BTW, I havn't ripped into one yet to see what I find. When I do, I may find the cause. I'm just trying to get a "heads up" so to speak.
SOHC failure. What's the cause?
Ok, EVERY SX with the SOHC KA in it that I've come accross has a rod knock or a rod sticking out the side of the block. Has anyone here taken the time to rip them apart to see why this is happening?
I'm going in the morning to pickup a 90 hatch with, you guessed it, a rod knock. The engine that's still in my coupe (For the meanwhile it's still there) has a rod knock. This hatch is cheap so I'm getting it and my friend wants the car if I don't so, it's worth picking up. I will rip both engines apart and salvage what I can to get the hatch back on the road as a daily for the meanwhile. I do realize that the SOHC KA is not the mose desireble choice of engine but it will be a temp fix. I hope to get a year out of it if I can get it together without a huge investment. Otherwise the SOHC will be scrap metal for sure and a different powerplant will go in.
I'm going in the morning to pickup a 90 hatch with, you guessed it, a rod knock. The engine that's still in my coupe (For the meanwhile it's still there) has a rod knock. This hatch is cheap so I'm getting it and my friend wants the car if I don't so, it's worth picking up. I will rip both engines apart and salvage what I can to get the hatch back on the road as a daily for the meanwhile. I do realize that the SOHC KA is not the mose desireble choice of engine but it will be a temp fix. I hope to get a year out of it if I can get it together without a huge investment. Otherwise the SOHC will be scrap metal for sure and a different powerplant will go in.
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i would plan on buying a new crank and all bottom end bearings. usualy rod knock isnt easily fixed with out a rebuild.
Hmm I have an SOHC with 130 on the clock that I beat the fuck out of with no ill effects
yeah mine runs great also, 130k + miles
my SOHC had 142K with 50% blow by in #1 cylinder. i rebuilt it in 24 work hours. i also ported the head. i have 1,025 miles on the total rebuild and damn its pulling all the way to redline strong. i felt a BIG differance in TQ also. the rebuild only cost me $350, did it my self.
my sohc has about 116k and she's fine. you just have bad luck with e's.
mine developed rod knock at 155k and was gone by 157k. i just pulled it out so i havent torn it down yet. i think the final demise was a head gasket failure since there was water in the oil and oil in the water but odd enough i pulled 120 120 120 119 comp. that sounds low but when your 5k feet in the air its decent.
No, he's right.unwed_transient said:you just have bad luck with e's.
Mine had rod knock at 143K miles. It barely ran too.
Did the performance of your engine DRASTICALLY degrade when rod knock occurred?
mine ran just fine till the head gasket or whatever it was went out. i never drive over 3k though and am too busy watching the road when im drifting to pay attention but i thought it always had enough power. didnt notice a performance difference is what im saying. anyway ca18 now so no more issues
I think the issue with a lot of E's is people forget how old they are and just neglect to take care of their engines. Keep up with your oil changes, change the fuel filter every now and then and do other basic maintenance while not continuously beating the shit out of your car and all should be good. I by all means drive my car hard at times, but I keep up with maintenance on it very well and she keeps on smiling at me. It was recently compression tested at ~180psi for all 4 cylinders. 
I haven't driven a car with the E motor. I bought a few with dead motors, I see tons of them in the yards with blow bottom ends including stanzas and a friend of mine in another state has bought at least 5 with blow motors in the past 2 years.
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