
4- Always kept eye on oil gauge and coolant gauge. Neither ever got past mid point, not even to the midpoint.

I emailed stratified today, been waiting since Feb 1st since last email i sent 🙁

As for the build, I will change head gasket and repeat leak down on cyl 2 and cyl 3. When i reported the blowby issue coming from the valve cover breather to my catchcan everytime i did a WOT run and empty when not doin wot and lower boost Esslinger told me "Never seen rings seal at low boost and not at high boost without their being another cause" So, now that i did leak down test and found cyl 2 head gasket issue, maybe what they said makes sense 🤷‍♂️ one way to find out, pull head, and change head gasket.




The head gasket definitely has a leak or i would not have had the pressure going to the coolant reservoir as in the two videos I shared in the earlier message above. The vertical marks seen when i did the borescope inspection can also be just markings and not actual scratches in the surface. That too, i showed to Esslinger and they did not make a remark regarding it. Also the borescope had a pretty decent resolution to it and close up makes things look big/ worst that they may be.

It sure does look straight forward to do as you state but either way head has to come off to change the head gasket at this point.

I missed the part about excessive pressure in the expansion tank. If the coolant smells like fuel and exhaust gases then yes the HG might be busted.

When you reassemble there is a critical area where you must put extra RTV and that’s the two places where the head meets the block and the front cover.

The original Ford instructions said to put extra RTV on the engine front at those two places, before reinstalling the front cover, but there are newer instructions that adds RTV on the gasket itself, two drops, near the border, again on the 3-way spots where the head-block-front cover meet. This is just the extra RTV in the gasket, there is a another picture for the RTV on the front.

If you remove the head you are in for a lot of work. The good thing is you’ll already have removed 4 bolts of the oil pan when removing the front cover, so it’s even easier. You could sneak the bore scope underneath the cylinders from the opening at the front, but it will be a lot easier to just remove the pan and look into each cylinder from underneath with your own eyes. On my aftermarket built engine the pistons skirts were interfering with the oil jets and broke them all.

 

[mexrs]

I did reach out to a Facebook user who had an engine from them in a mustang and it blew a head gasket within the first year. I do not know how much the user was pushing, i will ask.

I got a reply from the other person who had an esslinger engine... "Never finished tuning the car or dyno, it lifted the head while tuning"

I missed the part about excessive pressure in the expansion tank. If the coolant smells like fuel and exhaust gases then yes the HG might be busted.

When you reassemble there is a critical area where you must put extra RTV and that’s the two places where the head meets the block and the front cover.

The original Ford instructions said to put extra RTV on the engine front at those two places, before reinstalling the front cover, but there are newer instructions that adds RTV on the gasket itself, two drops, near the border, again on the 3-way spots where the head-block-front cover meet. This is just the extra RTV in the gasket, there is a another picture for the RTV on the front.

View attachment 349447

If you remove the head you are in for a lot of work. The good thing is you’ll already have removed 4 bolts of the oil pan when removing the front cover, so it’s even easier. You could sneak the bore scope underneath the cylinders from the opening at the front, but it will be a lot easier to just remove the pan and look into each cylinder from underneath with your own eyes. On my aftermarket built engine the pistons skirts were interfering with the oil jets and broke them all.

Thanks man, will come in handy for sure!

Definetly a bad headgasket or it would not move up when I added 75 psi air to cyl number 2 on the compression stroke.