I recently rebuilt my H22 and everything is in tip top shape, except the car is running rich (stock ECU, no adjustments). I have an O2 senor that's out, so I'm almost 100% sure that would be the cause. However, I've gotten through the 500 mile break-in period and I've noticed my motor has been burning oil.

My question is, can running too rich cause the cylinders to get washed out with gasoline and cause burning oil? Secondly, once I've put the o2 sensor on, will this problem eventually fix itself?

Also, I've done a compression check and it's doing 175 across all the cylinders (9:0 pistons). I may check again (since I checked it before I noticed I was burning oil) though. I've prepped this motor for a supercharger, but i wanted to break it in and make sure there weren't any leaks, problems, etc. before boosting and plugging up my p72/s200 setup. I definitely want to get this squared away before I go any further with it. Everything else is running smoothly and without noise...

 

It seems to me like you have already heard someone say "running rich washes out the cylinders" because, supposedly, it does. It makes sense to me, but I have no concrete evidence on that.

Keep in mind that compression rings can be fine while oil rings are not doing their job, so compression test #s don't tell the whole story.

When does it burn oil, on the gas at high rpm, at idle, after letting off the gas, etc...describe it.

 

It doesn't do it during normal driving conditions (i.e. shifting at 3-4k), just when it swaps over to the aggressive cam. I'm not too sure if it a continuous thing when taking up to say 7k, or if it's just a cloud when it first hits VTEC and then it's done. As far as the washing out cylinders comment, my dad suggested that (he's been a certified mechanic 30+ years). I trust his opinons when it comes to motors, but I wanted to see if I could dig up any further information on it.

I wasn't sure if rebuilding it to stock spec, but with lower compression on a stock ECU, would be a factor or not either. Any input is appreciated.


Modified by typeSwarrior at 3:13 PM 11/19/2007

 

its a sleeved block right?

 

Correct

 

Are you sure it is oil and not just excess gas?

Is the smoke black or white/bluish?

 

I'm almost certain it's more white...Another indicator that it's oil is that we filled all the fluids full in the motor before/after cranking it over. I've been checking my oil dipstick pretty periodically throughout the last few weeks (only had the car running that long now) to make sure everything is good, and everything looked good until just a few days ago and I'm running pretty low on oil. If it's the oil rings then the only thing I can think of is the rings not seating correctly, but I haven't had any issues till now. I feel very confident that I gave the motor a good break-in too.

 

what do the plugs look like?

 

I'm going to pull them out tonight and take a looksy I'm also putting the o2 sensor in too. I'll keep an update on this as soon as I know something. Now that I think of it though, I don't have the OE platinum plugs in right now, just some cheap colder NGKs...I need to invest in some. Thanks for the feedback guys. I'll get back with you.

 

Don't waste the $$ on platinum, just get V-powers in the right heat range

 

Will look into that...thanks!