EJse7en

I have a 97 civic hx 5 speed. Owned it for about a year and 3 months now. Had 130500 miles on it and have put like 12k miles. Stock engine, except for an AEM SRI I got for free. Changed oil every 3000 miles and the shop I get it changed uses penzoil 10w30. I have noticed when i bought the car that it burns about 2-2.5 qts of oil every 3k miles oil change, so what I do is check it every week and top it off with mobil 1 10w30. Now about 2 months ago, i started to notice that it leaks oil at the bottom, near the oil pan and where the engine and trans are bolted together. I also notice that it only leaks when the engine is warmed up or driven around, when the engine is cold it stops leaking. Now I put about a quart every 2 weeks which is pretty bad. Got it checked out and my mechanic said the Rear Main Seal needs to be replaced. But in the process, he said I should get my clutch and flywheel replaced too. He estimated about 500-600 for parts and labor. 200-300 if i provided my own parts.

So I got some questions for you guys. Should I go ahead and get it done? Would the mileage on the engine and spending that much money be "worth it" and effecient in the long run (this wont fix the oil burn btw, thats a whole different story)? Or should i fix it myself since i might be able to find parts cheaper and free labor etc.? If i decided to get it fixed myself, how long should it take me?
Any ideas why its burning oil and anyway to fix or mitigate it?

Sorry for the long post, I appreciate any ideas or whatever.

Froth

I have the exact same leak issue on my 93 Si, It's the rear main or oil galley plug. The burning could be a few things however my money is on your valvestem seals...as far as the rear main, I'd do it yourself if you have the tools/knowhow aswell as the clutch at the same time.

The $500-$600 isn't TOO BAD, but doing it yourself will be half of that...or less.

EJse7en

any more input?

philosofy1

in the long run replacing everything is better off. with over 130,000 miles, they clutch should be checking out too. as for the oil burning it can be only one of 2 things, or both. a bad headgasket or bad rings.

97civicdx

Make a decision to swap it now or just find a used motor.

If its your DD and you want total reliability, then get it done now.

My 97 dx has close to 164k miles and it doesnt leak at all. But then again, thats my ride.

instructor74

Same thing I had to change the rear main oil seal on my 93 SI. It is not a bad idea to change the clutch when you do this. You never know what you are going to find when you pull the trans. If you have all the parts you are good to go. You wont have on of those OH NO its 10pm on Sunday night I need blank to finish the job and all the parts stores are closed!! It really is an easy job to do it just takes a lot of time to take everything off to get to the seal

EJse7en

yes, its my DD. i love the fact that it gets a lot of mpg especially for a college student like me, so i don't plan on spending anything on engine upgrades and all that ****. as for the oil burning, should i do a compression/leakdown test? will that determine what needs to be fixed?

philosofy1

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EJse7en &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">yes, its my DD. i love the fact that it gets a lot of mpg especially for a college student like me, so i don't plan on spending anything on engine upgrades and all that ****. as for the oil burning, should i do a compression/leakdown test? will that determine what needs to be fixed?</TD></TR></TABLE>

not really, though your compression might be low, but both a bad gasket and rings can give the same test results. the only way to tell is to crack open the motor.

Turbo95Hatch

agree with philosofy1, I would say it's probably bad rings. Although head gasket could, most likely that will cause coolant to burn, not oil. Whoever stated valve seals, that isn't likely. Valve seals will cause the engine to smoke when it's first started, but not while driving. Does your car smoke when accelerating hard or when slowing down using the transmission? If so, it's probably blowby caused by your rings.

Froth

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo95Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">agree with philosofy1, I would say it's probably bad rings. Although head gasket could, most likely that will cause coolant to burn, not oil. Whoever stated valve seals, that isn't likely. Valve seals will cause the engine to smoke when it's first started, but not while driving. Does your car smoke when accelerating hard or when slowing down using the transmission? If so, it's probably blowby caused by your rings.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yeah yeah, Stem seals aren't super likley but I didn't see any specifics just "Burns oil" and that's always the first thing that comes to mind. Now that I think about it the stem seals probably wouldn't cause a 2 quart loss over 3k miles unless they were really trashed. Silly me.

Runnerdown

Here is a 99 d16y7 piston. This engine was consuming a good amount of oil. I found that heavy carbon buildup in the ring lands as you can see. This causing the rings to bind up into the piston....very poor sealing. All honda motors will do this eventually it seems. If the motor is not maintained well it happens easily, and if you bought the car used like that its too late...