Well I have been debating about putting oil jet bolts in for about a year now. I have had the car for about 2 years and I installed a blower a few months after owning the car. I had planned on installing the bolts about a year ago. I bought the bolts about a year ago but I never installed them. The reason being is I thought it was more likely that I would either strip a bolt, not get them torqued correct, or damage the engine in some other way than to actually damage the engine without installing them. The only issue I had was the engine overheating one track day so I stopped that day. to solve the problem I bought a larger radiator and I assume that fixed the problem and I wouldn't have that issue again. Aside from that I haven't had any issues and the engine runs and sounds great (well not sound great, it sounds like a high compression I4 with 1000cc injectors in it).

I am just worried about eventually running into problems. I don't drive long distances much and if I do I am at low RPMs. I tack and AutoX on occasion but I don't stay at the same RPM in those cases. I change the oil all the time and if any burns I try to add more right away (I had been using mobil one but now am going to switch to something that doesn't burn as much). I see my options as this.

Leave the stock oil bolts in (which could possible result in engine failure)
install the oil bolts I already have (but risk possibly damaging the engine in the process)
having a shop install the bolts (but the cost of this might be more than the cost of the risk)

Anyones thoughts? I have experience working on the car as I do all the work myself. I am just not very comfortable digging into the engine where any errors on my part could result in disaster.

 

I have seen quite a few cases of number 4 cylinder failure, within two weeks of going FI.

They are a must for FI application.

 

maybe find a member that has done the work and can guide you through the process, is what I would do. I have an n/a 00 and have thought about changing the bolts as well.

 

If you start the bolts with nothing but the 1/4" drive extension, and use nothing but your fingers till its all the way in, you cant mess up.

 

I have 148k miles(10 miles on the turbo) with the factory 00 oil banjo bolts and no issues. I check my oil every gas fillup and never have gone over 120 with the turbo installed. From what i remember, engines were failing after driving for over 30 minutes at high speeds. Also did a track day with similar results to you, engine overheated a bit(4 bars but when back to 3 after the car was parked for 1-2 minutes), bought a Larger Rad, fixed the problem.

 

I scored cylinder #3 after doing a high speed run with a stock CT setup with the older oil jet bolts; it would be worth it to me to change the bolts if i ever got an older f20 motor in the future.

 

My last customer did ONE high speed run with his new SC and scored the cylinder. Car had 60k miles before the SC. All depends on HOW YOU DRIVE. If you push it, you are going to hurt it. Oil jets are responsible for piston temps.

No s2k should ever see 4 bars. your piston temps are likely going up. Yes a bigger rad may fix it, but it is covering it up.

 

And there you have it.

 

alright. I will try the install once it warms up a bit. I don't know how many bars I had cuz I had AEM at the time and It was before I got the temp gauge fix. (I only knew because the fluid had expanded so much that some started coming out of the tank. Probably not a good sign but I think the tank might have been a little 2 full. still not good, was fine until it started to get hot out in the afternoon) I hope I didn't damage the car. Although It ran excellent when I put it away for the winter and that was probably after having 2 or 3 months of driving after the overheating problem. I am normally good on the car though and I try not to abuse it. I am rarely at WOT and always careful shifting.

I am sure there are lots of people without the bolts who haven't had damage (like me) and that never will. But I know billman knows his stuff so I will try to get them in. Hopefully it won't be to hard. I have read over the install several times over the past year. I fears are stripping out the bolt. Torque it to less or to much. And not being able to get the case to seal correctly.

 

Regarding the 4 bars, it was set at 205-215 since I have modifry's temp fix since I'm running an aem ems(Forgot to add that). So in stock terms, I was still in the 3 bar range.

I agree if you are going to do alot of high speed runs, I would upgrade the bolts. Depends on how you are going to drive it.