Cromew

Hi,


I have a 2000 Civic w/ 4 speed auto and a d16. The engine has about 140k miles and has been burning about 1 qt/300 miles for nearly 10 months. Regular oil filter changes have been done every 3,000 miles, and before I bought the car (about 3 years and 25k miles ago), I know that the previous owner drove it for a week with the oil light on, but that is the only mistreatment that I know this car has received.

I recently started receiving P0300 and P0303 (random misfire and misfire on #3 errors). This usually happens when the engine is below 1750 RPMS and is accompanied by a very rough idle. I have replaced plugs, wires, fuel injectors, distributor rotor, and distributor cap, with not much improvement. I added Lucas Oil (1 qt) in place of my usual 1 qt oil addition, and this resolved the error codes and rough idle for about 30 miles. After 30 miles, the error codes returned, as did the rough idle, but the idle was better.

I have tested compression across all cylinders and received the following:
c1-156 psi
c2-160 psi
c3-111 psi
c4-163 psi

Obviously, #3 seems to be the problem (both from the error codes and the compression readings). Additionally, I began to see white smoke from the tailpipe a couple of days ago, though yesterday was an unusually cold day (dropped from 60's to 30's), so it may have just been condensation, but I'd like some suggestions on where to go from here. There is no oil in the coolant or visa-versa, and the car runs fine and smooth on the interstate.

I'm not very experienced with Honda engines, but I can follow directions.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

Leakdown test.

Cromew

Thanks, I don't have a tester, but I can get one. Any experience or thoughts on this one?

92ehatch

With white smoke you can rent a coolant system pressure tester and see if it holds. You can also look into cul 3 to see off it has coolant in it.

Sound like potential head gasket to me

Cromew

Thanks for the reply. I'll gave a look in the cyl, and I can probably get my hands on a pressure tester this weekend. Do you know off the top of your head what proper pressure is?

92ehatch

The idea is to see if the system holds pressure. Basically pump it up to 30 psi does it hold? Our slowly drop back to zero.

Dropping pressure means leak. If it's not spraying on the ground then it's spraying inside the cylinders most likely.

Grumble suggested a leak down tester. With that you check the cylinders for leaks, rings valves head gasket etc.

That is the best way for all around testing

My suggestion for coolant system was to eliminate the head gasket for free...pay to rent and then get money back