crxsirg

I bought a SOHC ZC motor form Hmotorsonline given their reputation for carrying good motors but I feel like the one I got was abused or had more miles than usual.

I've replaced all the obvious stuff and went one step further by replacing the head gasket. Firstly, the head was quite dirty with the valves almost caked with carbon build up. Second, every rubber gasket I encountered was hard. Third, the oil pump (which I overhauled) had residual oil that was pitch black, but the clearances checked out so I reused it. I replaced both crank shaft seals but had forgotten about the cam seal which immediately started leaking oil upon the first running of the motor...so I replaced that. Then I noticed it was burning oil, which I suspect is the valve stem seals and am now in the process of replacing. Now, I've noticed the exhaust rocker shaft and exhaust rocker arms show some scoring from wear. You can definitely feel the slight depressions of wear in the rocker shaft which looks similar to the rocker shaft on the 180K+ mileage motor this ZC is replacing. Am I right in thinking this isn't supposed to be?

My concern is that I got sold a crappy motor and will have to rering the pistons which was the whole reason for buying this new/used motor.

Has anyone else had this experience?

This thing is becoming a never ending project and causing a lot of frustration.

turbohatchBnuts

dang that sucks man. sounds like they sold you a high mileage motor that was not maintained regular.

crxsirg

Well that's what I'm thinking, and it's pissing me off because this was supposed to be an easy, cheap swap that keeps costing me more money. Not to mention the fact that the motor cost significantly more than the retail price since it had to be shipped to Alabama. If I had had more reason to be dubious of Hmotors I would have just gone to Atlanta and took my chances at an importer there.

KINGVEM^^ED6

iTrader: (1)

damn my buddy picked up a b16 from them and everything went well except for the dizzy but that was no biggie

give them a call and talk to steve i think his name is tell him whats going on take pics and shoot a email too maybe you guys can work something out

crxsirg

Yeah, that's not a bad idea. I'm trying really hard to be diplomatic about this but I'm sure you all know how it is when things start going South. I'm way past the warranty on this motor since I didn't have time to install it when I first got it...but even then I spent the better part of 2 months just cleaning everything (the head gasket was so baked on it it literally took me about 1 1/2 weeks to scrap it off with a razor, chemical removers didn't even touch it).

I think I'll send an email stating my case and just express my concern about the potential for more problems and what should I do if they occur.

KINGVEM^^ED6

iTrader: (1)

do me a favor and shoot me a pm and keep me updated on the outcome bro

if they at least dont try and help you ill look else were for my next motor

JDpower

Yea that pretty unlucky,it kinda like gambling when buying a jdm motor.

creationz

This is very interesting. I bought a car with a 93 ZC in it and it has been doing the same crap. Burning oil like a mother. I have been slowly replacing gaskets (Valve cover, cam seal and so on) I was also getting a nasty smell in the car and thought it was my CAT. Went to the exhaust shop and had it all checked out. Looked under the car while he was checking things out and noticed that the vtec solenoid was dripping oil. Well looks like when ever I get into higher RPM and the oil pressure was building it was start squirting from the vtec solenoid and right on my exhaust. Also it looks to be clogged causing all sorts of pressure in the motor and blowing it up and out the PCV valve. My buddy had a similar problem and when he took out the vtec solenoid he noticed the screen was completely plugged with sludge. I am burning through 2 quarts of oil every other week. I will be changing out the last of the gaskets this week. But keep us updated I want to know if its in the same lines. Check the screen in there and see whats up? Other than that I hope you get it straightened out. Good luck...

661rex89si

should have called them as soon as you noticed how bad of a motor you got. when i got mine years ago from them i had to return one back because of the issues i found before i started to replace the usual stuff and they did it no questions asked. steve is the man the problem might be since you did so much to it they make a dispute as user error now.

gettin_there

Wow i hope i dont run into stuff like that. i just put in a sohc zc vtec a few months ago and it is also having a wierd smell that i keep telling my self is just the cat. i wonder if its the same thing. im gonna check out my solenoid and see if its the same way.

661rex89si

might be the cat depending on how long it sat before you swapped it in. my pop's d15b when i installed the exhaust smelled horrible cat ended up being to old replaced with a new one and passed smog as well.

crxsirg

Trust me...I would have called but it looked really clean from the outside. I was finishing up college when I bought it and just didn't have the time to look at the internals; however, just looking under the valve cover (when I finally got the chance) everything looked clean. But, it actually wasn't. I know because I literally just got through cleaning carbon buildup out of every intake rocker shaft.

Furthermore, I was only able to see how dirty the head was (from underneath where I could inspect the valve seats) after I pulled it off the block, and I only did that because I wanted to replace the head gasket for extra assurance. I should also note that at the time I just assumed the carbon deposits were a result of running cheap gas so I didn't put much thought into it and went on diligently cleaning everything I could. It was after having the cam seal leak so badly followed by burning oil that things didn't add up; hence, I started to deduce that maybe this motor wasn't as great as it was sold to be.

I agree that there may be an issue since I've done so much...but it took me so long to clean everything and now the motor is in the car so I'm trying to make it work. My whole point here is that I've gone above and beyond what is normally done with a swap like this and I'm worried the rings are bad considering all the **** I've run into so far. If the rings are indeed bad...then I was sold a motor on false pretenses and something should be done. I'm not making accusations just yet since I don't know if the rings are bad...we'll have to see. But, the condition of the motor that I've described thus far is the truth, and I think it's pertinent to fellow EFers and other honda owners that my story is disseminated here so others can make more informed decisions.

Also, this isn't a VTEC motor so that complicating factor isn't applicable here.

KINGVEM^^ED6

iTrader: (1)

Damn so have u made any emails/calls to them?

BiG ChOr!Zo

iTrader: (1)

glad i got my zc sohc from www.cncmotors.com after steve from h-motors kept giving me the run around...no regrets whatsover and a 6 month warranty compared to a 30 day warranty was icing on the cake for me...!!!