caisson1

Got a reman. head from a company out of Texas after blown head gasket from overheat. After install, had same power as before but blue smoke at take off and deceleration. Never burned oil before. Compression dry was 175-180 per cyl. Sent back head and they went over it and sent back. Said nothing was wrong. On bench I rotated cam to close cyl. 1, 2 and 3, and filled intake holes with water and saw water coming out intake valves. Could this be why it is burning oil? Thanks.

Company blames me and 220K miles civic and says rings are bad.

92ehatch

That water test does not show where oil is burning just shows poorly sealing valves. I ground my valves by hand by lapping them by hand and the held water for 24hrs with only a few drops passing

If you paid for a rebuild you got ripped

Could be valve stem seals but at that mileage could be rings as well.

TomCat39

If it didn't burn oil before and the only change was the head, then most likely the consumption is the valve seals.

Sounds like they don't bother with the seals with their "rebuild".

I would say not a quality company by the sounds.

caisson1

Thanks for replies. Company says they got a 12 month warranty. I will insist they take fix it or refund money. I see also, that the non-seating valves does not mean the oil burning is necessarily coming from the valves.

92ehatch

Non seating valves cause performance issues and rough idle

TomCat39

Good luck with the warranty. From what I've seen here on H-T, most warranties have a clause about "professionally installed". It sounds like you do your own work and the company will probably hold that against you to avoid having to fulfill their warranty.

slomofo

iTrader: (1)

Leak down test it before deciding it's the valve seals. Could be the rings, could be a botched head gasket job, although it's very likely to be the seals. Even if it is the seals, you can't just assume the machine shop didn't do their job. New seals can go bad too, ya know, so it's not always fair to play the blame game.

Former User

Get the refund and then shop for a replacement head from a different company.

92ehatch

I've got brand new valve stem seals bad in mine so it is definitely possible

slomofo

iTrader: (1)

Uhh yeah dude, I got new valve seals from the Subaru dealer, put em in my wife's car and they were leaking. Only problem is that I have an STI engine which is a lot harder to take apart than a D-Series Honda so we just keep adding oil.

92ehatch

....don't we all just keep adding oil.who wants to do that again?

I did mine with head off car. Now it's on. And i compress the springs by hand...which is tiring and bruises my palms

slomofo

iTrader: (1)

Protip: Use a leakdown tester to change your valve seals on the car.

92ehatch

Understood....i know this. Doesn't make me want to do it any more than before

caisson1

I decided to install the head even with the water leaking out the valves. It didn't cost me anything but a new head gasket and my time. No oil burning or blue smoke this time. Same power as before the head gasket blew. Very smooth idle.

Whether the company did anything else to the head, well they didn't say they did. A friend told me I got the water leaks from valves during my test cause the company probably did not lap the valves. He said after running it a couple hundred miles, they would lap themselves.

I should also mention that I replaced the pcv, after finding posts that a plugged pcv, which mine was definitely plugged, can raise the block pressure possibly causing oil to get in the cylinders on the intake stroke. That being said, it was certainly plugged with the old head before the gasket blew and the Civic never burned oil.

One thing is certain. The oil burn was not caused by worn or broken oil rings. Additionally debunked, is the company's suggestion that a new head and gasket on a 98 civic with 220k, could increase cylinder psi exposing the problem of worn rings that may not have been an issue with an old head and gasket.

It appears most likely the head was the issue. I install precisely according to the Honda Service Manual.

Thanks for the replies!