I have a ej22t i got from a friend. he had it in his car and took it out some while ago because of some supposed bottom end knocking. i was planning on doing a back to stock rebuild. but now he's is saying after being around more and hearing some ****, he thinks it might have actually been valvetrain noise. i was wondering if there is anyway to check things out without having to splie the case?

Wirelessly posted (Treo 600: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 95; PalmSource; Blazer 3.0) 16;160x160)

Compression/leakdown testing would tell you if you're getting anything like blow-by.

Wirelessly posted (Treo 600: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 95; PalmSource; Blazer 3.0) 16;160x160)

Compression/leakdown testing would tell you if you're getting anything like blow-by.

But those won't tell you anything about bearing damage.

Since you have it out of the car, I'd just tear it down and inspect. Everything will be appearent then.

You could also pull the oil pan and inspect the crank/bearings/journals visually to see if there is anything noticeble before you tear it down. It isn't a definative way to check. but it would help determine just how far you want to take it.

i have it torn down except, halves are still together and oil pan is on. i know you can't get to one rod journal when the block is still together, right?

Sure you can, but its ugly compared to inline or V engines. Take the pan off you can see it for yourself.

But since its almost all the way down I'd just split the block and call it a job done right.

take the oil pan off and take 1 or 2 rod caps off, if those are okay, and youre still not convinced, take the other 2 off. be sure to spin them against the tang on the crank, if you spin the crank the wrong way, the rod will drop off the crank, and it will be a B**CH to get it back on. how many miles are on this block? if its around a 80k or more, just do a rebuild, you wont be sorry. it will cost like an extra $300 or so for the bearing and rings.

~Josh~