OphidiaAstrum

I know these forums probably hate threads like this, but I really need an opinion from someone with more knowledge than I. I'm sorry for how long it is, but I want to get a serious response so I'm going to try to be as specific as possible.

I have a 99 gsr with 94k miles on the original totally stock motor. It's in really good shape and totally clean and un-molested under the hood. However, since I got it a year ago or so, it's consistantly burned oil at a rate of about a quart every 500 miles. But it doesn't really smoke at all unless revved to near redline (which I've only done a few times ever). I've had 3 other B18c1 motors in the past, and all 3 burned oil at a similar rate, and two of them smoked pretty much every time I revved it into vtec range. But all 3 of these engines had at least 170k miles on them. And they never really got worse than that or blew up. It's also worth noting that this 99 ran better than any other original stock b18c1 I've ever driven. I've driven it extremely conservatively too, probably shifting before vtec 99% of the time.

So i was driving down the turnpike last week (god that 5th gear rpm range at highway speeds....), and suddenly I get a flashing check engine (misfire), but the car still goes fine for 2-3 mins like that. Then I lose a cylinder. It was pretty obvious immediately. So after quickly checking the wires and stuff, I turned around at the next exit and drove it 50 miles home like that. It wasn't too bad coasting at 80mph, but as soon as I got off the highway it barely made it the 2 mostly uphill miles to my house. At no point during all of this did I see any smoke or hear any kind of knock.

So I got home and looked at the plugs. The one in cylinder 4 was burned very black and had some sludge on it, while the others looked fine. I put a newer plug and wire on that cylinder from my other integra. I pulled the wires one at time with it running and nothing happened when I pulled number 4. Later I went and got a compression tester. It showed 0 on cylinder 4 (tested several times), while the 3 other were almost exactly equal at 200. Keep in mind this with the engine cold and a dry test. The point was to confirm that cylinder 4 was dead. I'm pretty sure the others are fine based on how well the car ran.

Then I did kind of "poor man's leakdown test", simply by putting a plug in each cylinder, one at a time, and turning it over for 5-10 secs. All 4 seemed to have the same slight amount of air coming from the dipstick, but I could hear a very clear woosh of air on cylinder 4 coming from the tailpipe with my ear next to it, as opposed to very little air as well as the "compression sound" on the other 3. So my guess is it's a burnt or bent exhaust valve. i don't know if this is accurate, but the difference of air coming from the tailpipe was extremely obvious for that cylinder when isolated.

I went to my local Honda tuner shop and talked to them. I'm 30 years old and have never paid someone to fix my car. But I've never done engine internals either (anything more than a timing belt that is). I always just got another motor(LS only haha) or sold the car. But I paid $4500 for this car and selling it at a huge loss is not an option. And vtec motors from a good source are ridiculously expensive to buy flat out. So he told me that he agrees on the exhaust valve, but says the oil burning is from the rings, and also said quote "the valve seals aren't the problem, that's just a myth".

I absolutely hate the idea of paying someone to do this, but I have to. The shop owner was pretty vague about what he was going to do and how much it would cost. I understand that that's how it goes, but I'm not going to totally trust what he says because it's a business. Even though the place has a good rep as far as I know. The MAX money I can come up with is probably $2000, although $1000 would be much better.

Someone please give me an opinion on this, I need the car fixed immediately. I'm trying to get the most out of my money, and NOT get into a money pit situation. I don't have that option. And I don't want to get too deep into it where I run out of money and it's still dead in the water. I'm just not equpipped to do this myself right now. I had a permanant falling out with my long time wrenching partner last year (who had way better tools and more knowledge than me), and I can't afford to make a mistake doing it alone, although I'm sure I could figure it out in a less time and money limited situation. So here are my options as I see it:

1. Have him rip the head off, and if the rings are still usable (ie it will burn oil but run as it did before) then just replace the seals and valves and all the other work goes with a head rebuild, as cheaply as possible. I'm ok with that but it's not ideal. Or even just do the bare minimum and fix just that one set of valves.
2. Have him swap in another B18c1 (said he had 3 available) and sell mine back. Problem is, again, I don't trust that those motors don't have the same problems as every other gsr motor does. As far as I can tell, any non-rebuilt vtec motor is going to burn a lot of oil and/or smoke. Every one I or my friends ever had sure did. Plus like I said, my motor ran exceptionally good before this happened. I'd even be wary of a JDM import. My motor had 80k when I got the car and it still burned oil like crazy then.
3. If he takes it apart and says my rings are bad/piston is damaged etc, take his word for it and get new pistons, rings, and the head job. I'm not really clear on how much machining, planning, etc goes into bottom end work, and how much is absolutely necessary (or advisable) even after reading about it a good bit. I don't know if I could afford this. I would like to do it though if feasible.

What I really want to know is what range of cost these three options SHOULD fall into, as well as whether my hypothesis about what's broken is reasonably accurate. Note that I'm willing to spend a little more for slighly upgraded parts, if it fits into that $1000-2000 range. I may be able to borrow another $500 or so for the total rebuild, but I don't want to go down that road of debt. I'm basically poor right now, but I can't afford to sell the car and take a $2500+ loss. I'd rather spend $2000 than loose $2500.

Again, I really don't know about doing this myself... Is there a de facto walkthrough on this site at least for a head rebuild? I can't risk doing it without every tiny detail being unmistakeably spelled out. I'd probably even take the time to write a plan and document every bolt turn in writing and in photos. I just don't know though. I'd be doing it in a carport too, not a garage, so there's that.

Any solid advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Is there any other things I can do to clarify the problem with the engine together? Thanks.

MotorMouth93

iTrader: (1)

Cheapest option by far is to rebuild it yourself, if you do all the tear down the machine shop work will be relatively cheap, and you can get an engine stand and hoist on Craigslist or at Harbor Freight for less than $200 total. Here's a thread where a guy documents his rebuild of a B18C1: My B18c1 rebuild (Lots of Pics) - D-series.org

Four(G)63

Ive recently had the same problem but it was with an LS motor. My problem was scoring on the cylinder walls from all of the carbon build up on top of the pistons. There was so much of it that it actually scratched the cylinder walls and made me completely lose compression and if youve ever seen or touched it youll know it hard stuff. My recommendation is that you remove the cylinder head and inspect your engine since youve experienced sludge (on your spark plug) and oil burn. Its not very hard to do but it is tedious.