Well after some spirited driving this weekend a CEL popped up on my car. I figured it was my O2 sensor going out since i'm running no cat and indeed that was one of the codes, yet I take it by the shop and do a compression check only to find out that cylinders 1,2,& 4 are at about 185 psi, and #3 is at 210.
Needless to say, i'm going to rip her out again and rebuild the bottom end with possibly some CTR pistons and some Total Seal rings.

The variance is'nt all too great, but to be on the safe side I decided to rebuild her. Could there be any reason why cylinder 3 is at 210 as opposed to the other numbers I got? And I did the copmpression check twice, both with the same results.

 

depends on you really imo I would go with an oem rebuild and possibly a .25 overbore with slightly higher compression pistons if you dont go oem. Thats just my opinion, and depending on the shop or not turn around time on a rebuild shouldn't be that long, I believe total time for my car was a month. But that was the engine being completely torn down, inspected, cleaned, yada yada, yada yada.

 

Ditch the rings and think about some other pistons.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Aquafina &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ditch the rings and think about some other pistons.</TD></TR></TABLE>
I was going to go that route yet this is a daily driver and I simply gotta have something reliable. I'm probablly going to go with the Spoon ITR pistons and bump up the compression a bit with a Mugen head gasket.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by S(J)O(D)L(M) &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The variance is'nt all too great, but to be on the safe side I decided to rebuild her. Could there be any reason why cylinder 3 is at 210 as opposed to the other numbers I got? And I did the copmpression check twice, both with the same results.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is so weird, #3 is higher than the others?

 

weird... maybe... Oil leaking into it, possible.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bbasso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">weird... maybe... Oil leaking into it, possible.</TD></TR></TABLE>
That's exactly what I was told... thats there is access oil getting by the rings, so I did the compression test myself and sure enough, it inhaled some oil during the test. I really have'nt been able to enjoy my car too much and it's stuff like this that happens at the wrong time in my life that makes me just want to put a "For Sale" on my car and just buy something else......

After 8 months of waiting for my car at the first shop I took my car to and $10,000
later, I took it to Driver's Image to see if they could fix what the first shop could'nt. They milked me for a $1,000 and I wound up getting into a huge fight with the owner and needless to say proceeded to the shop i'm currently at. I dumped another $6,500 there for them to tear everything down and recheck everything the other two shops did. Not one place has yet to take responsibilty for anything. Which in some cases they should.

When I left the first shop and took my car for a spin, I hit VTEC and my car died at the stop sign....... I was like WTF? Well, when I popped my hood, ALL, and I repeat all of my cam gear bolts were loose. Loose enough where I was able to undo it by hand. Now understand this shop had my car for 8 months, I had payed them $10,000 up front, and purchased ALL my own parts.
After that incident I had enough and pulled my car out to Driver's Image.

Driver's Image was an absolute joke. The guy Mike that worked there, their "mechanic" if you will, was bragging to me how many customers he had stolen from Gregg and just performed the work at his house and would actually steal money from the register right in front of me. The let me have my car back with a receipt that read" One oil leak still present, will fix later." Well, there goes that shop. I wound up calling the Better Buisness Bureau on their asses but we all know they don't do much but record a complaint.

Now here I am 1 year later having to rebuild a motor on which I changed the oil every two weeks(never topped off, always changed), never revved passed the 8,400 rev limit on my stock ECU, and i'm supposed to just open up my pocket book and just keep giving my money?

I tell you all something, this is putting quite a strain on my marriage. My wife has been so patient with all this, but on the other hand I can understand where she's coming from. Sorry to ramble on, just got a lot on my mind right now and no one to vent to. Thanks for listening to me whine.

 

Go OEM rings and pistons other than the CTR's. They bump the CR up nicely, but they don't flow all that well.

 

Make these two shops accountable for the damages and their lack of completing the work. If you have documentation of the work, hire a lawyer.

 

wow. driver's image used to have a good reputation.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Aquafina &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Go OEM rings and pistons other than the CTR's. They bump the CR up nicely, but they don't flow all that well.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Care to elaborate please? I'm kinda intrested in the CTR pistons but what do you mean by not flowing well at all?

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dk127 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wow. driver's image used to have a good reputation.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Don't even let me get started on those pieces of crap...........
and that's not hearsay, I went through plenty with those bastards.

 

PM'd.

 

Driver's image reviews:
http://www.team-integra.net/se...ID=90

Shop Name: [ Drivers Image ]


Located In Skokie, IL


Phone Number - Not Specified -

Initial Comments:


very good customer service.. great prices.. good location.

