Pistons 1 and 4 at different heights

[Brock]

Engine - 1998 Suzuki 1590cc 16 valve (originally from a Suzuki Esteem, now in a Geo Tracker)

When I tried to take my Tracker out the other day, it started, but made a ruckus, so I shut it off. Now it's stuck at TDC and won't turn at all.
I suspected a leaky head gasket for a while because of a small amount of white smoke on startup if it had been sitting, but I didn't think it was a major leak.

When I probed the cylinders, I found that cylinder 4 was not only full of coolant, but the piston was sitting significantly lower than its mate in cylinder 1

Obviously, I need a new head gasket; but as for the piston sitting so low... the only thing I can think of is a connecting rod, but I haven't been able to fully remove the oil pan yet to take a look (the front diff. is in the way). I didn't see any metal shavings in the oil or pan, so I'm hoping it was a hardware failure and didn't actually damage the rod or cylinder. I had a hardware failure on a rod on my older 8 valve motor (from over advanced timing), but the rod actually went through the block on that one. (I have a picture, but it's low quality and on my other computer which is not on the internet). I ended up replacing that motor with a 16 valve OBD-II motor/wiring, and now I think I broke the same part (the hardware, not the block)

Does anybody have any experience with this or something similar? Would I be able to find hardware that's a little more robust than the OE stuff?

[jtgh]

is this a
Suzuki 1.6L (tracker)?
OR
sUZUK 1.8l (no tracker has 1.8L)

since you said Esteem then the its a 1.8L b

you chain let go and it is not a free running motor.

you may have lost all.

bent valves, rods, vlave guides. pistons. and all crank bearings and crank.

if 1.8L , it makes all kinds of racket before the chain snaps.

im confused, you mention 3 cars( or motor) and not what you are driving.
and what you did to , get esteem in a Tracker. love to hear that story.

motor , harness. swap? and ECU?

[Brock]

The engine is a Suzuki 1.6L 16 valve. The vehicle is a '91 Geo Tracker.
The block and cylinder head came from a '98 Esteem. The intake manifold is from a '95 Sidekick. The Exhaust manifold is from Calmini. About half of the sensors and the oil pan/pickup were reused from my old '91 8 valve motor. I don't know what the wiring was from (ordered online and the blinker connections don't match anything I've seen... maybe an X-90?). The rest of the parts (ECU, gauges, sensors, injectors, camshaft and distributor) are off a '98 Chevy Tracker. The Chevy fuel rail didn't fit... I don't remember what I ended up using for that.

I checked the timing belt and it's still tight. There might have been some valve damage from hydro locking though. I'm pretty sure whatever actually broke, it was caused by cylinder 4 filling with coolant.

[Mickey_D]

Wow, that sounds like my old Chevy Luv. It had parts from nine different vehicles in it.

But it sure went like a raped ape...

As for yours, it sounds like it hydrolocked and bent the connecting rod into a "C" shape, but didn't actually break it. Which means pull the engine, do a head gasket and drop the #4 rod.

[jtgh]

ah, and 8v to 16v upgraded 91, (91's are all 8v)
that is really interesting post , best ever. !!!
91 tracker, with esteem sv416 block (89 ) proving mounts are same, cool. on motor.
95 16v intake. good choice.
custom harness.
98 tracker, ECU (obd2)
what MAF did you use ( guessing 95 maf) curious. thanks.

if the timings good on the tbelt , it must be hydralock.

really this is closer to a 98 engine plant and EFI then anything else.

sorry for the damage,
i wonder what was the first event.. something leaked and leaked real fast.
or it filled with coolant over night.
but usually the starter just stalls you.

one guy here did bind a rod with starter with hyrdralocked motor.
3.5hp starter motor and huge torque via ring pinion, on automatic. IIRC.

[Brock]

That's right... I forgot metal parts will bend before anything actually breaks.

The MAF was also from the '98 Chevy Tracker.
The mounts weren't in the same place originally, but it's the same block, so the threaded holes were already in the position were the mounts needed to go, so I just took off the Esteem ones and put the Tracker mounts in the right spot. The Esteem exhaust manifold blew right onto the Tracker mount (why it ended up with a Calmini exhaust).

I had it sitting for about a week before trying to take it out, so it probably slowly leaked over that time and filled the cylinder. It kinda surprises me that it didn't just leak down past the rings into the oil pan.

[jtgh]

that is a sad story.

[Brock]

Well, I does give me an excuse to take the motor out and do a rebuild on it.
Too bad I'm a poor college student, so saving up $500 or so for a rebuild might take a few months.

[jtgh]

thanks very much for that BLOCK mount pattern data.
always wanted to know that.