crk112

I have a 1998 Civic EX 2dr Manual with D16Y8 engine, 100% stock, 260,000mi.

Last year about this time, I replaced the timing belt. With those high miles I decided only a little extra work and I did the piston rings and all the crankshaft bearings as well. While I had the head off the engine I took it to the machine shop to be done, valve edges were ground down to ensure good seal but the valves were not actually replaced. I had a little mishap when installing the number 3 piston and I believe this is where all my problems started.

I neglected to clean out the piston ring grooves as well as they could have been, so when I went to install the piston I got the rings jammed very tightly in the cylinder. It took a considerable amount of force to get them back out. I was an idiot, I realize this so can we not waste a lot of thread space telling me what an idiot I was?

Anyway.. about 6 months later (September 2011) my check engine light started coming on and blinking. Code thrown was cylinder three misfire. Over time I felt and heard the misfire getting worse and the engine ran rougher and rougher at idle. I parked it in January and just this month got around to replacing the rings again. A lot of carbon in the cylinders but no blatant issues with the rings or the valves. When I got it all back together and started up for the first time the misfire remained.

I have ruled out injectors, spark plugs, wires, distributor, rotor, ignition coil, and ICM. Valves and springs do not appear to be broken or cracked, and all valve lifter clearances are within spec. At this point I believe I did damage to the cylinder wall itself when I got the rings stuck in there last year.

Can anyone offer a second opinion on that?

My dad has a 1999 Civic EX with the same engine and tranny.. the car is drivable but has been totalled... the body is kind of crap and not straight, but the engine and tranny are in a lot better shape than mine. I'm kind of thinking my best option is to swap engines and part out the old.

Would love to have some input if anyone is willing to offer. Thanks much!

Curtis

97 DelSol SI

Free is free and cheep is cheep. If you can use that engine out of the 99ek and put it in yours I'd say it would be a good idea as long as its in good working order. You would just be doing an oem swap.

furious94ls

Swap the other motor in and be done with it, don't waste any more money on a 260k engine. It did it's job. Now enjoy the car for another 200+k with the other motor.

EJ8_Man

+1 to the above. The nice thing is you'll have two motors to pick the best parts from and make a single running motor. i.e. Keep your recently replaced belts and hoses, put them on the good motor and install it.

JuggerNaut-CTR

Id go for something a lil more buck than another y8. come on meow

dueyx99

compression test followed by a leakdown test

motegicivic

I am assuming you did the work from the bottom up? I am pretty sure you have hone the block as well to do it right.

How bad is it running, is it burning oil etc?

EKSBdriver

Well if it was me and i had the money i'd keep the old engine and learn what the problem was, then again you could swap it and be done with it
its really up to you

Will-Survive

Free is always the best. as mentioned from above, grab the best parts out of the two to make a good long block out of it. good luck...

jrnsr

"compression test followed by a leakdown test"
I second that motion!
Might also look at a good, old fashioned vacuum gauge, too.

crk112

Hi everyone;

Thanks for the suggestions!

I've decided for fun I'm doing to do a leakdown test but if it truly is the cylinders I'll just swap engines. I think first I'll replace the piston on the cylinder in question and see if that happens to be the issue.

Thanks again!

Curtis

jbpnoman

Have you pulled the rotating assembly out and inspected the cylinder wall?

redm3turbo

Id do a partial rebuild on either...so really it wouldnt matter.

The Y8 is a 10+ year old engine no matter how you slice it. Id rather do work on it before putting it in.

the white lightning

Probably the a good course of action. If it does end up being the cylinders you could take the best parts from both motors and be in pretty good shape.
Either way good luck with the car!

guessohw

Agree with everyone above. Free is free and for the heck of it break the motor down and see what happened. Good luck

crk112

Ok now that summer is done and I finally have time to work on my car again... leakdown test proved that I was losing compression through the exhaust valves on cyl 3. Shined a flashlight and noted that they aren't seating fully all the way around. Definitely did not expect that after just paying for the head work.

So the head is back at the machine shop and I'm a little apprehensive of what they're going to tell me. The first time around it was $350 for the work and I kinda feel like I got raped. That was to go through the head and change seals, etc and verify that everything was sound. Didn't replace valves at that time.

This time.. same guy. He admitted this shouldn't have happened and especially in only 15,000mi. But that was after the 10 minute lecture on what he thinks of people that try to run a car for 260,000mi.... he obviously doesn't like/understand imports and their owners. Strike 2.

I expect to hear back in a few days. In the meantime I installed vent visors on my windows lol

Curtis

crk112

Ok... the machine shop found that the exhaust valves on number 3 had taken on some foreign debris that was then "blow torched" on by the exhaust gases. Both exhaust valves on number 3 had to be replaced. They also replaced all the valve guides on the exhaust side.

Got it all back together last night.. fired it up. Engine runs GREAT.. smooth. But it won't idle. As soon as I let off the gas it'll die. But if I hold the throttle it'll stay running, even at 500rpms. In fact I had to give the throttle a few jabs while cranking the starter to get the engine to actually fire.

My first thought is the fuel... the car has been sitting in my garage for ten months now with half a tank of the finest Minnesota gas (which has ethanol in it). The only deal breaker with that is when I started it two months ago it started right up and idled fine.

Ok... so maybe I missed a connection somewhere or a vacuum line. That's what I'll be spending my day doing today lol.

But at least it runs now!!

Curtis

crk112

I should add... when I first went to start it, it fired on the second crank but died right away. Cranked and cranked and cranked before I realized jabbing the throttle made it start.

Curtis

Triksta6

I would just swap the other d16y8 into and save the trouble. Do like the other guy said and put your new parts on the other engine, and you should have a pretty decent motor to running for a while.

furious94ls

The person doing the work on the head is what is causing the problems.

B20ztek

iTrader: (1)

There is no way in hell I would waste any more money on that motor... Just the otehr y8 out the ek and swap it in, problem solved=money saved.

jdmem205

iTrader: (2)

Too late for that it looks like he already sent his motor to the machine shop.

jphillips_civic

I was about to rebuild my d16y8 but now im worried about sending the block and heads to be machined....what other option do i have?

jphillips_civic

traded for another civic parts car with same motor what troubles might i have with piecing together the best part of both engines? What should i replace?

crk112

Engine runs great now... the problem with the idling was a stuck IAC valve. Took it apart and cleaned it and now no problems. The car is running and back on the road for under $500.

It's still cheaper (and more fun) to maintain this car than to pay insurance and loan payment on a new car :-)

Curtis