Trey

Okay, I had spun a rod bearing last August. I had the motor rebuilt with all OEM ITR parts. It never burned oil prior to the rebuild. I get the motor back break it in with an easy 1000 miles before I hit Vtec. It smoked like a James Bond car.

I brought the car back to have the Hondatech check it out. The next day I called to see if he did a compression check or leakdown and he already had the head off and the pistons out. He replaced the rings (all OEM) and put it all back together. I again drove it for an easy 1000 miles before I hit Vtec. It smoked again.

I then figured it was the valve guide seals since it only smoked when I blipped the throttle. I get an ITR head from Dan Phan and installed it a week ago. It was all better, only smoked a lil when I was up in the RPMs not a fraction as bad as it was before. I was happy.

I took the car to the dyno yesterday and made about 10 runs. Best was a 181/124. On the way home I was driving it pretty hard and then it started smoking, AGAIN. Worse now then before. It smokes when I blip the throttle, but not cruising around.

I have also replaced the PCV valve after reading a post on H-T.

I'm now stumped!!

The compression check is 210-220 across and holds.

Any ideas what this can be? I'm tired of losing a quart a week!!!!!

non-VTEC

cylinders may be worn? time for a bore and hone + oversized pistons.

figment

there's a low-tech way to check the bottom-end of a motor and I can't remember it now.

anybody?

Can you monitor the oil pressure when driving to see if it's a pressure problem? Also, is the line from the PCV valve oil filled?

Trey

The block was honed and cross hatched when it was rebuilt back in Sept.

As for oil in the line, I had it off this past weekend and it looked fine.

What about the black box on the back of the block? Should I replace that?

I'm at a loss.......

Reid

Try draining a quart of oil from your engine and putting in a quart of "Rislone". It is readily available at places like Autozone. Keep the Rislone in for a week or until the smoke goes away. This will help seat the rings.

berkel

Hmmmm,

My car loses a bunch of oil as well. I wish I had gone overbore pistons

My compression was ~220 across, but leakdown was a bit high (6-8% I think, what should it be again?).

I was losing crazy oil, like 1 quart every hundred miles! It was leaking a lot, and after replacing the oil pan gasket (moroso oil pan), the gasket around the breather, and various other things, we finally realized there was a crack in the actual breather thingy. That was replaced, and the car finally doesn' leak! This was over months of replacing oil. Oil stocks have since dropped... I had to check the oil EVERY MORNING before driving it...

Now, it doesn't smell like oil and the car is dry underneath! Are you leaving oil when it's parked, can you smell oil? Anyway, my car still sucks *** since it is still burning lots of oil, but not quite as much as before. Theory is that it's because the car was broken in with synthetic oil! Not my call Anyway, at least I don't have to check the oil every day...

So anyway, def check that breather thingy, the gasket and or the breather itself.

I wonder if this Rislone stuff would help me?

Oh, my car smokes bluish (oil) when it's cold in the morning, but after it's warm it doesn't. After driving, I get out while still running and it's not smoking. Why does it only smoke when cold, like after sitting for awhile? Any ideas on whether it's losing oil from the bottom-end (rings) or the head? When I floor it, I get blackish smoke...

I'm back to non-synthetic to see if that helps it seal up (~4K miles though ), and also since I really can't afford to keep pouring synthetic oil THROUGH this POS car anymore.

Any other fix it products like Rislone? How does it work?

EDIT: I looked up Rislone in Google and I'll try it. What do I have to lose?

Thanks,

FB

Racebrewer

Find the guy who told you to break it in with synthetic oil and scream at him.

The idea of a break-in period is to allow all the parts of the motor to fit thenselves against each other for the best fit (as the moving parts rub and go through heat cycles). In other words, the high spots wear down for a more consistant fit. The better the oil, the longer it takes to break-in. I also believe that a point can be reached where the mtor won't break-in at all.

I have never rebuilt a Honda motor, but I've rebuilt hundreds of 2-stroke racing engines in the last 20 years. I always recommend using a petroleum based oil while running a fresh motor on the stand and at slow speeds on the track. A minimum of two sessions on the track raising the rpm and temperatures each time helps the piston and rings settle in. Now this is with narrow rail rings that are .025" thick running 10,000 to 15,000 rpm. Two strokes running thicker Dykes rings take even longer to seal.

Personally, in a Honda, I wouldn't change over to a synthetic oil until I had at least eight to ten thousand miles on it.

This raises an interesting question though. I have been told that Acura's and Honda's come from the factory with a special break-in oil. Do the dealers have access to that oil for their rebuilds?

Good luck,
John

Trey

I have 3000+ miles on this motor since the rebuild and I've only used regular oil. First Penzoil and now Castrol GTX. 10w30.

I've never heard of this Rizolne (sp). I'll look into that......

Its_real&its_spectacular

Honda break-in oil has a moly-slip additive in it. Dealers do not commonly have it kicking around. You should be able to get it locally though.

Hukd Up

your car is chronic!!!!

sorry couldn't resist!

nsxtcjr

Same reason anyone smokes - because your car wants its clothes and hair to smell and wants to get cancer so it can suffer a prolonged, agonizing death 10-15 years before all its friends die.

berkel

Other thoughts for the weekday crowd?

TIA,

FB

B18C-EJ1

Trey - First your mechanic should have done a leak down test to find out where the problem is occuring.

Second - Even a good hone and crosshatch job won't tell you if your cylinder walls are out of spec. You need to have them measured and checked against the Helms manual. (I was also out of spec, and it smoked only under VTEC)

Get yourself to a shop that has a leakdown tester, and check it out. Normal is about 5% leak, anything more and it's probably about time for a rebuild.

berkel

5% is about normal for leakdown? So mine wasn't too far out of spec, but still high. My compression (220) also seems low for JDM ITR pistons in a B18C head, but at least it was even across.

If it only smokes when the car is cold (after it's been sitting), could it mean the oil is leaking from the head (valveguides)? For example, the oil leaks into combustion chamber as it settles? Or could it be leaking from either side? A shop did a leakdown and said it was ~6%, but didn't say where it was coming from?

Thanks,

FB

B18C-EJ1

Yes, 5% is normal. 220 is a bit low, but it can also have to do with what cams you're using on your B18C. As long as it was even, that is a good sign.

You should never rev you car cold, that is one of the worst things you can do to your engine.

Which cylinder was giving you the 6%? This is not a bad figure. You can open the oil cap and listen there for hissing, try the throttle body, or exhaust. Where you find the hissing noise is where the leak is occuring.

T-body - Intake valves
Exhaust - Exhaust valves
Oil cap - Rings
Bubbles/oil in radiator - Headgasket

berkel

Great stuff, thanks mang.

BTW, I wasn't revving car when cold, it just smokes at idle

Take care,

FB

dohcgarage

maybe you shold bore it out, like SGT say, always bore out cylinder when you rebuild a motor. So you can be sure that it won't smoke!!!
I dunno why people are so afraid of boring out their cylinder.

lotus

That rislone crap is a de-gummer.. very high solvent content and not a very good lubricant on it's own.. It'll clean out some sludge from your oil system if you have any, but it's not the right stuff to promote breakin..

I wouldn't hit big rpms with that stuff in there.. It really thins out your oil.

Trey

I'm not afraid to bore it out, just don't trust the rednecks around these parts.