mattuk180586

I have a 95 Gsr with 164,000 mi and a few bolt ons right now. It has the original B18C1 engine in it. Recently I've been burning a lot of oil. I've done some research on the site and I believe it is my piston rings going bad. It only smokes when I get into the higher rpms. I'm going to have a compression check or leakdown test done next week to see if that is the case. What I am wondering is the amount of money I should be looking to spend to fix the problem? Should I buy new pistons or just replace the rings? Will I have to have it honed? I have never done any major work on an engine before, just a few little things. I'm trying to save as much money as possible too. Sorry for all the questions, just wanting someone opinion who has been through this before.

jdm_bones

iTrader: (5)

Do a compression test before you dump money down the drain, make sure that you remove your intake arm when doing the compression test...check to see if you can hear air escaping into your intake manifold...If that is the case...It may not be your piston rings, but your valves...

the_big_dl86

+1 to jdm bones. If you do replace rings, It shouldn cost more then the price of the rings if you do it yourself. Not a fun job, But i believe you can do it by just pulling the oil pan and head. Someone correct me if im wrong. Also make sure you use a ring compressor and be CAREFUL! Rings break easy and your suckin if you break them and have to get new ones. I have broke a couple and reused the old rings for the ones i broke and havent had any problems but thats cause i was impatient and didnt want to wait for more. I wouldnt recomend this so try not to break them! Also your pistons will be fine. Check for any obvious detonation though. And a hone is not a must but probably a good idea. But then you will have to pull the block unless you are confident enough to DIY. Its not difficult, but if your new to engine building you may want to leave it to a pro.

ivan93egreppin210

yea bad valve stems can also cause you to burn oil. dont think only bad rings can burn oil. is your car smoking when you smash on the gas?

racebum

when you pull the motor.

get a decent hone for the new rings
put the bearings back in exactly as they came out. mark each one & do not get them messed up
buy new valve stem seals and check the guides for slop.

check the head and block for trueness to make sure you won't have HG sealing problems. the b18c is famous for going out of true & the liners shifting.

Master23

If your rebuilding your engine and need some specs then check out this page:

http://www.garage411.com/BottomEndSpecsB18c

MeathooK

You're going to need a slew of parts. Since you're going to be down into the bottom end, you might as well replace the crank bearings and rod bearings. Get new rod bolts. Head gasket. Since the head will be off the car, replace the valve stem seals, and as one of the others posted...check the guides for "looseness"..they valves should slide up and down in the guides firmly, with no play left or right. If there's some slop, replace them...you have to have a hot plate to do this however. Replace the cam seals...2 actually on the ends of the cams, and one is a plug on the passenger side. Replace the oil pan gasket, in addition, you'll have to replace the gasket on the oil feed tube. It's also a bitch to do all of this unless you have a lift...so if you do it in your garage, you may be needing a hoist to just take the engine out. So if you do this, replace the oil seal on the oil pump end, as well as the flywheel end. Since you'll have to take the tranny off, replace the throwout bearing and flywheel (pilot) bearing, check to see if you need a new clutch/friction disc as well as resurfacing the flywheel. Since the motor will be out, as well as the timing side disassembled...you may slap on a new belt, tensioner, tensioner spring, and water pump. In addition, since you'll be in the head...check the LMAs to make sure there is no play in any of them...if you have the money, just replace them with the new spring type LMA.

Sounds like a big job...but do it correctly the first time so you don't have to reopen the thing. I took my motor to a shady mechanic whenever I was having oil burning issues (my rings were dead also), and had to end up replacing the crankshaft later on, and now I have to go back in and replace the LMAs...Pick up a Helms manual (helminc.com) and do it by the book.

In regards to the above post....those specs are for a JDM Type R motor (B18C), not the USDM B18C1 model of the motor, the clearances are different if I remember correctly. The Helms manual for your car will have the correct specs.

http://forums.evans-tuning.com/viewtopic.php?t=326 ...the most informative article regarding a bottom end build I have ever found for our motor, and it helped me greatly when I had to replace my crank. Good luck sir.

mattuk180586

Thanks for the tips guys. To answer Ivan93's question, it smokes when vtec kicks in if I get on it. I'm going to replace the PCV valve before I have the compression test done to see if this could be the problem. Someone said it could be on another site. If not, I guess I got a big project ahead of me.

