I see a lot of people posting that they have blown their stock SR20DEs. Whats up with this? I know that dented oil pans cause the engines to fail quickly. And I know that they dont hold very much oil (in comparison to many four cylinder engines I know of). I realize that there are many factors, but I am very curious.

because they are getting cars with 150K plus miles and then bolting on more power and running the cars hard. If you change your oil often and replace the timing chain tensioners then they will last a long while. Many SR20 motors out there are over 12 years old now.

Brent

Yeah, I took advantage of it and bought a 92 G20 w/bad motor.

Also, SR20's dont like heating up AT ALL, seeing as they're all aluminum....thats a real big factor too.
~Ryan

lol mine n/a blew cause lasy owner madea large dent in the oil pan he down shifted one day spun all the bearings,,, soo everyone unless u wanna buy new motor check your oil pan make sure its not pinched

When I got my BBDET the oil pan was pushed up. I took it off and could not believe how close the pickup tube was!

Its a plan by honda owner's everywhere to keep the SE-R down...

They make a special midget hammer to bang up SE-R oil pans right near the pickup so that our motors will lock up and they hope that it will happen when on a drag strip against them and that they may win running their all time best of a 19 flat....


Then again, thats just my theory...

Chris

damn midgets with hondas...damn them all....

F*@k the Honda's

And I quote..."my body kit gives me a top speed advantage over your sentra and I can go 150 'cause I have a spoiler for downforce in the rear...don't you watch nascar?"...this from a civic owner on why his AEM CAI, Body Kit, spoiler, and tin can made his car faster than mine...

I guess that was kind of an irrelevant post for this topic...sorry...SR20's can take a lot of abuse, but when they get older and people try to extract more performance, it pushes the limits. I know I put mine through hell, I drive the snot out of it. It takes it and keeps on going. That shouldn't take away from the fact that they are still very strong and go a lot further than other engines.

Isn't there a company that makes the larger oil pan?

btw mine died from Oil starvation but i have yet to figure out how.

Oil pan ad very small dent on the front but i was missing almost 2 things of oil

I go through an oil pan about once every 14mos.... those midgets keep putting me on the top of their list. It be cool if I could relocate it to the trunk. Short of that, a skid plate ? How about an oil pan group buy ? I'll throw in for a couple of'em.

I know there is a couple of aftermarket SR20 oil pans made, but they are for the S13, S14.

I was thinking about designing some skid plate out of diamond plate, making some door you could open to change the oil. It would take place of the stupid splash shields down there. No R&D has gone into this yet, but I'm not sure how many people would be interested in it.
~Ryan

I was thinkin a bit more, and what about just a hole in it to get the oil plug out? I think a door would weaken the entire structure.
~Ryan

You can design it so that it covers the first 3/4 of the oil pan. That would be enough to get the drain plug out and still protect the pan.

Hmm....maybe once I get my clutch done I will spend some time playing with some thick aluminum or stainless steel. Thats a good idea whitehwak, then you could look and see if the skid plate has come into contact with the lower oil pan or not.
~Ryan

I see a lot of people posting that they have blown their stock SR20DEs. Whats up with this?
From what I've seen in the SoCal area, it's mostly low oil pressure (dented oil pans, low oil levels, etc.), overheating and detonating.
For the first two a good aftermarket oil pressure and temperature gauges. Also religiously checking of the oil level and regular inspection of the lower oil pan along with proper cooling system maintenance will go a long way toward engine longevity.

As for detonating,
1) Make sure you're using the proper octane rating for the mods you're running.

2) Make SURE that your timing is set correctly. I've noticed on more than one occasion people having their ignition advanced too far, because of either bent timing pointers or not following the FSM instructions on ignition timing adjustment.