Built rb26 burning oil.

[MoMnDadGTR]

Well im glad i brought the head to the machine shop as the seals were not the issue, ended up being a poorly sealed valve guide in between the head and the guide, could see it with air and soapy water was leaking like crazy.  we heated up the head and took the guides out on that cylinder and sure enough the one that was leaking had a slight scoring on one side that left a verticle line. we smoothed it up and shoved the guide back in with some special adhesive/sealant stuff and it seems good now. will see how it reacts in the car. I gave my block a good go with a green scuffy pad to try and get the surface shinnyish and knock off any material the tomei gasket left behind. does anyone have any better ideas how to get a good finish on the block again? it was decked prior to and is dead square and flat. heres a picture of what i got it like so far

Edited March 25, 2022 by MoMnDadGTR

[MoMnDadGTR]

[joshuaho96]

Be super careful with green scotchbrite like that, GM explicitly says to never use that anywhere near an engine because they've had a ton of engine failures from the scotchbrite ending up in the engine internals.

[Duncan]

On 25/03/2022 at 11:24 PM, MoMnDadGTR said:

Well im glad i brought the head to the machine shop as the seals were not the issue, ended up being a poorly sealed valve guide in between the head and the guide, could see it with air and soapy water was leaking like crazy.  we heated up the head and took the guides out on that cylinder and sure enough the one that was leaking had a slight scoring on one side that left a verticle line. we smoothed it up and shoved the guide back in with some special adhesive/sealant stuff and it seems good now. will see how it reacts in the car. 

Thanks for posting up the outcome, never seen that before but it all adds to the knowledge base on here.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 25/03/2022 at 4:14 PM, Duncan said:

Thanks for posting up the outcome, never seen that before but it all adds to the knowledge base on here.

No problem. We have it 95 percent sealed still see some solvent sneaking through on test. This may be a long shot but the shop has suggested/went ahead and put a rubber o ring ontop the guide and press the valve seal down ontop of it as cheap insurance. Cheap is definitely the word.....I’m not super confident about this and am considering just regrouping and not bolting this head down. I’m frustrated as hell.  No one has ever seen this before the shop said it’s the first time they havent  been able to seal a guide to aluminum head blah blah excuses are about as cheap as the work they did on my head. They did not try new guides, I was wondering why they shoved the old one back in. I don’t know enough about it but sounds like it’s turning into a scab crap show on my fully built lemon head. Not the way I want to make 800hp. I put so many hours making sure this car was perfect. My brain hurts.

[joshuaho96]

I don't understand, why not replace the valve guide? Am I missing something here? Talk of sealants and o-rings sound like solutions you might try in an emergency.

[BK]

The head is off and disassembled- don't stuff around, use a new valve guide as suggested.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 25/03/2022 at 7:45 PM, BK said:

The head is off and disassembled- don't stuff around, use a new valve guide as suggested.

Yeah absolutely I fully agree new guide.  That’s why I was confused when they reinstalled it. The shop is 300km away and they have troubles calling back. They went ahead and did all this weird crap that’s why I posted their trail fix ideas with o ring garbage etc. I’m just going to get the head back Monday and start from scratch with a different set of guides. The guides were brand new super tech ones as well as the rest of every part in that head. I’m surprised there was a faulty guide....it’s hard when your not doing the work and just being told what there doing......

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 25/03/2022 at 6:16 PM, joshuaho96 said:

I don't understand, why not replace the valve guide? Am I missing something here? Talk of sealants and o-rings sound like solutions you might try in an emergency.

Absolute trail fixes forsure. Red flags were everywhere when they told me how they were trying to fix it. And yeah new guides forsure now this has just been nightmare for no reason the head could have been tested prior to mating it to the block. They rushed it now I’m paying the price for it.  It’s not just about getting the head right Now, its costing me new gasket, studs, fluids, new wb1 sensor that got trashed with oil. All my parts are covered in oil on exhaust side. Time and labour to get it all back together.  Cause they couldn’t simply text there work. Oh well this is a classic for a machine shop that in Canada. This is why I wanted to send my block and head to Australia a year ago now look where I am. Tried to trust a shop with a very basic restore. Big waste of time and money turning into a not so fun process with weird o rings in my head to seal the valve guides(way the actual f**k) Would have been way cheaper and way more reliable if I would of just paid the shipping to a reliable rb shop. Oh well I’ll be back just want to try to get some money from this shop now. I’ve learnt a lot through all this I won’t let this shit ever happen again. Trust should go no further than testing everything you possibly can before starting a new engine. Oh yeah when they gave me my motor back from machine work the first time my camshafts were in backwards....I’m to nice and have been to kind to these guys now I’m in a pickle n a half.

[Shoota_77]

On 26/03/2022 at 11:51 AM, MoMnDadGTR said:

Yeah absolutely I fully agree new guide.  That’s why I was confused when they reinstalled it. The shop is 300km away and they have troubles calling back. They went ahead and did all this weird crap that’s why I posted their trail fix ideas with o ring garbage etc. I’m just going to get the head back Monday and start from scratch with a different set of guides. The guides were brand new super tech ones as well as the rest of every part in that head. I’m surprised there was a faulty guide....it’s hard when your not doing the work and just being told what there doing......