MeathooK

Ew. Good luck monkeying your hands down there. lol

ivan93egreppin210

now thats a good link to share. very indepth. every body in this foroum should be required to read this.

racebum

if the smoke is black the car might just be a little rich. high flow cats or test pipes really let you see it. unless you're burning more than 1qt every 500 miles i wouldn't even worry about a basic rebuild just yet.

b18-crx

i heard that you can do a piston ring job from the bottom without taking the head off

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

To do that you would have to drop the transmission, and then drop the crankshaft.

IMHO it would be 1000x easier to do that with the engine OUT of the car.

Take it from me - trying to take shortcuts to get things done usually ends up taking MORE time than it would have if you had done it the proper way in teh first place.

racebum

x2

pulling the whole engine - tranny combo is easier AND you get to put it on an engine stand not to mention how much easier it will be to keep clean & not have crap dropping in your face.

the_big_dl86

As i said, pull the pan and head, pop the rod caps, slide the pistons up and replace your rings. Much easier then pulling your entire engine and you wont "have crap dropping in your face". And meathook, seriously... why dont you just tell him to buy a whole new engine? I bet you have one for sale on the cheap to huh?

MeathooK

Excuse me?? I was just saying...why not do it correctly? If you replace only the piston rings...what happens in 500 miles when there's a possible leak because you didn't replace cam seals, you have to tear it apart again. Or if you get it all back together, and one of your LMAs starts to stick? Since it's easier to just pull the engine to rebuild the bottom end, why not replace everything that SHOULD be replaced?

Not to mention I have NO idea how you're going to compress the rings to get the piston up into the cylinder from the crank side.

ivan93egreppin210

couldnt agree with you more. when i did my shortblock swap i thought it would just be fluids and a new head gasket. boy was i wrong. i couldnt put it back together knowing i was running my motor hard with old parts. parts i changed were oil pump, water pump, both crank/cam seals. timing belt/tensioner ,new plugs,wires, filters for oil and fuel. pcv valve,thermostat, cleaned oil pan so that i removed any particles that i didnt want going back into my motor screwing with my gaskets. complete gasket kit. every single gasket in the motor was changed out. not one is old. now it stays the cleanest motor i ever had.

this is also a good time to inspect/resurface flywheel. change pilot bearing. the list went on and on for me. it got expensive. i tell you what. i trust this motor unconditionaly. its money WELL worth for that kind of piece of mind. while the motors out grab a few cans of brake cleaner and climb in the bay. that brake cleaner will remove a bunk of engine bay grime you could never clean. you will be very happy you did.

meethooks point is if your going to do the job, might as well do it right. why think of modding a motor that has on average over 100,000 miles on its gaskets and pumps. it wont last. these parts move the coolants and lubricants of our cars and gaskets keep them in. it gives you the piece of mind that you wont be spending money in the future "fixing" it. instead you will using that time and money to "build" it.

mattuk180586

Thanks for all the input and advice. I'm going to change out my PCV valve before I get the compression test done. That will be taken care of sometime this week, but untill I figure this all out, I'm just gonna keep feeding it oil.

PatrickGSR94

iTrader: (1)

I pretty much did all that last year over Memorial Day weekend, and also replaced my clutch and a couple of broken engine mounts. Having the engine on a stand that I could rotate upside down made the oil pump, front/rear main seals, and oil pan gasket work 1000x easier.

I just wish I had replaced all my coolant hoses at that time. I pulled only my IM over Thanksgiving and replaced all the coolant hoses them, and it took me LONGER to get that done than the other work when I had the engine removed.

ivan93egreppin210

yea you cant beat putting a motor on a stand. i went out and got a new motor stand from harbor freight. it was under 60$ new. that and the engine hoist now make doing a job like this very easy. its easy to pull a motor after you done it once or twice. i dont see it as major mechanic work anymore. the acura helms download i got off hhu really helped as well.