Other Member Comments:


» Posted by [ Chronocrane ] at 1/18/2004 11:49:18 PM
horrible service....way overpriced...use your money in a better place...unless you don't care about being ripped off!

» Posted by [ splitime ] at 7/29/2003 11:39:15 AM
Prices are way off. Its sad to see people getting ripped off.

» Posted by [ jdmjon51 ] at 4/18/2003 4:09:46 PM
Overpriced, and hard to bargain with. If you need something, guaranteed to be in stock though, but heavy price to pay.

» Posted by [ ekcoupe97 ] at 2/12/2003 4:05:18 PM
Never had a problem here with products or service.

» Posted by [ nonvtecda9 ] at 1/29/2003 6:48:39 AM
heavily over priced but large inventory. if you need something quick go there, ill bet my money they got it.

» Posted by [ Sh4rky ] at 10/10/2002 8:55:35 PM
They seem to know what they're doing but they're extremely overpriced!

» Posted by [ TheGSRGuy ] at 10/6/2002 7:46:47 PM
I hate Driver's Image. Dumb staff and incredibly overpriced.

» Posted by [ Osman ] at 9/26/2002 6:55:29 PM
i actually think they are overpriced. i paid $300 for an aem intake + bypass valve.

 

changing the oil every 2 weeks does nothing for you. secondly was the engine hot when you performed the test. and though those test results are not ideal i do not feel that they would warrant a rebuild, but if you are looking for every last bit of power then it may not be that bad of an idea, otherwise I would just get some thicker oil and continue to drive the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bob Boberson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">changing the oil every 2 weeks does nothing for you. secondly was the engine hot when you performed the test. and though those test results are not ideal i do not feel that they would warrant a rebuild, but if you are looking for every last bit of power then it may not be that bad of an idea, otherwise I would just get some thicker oil and continue to drive the car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did I ever say that changing the oil every two weeks would do any thing for me accept the piece of mind that my levels were correct? NO.
Please explain what you would consider an ideal test.
And different oil weights? You're talking to the wrong person about oils. I've tried em all, weights, manufacturers, and the same problem with all of em........it's a damn R motor, they just burn oil. End of story Mr. Boberson.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by S(J)O(D)L(M) &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

........it's a damn R motor, they just burn oil. End of story Mr. Boberson.
</TD></TR></TABLE>Then why are you worried Just run it to the ground

Good luck with the decision you make

 

Why was the car in the shop to begin with?

Did you get a leak-down test done?

How much oil are you burning?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Misfit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Then why are you worried Just run it to the ground

Good luck with the decision you make </TD></TR></TABLE>
HAHAHA!!! I'd love to but like must of you guys on here i've put a lot of money into my car and next to wife, my car is one of my greatest loves of my life(as corny as that may sound). I think i've made the decision to go with JDM ITR pistons .25 over and call it a day. I was gonna do the Spoon pistons but can anyone tell me if they yield any more compression than the regular JDM ones,or are they just balanced JDM pieces?

 

Car went to the shop for a CEL that had come up, one was my O2 sensor and the other was 15 ignition output signal, which I could not trace. We pulled the plug from cylinder three only to find oil residue on it. Did the compression test and results are above.

 

Spoon pistons = balanced jdm itr pistons
well, spoon pistons aren't that expensive tho (comparing to jdm itr postons)
i think they are worth to get

 

balanced or matched mass?

 

Balanced as far as I know.

 

80% sure they are matched mass.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by S(J)O(D)L(M) &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Did I ever say that changing the oil every two weeks would do any thing for me accept the piece of mind that my levels were correct? NO.
Please explain what you would consider an ideal test.
And different oil weights? You're talking to the wrong person about oils. I've tried em all, weights, manufacturers, and the same problem with all of em........it's a damn R motor, they just burn oil. End of story Mr. Boberson.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

ever heard of a dipstick?

have you tried the oil treatment and what weight oil are you currently running

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bob Boberson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ever heard of a dipstick?

have you tried the oil treatment and what weight oil are you currently running</TD></TR></TABLE>

Some people choose to top off the oil when it starts to get low, I on the other hand have OCD which does not allow me to do this so I just go ahead and change it every two weeks.
I "was" running Amsoil 10w-30 and it was'nt as bad as Mobil 10w-30. My car drank Mobil 1 synthetics. No matter what weight 15w-50,5w-30 blah blah blah.