Guys,

Just returned from Shawn Church after having my motor rebuilt. The car is an 06 AP2 and was rebuilt by Laskey with a portflow head. I have the high boost Kraftwerks supercharger and a PWR radiator with the built in oil cooler. Everything was going great until the car started dropping out of VTEC at about 7000 rpm when the oil got hot. When it was cooler she would run right up to 8K and made 424 to the wheels. We hit that number 3 times then it started falling out of VTEC. When I brought it in I had some pretty cheap oil for the break in procedure but it turned out to be way too thin even at 10W/30. The thought was that after the oil heated up it lost enough viscosity to drop the pins. After changing to a better quality 10W/40 we thought the problem was nailed. After the first 3 runs Shawn Church was not convinced so ran it again. It did fine but on the next run it fell off at 7K. We all suspect an oil pressure problem but I'm not sure where to start. I ran an AEM wide band oil pressure gauge to the remote filter and was reading 90+ psi (100+ when the oil was cooler). I plan to move it to the sandwich at the original filter location to see if I am getting lower pressure at the block. If so, would relocating the remote filter closer to the original location give me better pressure since the hoses would be shorter? Also, has anyone had a problem with the PWR radiator/oil cooler system losing oil pressure. On a side note, the guys at Church are first class. They went way overboard helping me and stayed way past i would have ever expected them to. No matter what comes up, they just jump in and handle it. Great experience. I was there until 9pm and Shawn would only let me take the car when he was sure it was safe. We talked about some possible causes of the drop in VTEC but I need to find out what is going on, fix it then take it back to him to confirm. Before anyone asks about the cat, I have a Berk test pipe on the car so that's not the issue. We tested the solenoid and confirmed all pins were correctly positioned. Also, the filter at the solenoid is clean.

Thanks,

Steve

 

Did you get the motor rebuilt at church automotive too?



as far as the tuning is concerned, i think for the safety of your brand new motor that you get it tuned somewhere else. dropping outta vtec at 7k rpm is a tuning fail.

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...ic=753914&st=0

https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=762944

 

Was a new oil OEM pump put on when the engine was built? I've heard of people reusung the original oil pump after a build and them failing. Maybe this is your case?

 

Really? This might be my problem too! I posted a week ago in the uth forum and I have kind of a similar problem. The engine is built...goes fine until I get into VTEC then no power. TCT making noise but I changed it out and it still makes noise like I have no oil pressure....Hmmm

O and VTEC is fine for me also until I hit about 176 degrees...after a few pulls.

 

I just relocated the oil pressure pickup to the same location as the factory one. I just put a T on it. The reading on the block at startup is 50psi which is about 45psi lower than when I had it on the remote filter. I think the problem is too long a run from the out port on the block to the return. I'm going to relocate the remote filter and make a shorter line thru the PWR radiator oil cooler. If that doesn't help then I will bypass the radiator all together to see if that is it. If that still doesn't correct the problem, them it must be in the pump. Laskey built the short block and checked the pump before reinstalling so I'm sure it's fine. The car only has 14K on it but who knows.

 

i'll bet its the oil cooler. Try taking the oil cooler out of the loop and see what happens. I'll bet you no longer have any issues with VTEC once the oil heats up.

 

[QUOTE=DeadZero,Apr 11 2010, 10:56 AM] Did you get the motor rebuilt at church automotive too?



as far as the tuning is concerned, i think for the safety of your brand new motor that you get it tuned somewhere else.

 

^^ ahh your right,

I did read it, but i must have missed it somehow. you know how it is when you see a huge paragraph all bunched together.


What we did with my new motor, we didn't tune it to redline until the first 1000k miles. tuned to about 5k rpms then just babied it until it was broken in.



AND BESIDES!! is this is an issue that is happening after the oil starts to get warm/car warming up. The car should be warmed up before getting on it in the first place. Call up laskey and tell him about the problem. if he says he built everything fine and doesn't know the issue...then church should know whats wrong... He DOES have his own shop after all with many "Skilled" mechanics.

 

Need 2 AN fittings to finish the relocation so couldn't get it done today. Hopefully this corrects the problem. In response to SPD, we did fill with 7 quarts to accommodate the cooler so low oil wasn't the problem (checked after oil was warm to confirm). Also, there is no thermostat on the cooler, maybe something for later.

For Deadzero, I followed Laskey's instructions on break in and tuning. Here's what he said. Put the cheapest 10W/30 I could find in for initial start up, check for leaks and fix as necessary. Drain, change filter and put the same type oil back in. Put the car on a trailer and take it to Church for tuning.

Again, all involved have gone way overboard to help me through this. Shawn and his team spent way more time than I could have ever expected and did a fantastic job, these guys are the best! Laskey has been available to me whenever I need anything and calls me back even after hours. Oscar Jackson Sr (and Jr.) have both been a tremendous resource and have helped me make good decisions throughout the process. I couldn't ask for more or say enough about all these people and their companies. Why people want to talk trash I don't get. They have all stood by me even when I make stupid mistakes and guide me back. This is customer service at the highest levels. I'll get through this little issue I'm having. It's not anyones fault but my own I'm sure. Oscar built a system with the Laminova in mind and I added the PWR thinking it would just drop in. Apparently not. I did it, now I get to fix it, that's the way things work in my opinion.

Just my 2 cents.

 

one guy on this board had an issue similar to yours, turns out, the shop that put his motor together didn't install all of his vtec pins in the rocker arms causing the motor to fall out of vtec.

on a side note, i'm kinda fed up w/ all this church bashing, doesn't it get old to u guys or what!?!?! ur like a pack of hyenas waiting to pounce on any poster who says he went to Church automotive. i usually just keep my mouth shut, but this is just ridiculous!!!!! (i personally know of 2 s2k's that drive FANTASTIC after being tuned by Church, the cars had an oem feel but w/ loads more power!!)

i'm w/ spdracerut, don't post if u don't have anything useful to contribute.