I'm astounded that they would want to re-use the same guide!!!!!  And it still leaks and yet seemingly they're ok with that??  Yeah not cool.  It's their responsibility to source and fit a brand new guide entirely at their expense.  The least they can do in addition that that is to pay for the gaskets required to fix the issue.  You've done them a favour by doing all the work yourself so they need to help out with the parts required to reassemble it all.

 

[BK]

Doubt there was a faulty valve guide from Supertech. It would've be damaged on install.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 25/03/2022 at 8:03 PM, Shoota_77 said:

I'm astounded that they would want to re-use the same guide!!!!!  And it still leaks and yet seemingly they're ok with that??  Yeah not cool.  It's their responsibility to source and fit a brand new guide entirely at their expense.  The least they can do in addition that that is to pay for the gaskets required to fix the issue.  You've done them a favour by doing all the work yourself so they need to help out with the parts required to reassemble it all.

 

Yeah I didn’t know enough about guide installation but after some review and study, and with knowledgeable reply’s from the boys it’s very clear how incorrect it is to assume a leaking guide could reseal. I don’t need to break there necks but I will be firm on Monday and make sure new guides are installed. Thank you for reply mate. Cheers

[GTSBoy]

On 3/26/2022 at 8:51 AM, MoMnDadGTR said:

there was a faulty guide

No there wasn't. Not hen it came out of the packaging, anyway. They scored it and didn't notice.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 25/03/2022 at 2:22 PM, joshuaho96 said:

Be super careful with green scotchbrite like that, GM explicitly says to never use that anywhere near an engine because they've had a ton of engine failures from the scotchbrite ending up in the engine internals.

Ok mate thanks for the info, what would be a better pad I cold use in future? Is it the colour of pad or the scuffy itself?

[GTSBoy]

Little bits of sharp/abrasive plastic just slough off them. They should only be used when you're going to scrub down with solvent/water afterwards.

[joshuaho96]

On 3/25/2022 at 6:22 PM, MoMnDadGTR said:

Ok mate thanks for the info, what would be a better pad I cold use in future? Is it the colour of pad or the scuffy itself?

It's not really the color, just the fact that you're using an abrasive pad at all. The bits coming off it of tend to get into engine passages and damage things when it circulates through the oil/coolant/etc. I learned all about this fun stuff when I was debating what to do to remove the old paper gaskets on my oil cooler/oil filter housing. With a cast iron block you can probably use a razor blade, just go perpendicular and don't push the edge into the block. Super time consuming and annoying but that was the guidance I got from a local machine shop as well. They have had issues with people using roloc brushes/scotchbrite/etc. With an aluminum head I honestly have no clue how you're supposed to do it. I would probably get it blasted with dry ice or something similar that is guaranteed to not get debris in any passages. When I removed old gasket from the intake ports I used some paint stripper with butyl rubber gloves and a plastic razor blade. It sucked, took forever, I'm probably going to get some terrible disease in the future, but at least I didn't mar the cylinder head at all.

[Duncan]

Assuming it is an MLS and has only been on there a short time, just put it straight back on. The gasket will take up any imperfection. I've done this more times than I would like with no problem

[MoMnDadGTR]

Thanks mate im going to drop my oil 58 times before driving it out my garage. then im going to go park this POS in my storage bin and never look at it again. ive developed a hate for this car throughout this process and honestly couldn't care less about it anymore if i was rich i would burn it for sure. the only thing keeping that garbage head from gettting slammed on that garbage block then getting skidded till my regas have no lip left on them is the value of the car. i have no time for this car anymore and will be taking the first crap offer i get for it.  i could spend 100 grand on machine work and id still have a garbage motor at the end of the day cause no one knows what the hell there doing with rb's in this area. im so fed up with doing everything absolutely perfect to the point where i set up an entire fab shop in my garage so i could build this car, to only have it wrecked every single time a shop does something to this car. i have more fun driving my  rav4 v6 through the bush setting up hunting spots then spending days on days researching and spending every dollar i have on this car only to go fast a couple times then pull it apart cause a professional machine shop that has been in business for 30 plus years cant put a f**king guide in properly and continue to try and use crap guide. hard to make sense of stupid. that being said i thank you all for your help but im over this shit. cheers.

[MoMnDadGTR]

On 26/03/2022 at 4:05 AM, Duncan said:

Assuming it is an MLS and has only been on there a short time, just put it straight back on. The gasket will take up any imperfection. I've done this more times than I would like with no problem

i agree duncan but the head gasket was leaking out the back corner on the intake manifold side because those 10mm bolts were not installed on the corners of the head to block and the leaking coolant wrecked the gasket. another thing that was missed when they built my motor. i recieved it pretty much turn key but should have looked for this.....nightmare mate. 

Edited March 26, 2022 by MoMnDadGTR

[admS15]

Mate, it's pretty shit what's happened and what you're going through right now but I wouldn't rage quit just yet. It's just one of those unfair shit things that happens in life. Get those useless pricks to put a new guide in, test it for leaks and then slap it back together and hopefully enjoy for a long time trouble free.

 

If it carries on breaking things after that, then reconsider rage quitting then. I'll happily make you a shit offer and take it off your hands or help you burn it.

 

Cheers