Valve stem seals? Did you try a leak-down test, before popping the head?

 

Yes. 240-245psi on the compression test and leak down under 6% for all cylinders. This makes me think that it's not the piston rings. And unless the seals and/or guides failed on this new head the moment I installed it, that's not it. Because it has all new parts.

At this point, unless I find a cause outside the block, like egr or vacuum issue etc. then I will have to pull the engine and send it back. They have suggested I do that so they can go over it and I just cover shipping. But that's a huge pain and time without a car I can't afford.

Still hoping for that eureka moment where I find that simple fix. Lol.

 

The thought I had (I might be full of it) is by leaving your valve adjustment from the hi-po cams on the OEM's, the valve overlap may have been enough to increase cylinder pressure and damage an oil ring or expander or both. Just a thought. Hope you get it figured out without having to ship it back. If not, we'll know from the autopsy.

 

put some liquid in the cylinders<not sure the best>and see if it holds it,maybe some very light oil WD40/kerosene ? maybe & all pistons level ect..leave over night also if needed..
&equal measurements per cylinder.
doubt a gummed up ring though ? but the carbon build up here?? maybe!
Maybe as above,if an oil ring issue<and WD40 level has dropped on that cyl 4> its acting like an oil pump,pumping oil up into the combustion chamber.

 

has anyone paged billman?

with the amount of oil you're losing, i'm suspecting it's from the bottom end build.

good luck.

 

Can you rotate the motor and see if the cylinder walls appear normal ? If there is anything wrong it will be in cylinder four.

It seems like too much of a coincidence that the motor didn't start and then after it got running it was drinking lots of oil, the two events almost seem related to me, though I can't say how.

 

Cylinders 2 and 3 had the most residue in the exhaust ports and buildup on their valves.

Pretty certain that the oil rings are the culprit, even though that's surprising considering how new they are. Going to have a local mechanic with experience on the S2000 give it a look to see if a second pair of eyes can spot a problem in the engine bay. If he can't find anything, I'm pulling the engine.

Spoke with John at InlinePro and he said they can tear it down, freshen it up and replace the rings, or anything else that needs to be. So either way I'll have it fixed by the time I get back from training this summer. (yay, grunt life!)