I posted earlier about my oil pressure being lowred by 12.5psi on my oil pressure gauage after P&P, skunk 2 stage 1 cam and milled of 20 thou. Now, I pour another liter of oil in there today, let the car idle for 10 mins. Pressure seems fine, it went back up to 25psi at idle. However, once i bring it out to drive it around and redline a few gear, the pressure at idle drop back to 12.5psi..at 800rpm. But with a small tip of gas, which brings the rpm just under 1000..the oil pressure is at 25psi again. When it is at WOT, it was usually at 75psi. But now it seems it never reaches that pressure again. I also notice some white smoke and really bad smell coming from the engine after redline the 3rd and 4th gear. I drove back home slowly, check hte oil level again on my dip stick. It seems fine, oil level is still very good. What is the cause of hte problem, will it be from my header? Because my DC JDM 4-1 have some dents in it, I was thinking it coudl've been some crack that it had developed? I really hope is not from the engine.. btw, I am using spoon headgasket right now.


[Modified by lePetitePrince, 12:17 AM 3/2/2003]

 

help pls~!!!! seriously need help

 

From the Helm manual the minimum acceptable oil pressure at idle is 10 PSI and at 3000 rpm is 50 PSI. It seems you are still within specs (altough it doesn't explain why the pressure went down). I would be a little worried about that white smoke coming from the engine, did you investigate to see where it was coming from? White smoke could sometime meam a coolant leak.

 

Check your oil and see if there may be any coolant in the oil. If it was just milled, I would think that they may have warped or scratched the head accidentally and the head gasket isn't sealing correctly. A white, terrible smelling smoke is definatley coolant in the combustion chamber.

 

Check the underside of the oil cap for a milky white substance. That is an indicator (although not the only one) that there is coolant in the oil.

 

ok if coolant is in the oil, what can I do to fix it? is it coolant line leaking?? which part do i replace??

 

if coolant its most likely your head gasket. if its not that it might be a crack in the block. most likely headgasket

 

so that means the headgasket is place in wrong? or the gasket itself is leaking??

 

please tell me the shop replaced your headgasket and didnt re use the old one...if thats the case then you need to buy a new headgasket ASAP.

 

that, or when it was milled, a lot of heat is generated which could have caused the head to warp. Or they messed up and scratched it or something. Plus, I think Honda uses torque/yield head bolts i cant remeber. If the shop reused the same head bolts and they are torque/yield bolts, the head bolts will not fully torque to spec. Call the shop and find out. If the don't say anything, pick up a head gasket from Honda (will include head bolts assuming they are torque/yield) and replace it. If that isn't it, check the bottom of the head where the gasket seals for any scratches and have a machine shop check to make sure the head isn't warped. I doubt you cracked a sleeve.

 

I believe he said he's using a Spoon headgasket. I'm assuming it is new? As mentioned check for coolant mixed with your oil.. Good luck..

 

Thanks for the quick reply guys...yes the gasket is brand new and is spoon two layer one. I did change all the head bolts, now if is hte gasket problem, will that be b/c of a bad gasket? can I go back to the shop and ask spoon to replace a brand new one for me? I bought it at speedstar, which is a spoon authorizate dealer in Toronto, will they acutally replace one for me? or hsould I just buy myself a new OEM peice and change it as is?

 

Give Speedstar a call and tell them the problem, you never know...........
But I wouldn't give too much hope unless you can prove the gasket is already bad when you broght it from them.

 

So I guess i should buy the OEM one this time right? wil teh OEM one run into the same problem??

 

What was the OIL Level before you put in an Extra Litre. DON'T OVER FILL - EVER
Even if it's just alittle over, then you take it to Red-line, Oil is forced passed the Rings and gets burnt, Or just goes BANG!!!. Heaps of Smoke, but it might be coolant from the Head gasket but seeing it's new, unlikely.
If you just had that work done..... Here it comes.... did the Head get re-tentioned after a couple of warm-ups. This is more likely to be the cause of the Head gasket delevopling a Leak. Perform a compression Test, this might help narrow down the Problem.

As for Milling being responcible for Warping the Head, LOL I'll never heard of this. You mill a head to take the Warp out. We use Coolant when milling, but thats just to keep the tool cool. Aluminium doesn't build-up heat that easy.
Good Luck.

 

But I really doubt it is the headgasket problem.

 

Then what else can it be???
I will ask hte mechanic to retighten everything up and see how it goes

 

You might be luck, Seeing it a 2 part metal gasket. But normally when coolant makes it way from the Water jackets through to combustion chamber, that's it.
Time for a new gasket. But like I said, You might be lucky.

Good luck.

 

Did you check to see if there was coolant in the engine oil? I must have missed it if you did.

If you haven't checked then don't assume it's a HG issue.

 

ok I jsut check my coolant level, IS EMPTY~~!!!..the white bottle is empty~!!
Then i checked my oil cap to see if there's any white stuff as you guys mention..none......check the dip stick..nothing but oil..I don't see any mix of coolant in it..from what i know.

So is tihs still teh Headgasket issue? or coolant line leaking???/

 

Did you check the coolanl level in the rad. If the overflow bottle(plastic) is empty you need to look in the rad. Make sure the rad is cool before you check under the rad cap!. If it is empty you need to refill it but make sure you purge the air out of the system. The smoke could be heat from the motor overheating from lack of coolant.

Where did you get your headwork done?

Anselm

 

how do I purge the air out of the system ??

 

fill the radiator.... start the car with the rad cap removed.

Wait for two fan cycles to go off....I like to squeeze the top and bottom rad hose during this time to make all the bubbles come to the surface.

When the second fan cycle is done.... top off the radiator....

shut off car and top off the overflow.

Always worked for me....somebody correct me if I'm doing this wrong.

 

this is the way for any newer 98+.. I think 98+ Older tegs had a bleeder valve on the water neck but I rarely look at 96/97s anymore.. I know 94/95s did

 

This is the same way that I do it as well but I keep topping it up as the air comes out.

AW