91CivicTurbo

So last month I put an engine in a car for my cousin and got it done at about 2am. We started it, drove it up and down the street and when the temp got about halfway up and we had no heat, we parked it and I went home. The next day my cousin just jumped in it and drove it about 10 miles and said when he got to the place he was going it started running rough and died in the driveway. He said the heat still wasn't working so antifreeze wasn't circulating. Obviously he shouldn't have been driving it yet. I went back down there and checked compression. It had decent compression on one of the outer cylinders, but the other end was low and the 2 inners were at 10psi and around 30psi. Plus it had transmission issues because we put Y8 trans on a y7 ECU. So We ended up getting a nice used motor and swapping it again and it runs like it should now.

A couple days ago I picked up a 2000 Civic EX with a D16y8 thats locked up for $400
Now I have that overheated engine on a stand and tonight I pulled the head off the engine and the middle 2 cylinders exhaust valves look pretty bad. But i want some other opinions. all the cylinders walls are clean and have no visible or feel-able grooves or scuffs Pistons look good, one looks pretty washed

Ive never had a burnt valve issue so im not sure if the damage to these valves is enough to cause the low compression issue, so im looking for opinions? I would love to be able to buy a used head, and put a new water pump, timing belt etc on it and not have to buy a used engine. But before I go through all the work, I figured id see what others with more experience think.

Solster

need a better picture of the block but i don't see burnt valves i do see dirty valve from oil burning and a rich mix. also looks like the spark plug hole is striped but might just be a bad pic.

i'll post a picture of burnt valves

Solster

this is the burnt valves from my b18C1.

Solster

looks more like you have bent valves unless you left the cam in the head.

91CivicTurbo

Yeah the cam is still in the head. There arent any big chunks taken out like yours but just little ones around the edges of them. I cant decide whether to spend the money on another head and do a leakdown test or not? By the way the cylinders look I would think itd have to be losing compression thru the valves. the head gasket was solid and came off nice and clean, no coolant and oil mixing or anything so I dont think it was a gasket leak. Ill go take some better pics now

kyden

that doesn't look like burnt valves. just residue from oil/coolant burning. headgasket looks compromised from the look of the piston.

91CivicTurbo

Well funny story I went back out to the garage to take better pics. and I decided to turn the cam so I could see the valves a little better. So i put a wrench on the timing gear and start turning it and only the first cylinder valves are opening and closing. So i flip the head over to look at the cam while its turning and i see that the cam is snapped in half right after the first set of valves! Ive only heard of one other cam snapping in half like this before. So if these small chips on the edges of the valves arent a problem and are normal, im just going to stick another head on it that I have off of the locked up motor that came in the car I just bought

91CivicTurbo

I got the other head put on, put the transmission and starter on and turned it over to check compression and it now has decent compression on all cylinders. so im happy hopefully ill have it in the car and be starting it up tomorrow. I attached some pics so everyone can see what im working with. Yes thats a plywood floor lol, I got sick of messing with smaller scrap pieces and went today and bought 3 4x8 sheets, works like a dream. Better than gravel anyway..

fragmare

The valves look fine, albeit dirty as hell. Clean them up with some carb cleaner. I've found oven cleaner also works well to get crud off if it's REALLY caked on. And, yea, replace the snapped camshaft at a minimum.

91CivicTurbo

Yeah i put a different head on it. Ill probably scrap the old one or put it on craigslist for cheap. I got the motor in the car today and it runs and drives good. Has over 180psi on each cylinder for compression now But burns some oil/smokes, so that sucks but yeah its running so im happy