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Well I recently rebuilt a b18a1 for my 88 HF. It was rebuilt with p30 pistons and all oem parts for the rebuild. I had the head redone by certified Honda mechanic with new valve seals and guides and a three angle valve job.

The motor has 12 miles on it, but it smokes. The first time we started it up I had accidently hooked up coolant line to a vaccum source which caused a lot of smoke but that was quickly fixed. I have done about five oil changes since then. We dropped the pan, took off the valve cover, and basically flushed the whole motor out. My oil now finally stays clean, but I still have some smoke coming out the exhaust.

I figured maybe the rings got washed out or hadnt seated properly so I ran a compression test to see what was up. All four cylinders were between 225 to 235psi which seems to be really good. The car starts up fine and doesnt smoke until it reaches full operating temperature. It only smokes when idling or on the gas but as the motor winds down it doesnt emit any smoke.

What do you guys think? any help is really appreciated. I've been without my baby for about 8 months now.

Here's some pictures of her to get people in






Modified by Steemo at 8:36 PM 4/12/2005

 

did u make sure u put ur rings on the piston right ?....could this cause a smoke outof the exhaust? some one enlighten me btw

 

The rings are on right. I was there when we put the bottom end together. They are all spaced apart correctly. This could cause smoking if they werent right, but once again, the car only smokes when its all the way up to operating temperature.

The smoke seems to be white if that helps...

 

gas is rich ?

 

No the fuel is not a problem. The car is actually running a little lean by looking at the plugs.

Its wierd the car starts up and runs normal but once it reaches operating temperature, which is a little high according to my autometer gauge, approximately 190 degrees farenheit, it begins to emit a white smoke.

It doesnt get any worse as you get on the gas but it is still apparent and once you let off the gas and let the motor wind down the smoke goes away. When it returns to idle it goes back to smoking.

 

maybe, i'm guessing it does that when the motor freshly built?

 

sorry if i am not big of an help, just never really built an engine yet

 

well technically you will have a little blow bye as you are waiting for the rings to seat on a newly built motor, but the compression test seems to suggest that the rings have seated fine. Also the smoke doesnt really seem blue which would indicate burning oil. Thanks for trying to help i appreciate it. I really want to get to the end of this and have my baby back on the road.

 

well. i dont know much either.. but i did a compression test on my car, on several cars in fact, my 91 si w/ d16a6 compression was ~145 psi accross the board. but it has 211xxx miles on it and im in colorado at ~5000 feet above sea level. and i had a prelude that, before i blew it up, had 250k miles and compression of about 160 across the board. 235 psi is the highest ive ever seen, although if you built your motor to be high compression, then those psi numbers make perfect sense. but if i were in your shoes.. i would drive it like 200 miles if possible to break it in, and then check things out. if its still smoking, then maybe tear it apart. but with only 12 miles.. it could just still be antifreeze in your oil. i know im not much help but.. good luck.

 

if it's anifreeze you should be able to smell it .. what kind of smell does the smoke have?? that is a good start... compression test seems find..


i'm thinking there might be a leak somewhere.. when it heats up something expands and causes a leak ... i'm just thinking out loud..

 

I've done quite a few oil changes to try and get it clean but obviously without tearing the whole motor apart theres no way of telling that i got all the gunk out.

One possible situation is that the anti freeze gunked up on the cylinder walls and top of the pistons from when i hooked up the wrong line and when it gets hot it de-gunks and and burns out and I just need to wait for the motor to get rid of all the gunk.

Another hypothetical that I have in my mind is that all the antifreeze that was initially dumped in the motor screwed up my new cat and it is semi clogged or something and when it heats up it begins to burn up the stuff stuck in the cat.

I really dont have any solid answers as of yet but if anyone has any ideas or things i should look out for please let me know. Thanks again for all your help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SkipMic2006 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">gas is rich ?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Nope that would be black smoke.

Coolant ruins 02 sensors and cats, one ever a head gasket blows, its always recommend you replace these.

So wait, after this build did antifreeze get in the cylinder ? The coolant could of washed down the cylinder walls, therefore creating your rings not to seat properly.

You could always do a leak down test and see if everything is coming back all right, but if you just rebuilt the engine, I would wait a month just so everything can settle in.

 

Put is some cheap 30w oil and drive it for a while to let the rings completely seat. You are probably just seeing the residue of the antifreze burning off

 

Run the bitch straight header and see if it still smokes.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fourthgenhatchB17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Run the bitch straight header and see if it still smokes.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Trust me, any car ran open header is gonna smoke.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Trust me, any car ran open header is gonna smoke.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Mine didnt when i did my swap. Whats your reasoning behind this?

 

you have only driven it 12 miles? I think that something oviously went wrong, something not seated right yet. My best bet would be just drive it man. Brake it in first, start by doing that.

 

I know this may sound stupid, but none the less I did it. I was very new to the world of building engines. Right from the start I used synthetic oil. Which by the way, produces a white smoke when it burns. Some called me a "noob" but, screw them. I was never told not to use it from the start, but now I know.

 

if water gets stuck in the exhaust it will smoke for a while after you fix the problem. are you loosing coolant? or oil?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fourthgenhatchB17 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Mine didnt when i did my swap. Whats your reasoning behind this? </TD></TR></TABLE>

My reason is its raw exhaust, its not gonna be really white, but your gonna see some smoke.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My reason is its raw exhaust, its not gonna be really white, but your gonna see some smoke.</TD></TR></TABLE>

not buyin it. I only say run open header to eliminate his CAT theory. Ive seen open header on a 240sx, bugs, etc. No smoke.

Exhaust leaves at the tail pipe or at the collector, no difference except in distance of travel. Think about it before u reply, lol.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 91civicLX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if water gets stuck in the exhaust it will smoke for a while after you fix the problem. are you loosing coolant? or oil?</TD></TR></TABLE>

My oil and coolant levels are fine they stay steady. From the general consensus i guess I will just run the car for a little longer and see what happens. Maybe I can get some video up. Thank you to everyone who took the time to post I really appreciate it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Coolant ruins 02 sensors and cats, one ever a head gasket blows, its always recommend you replace these.
</TD></TR></TABLE>
What exactly does the coolant do to the cat?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 90blackcrx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So wait, after this build did antifreeze get in the cylinder ? The coolant could of washed down the cylinder walls, therefore creating your rings not to seat properly.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes, coolant got into the cylinders, but would the compression test still come back at 225-235 across the board if the rings were washed out? I thought a compression test basically told you your rings were good?

bump for some more help for Steemo.

 

hey adam thanks for the bump. im starting to think that maybe it is the cat or just crap in the exhuast... cause we did run it open header for a few and it ran fine without smoke.

is there anything i can do to check the cat out. it is brand new it also only has 12 miles on it lol... well less considering we ran a few of them open header.

 

Most likely you haven't ran the engine for enough miles.
Did you seat the rings by doing acceration surges?
Supposedly you are to go something like 30mph and then accelerate hard to 50 and coast back down to 30 acouple times.
Then repeat but from 50 to 70.

This is supposed to be done during your maiden voyage after you warmed it up.
It Puts pressure on the rings and helps to start seating them so they can then begin the long term wear in process.

Also, you should NEVER use synthetic oil during break in.
It's too slick and the rings need to wear in against the piston walls.
No wear in = blow by.