The R has been burning oil since I bought it, but it's progressively gotten worse over the last 3 years. I've always been told there was white-ish/blue smoke seen from my exhaust on the track from time to time, and I always burn a lot of oil at the track (quart for 5 sessions). But the last month and a half or so I've been burning a quart every 2 weeks and blowing smoke out the exhaust pretty much every time I hit VTEC. I did a compression test this weekend and came up with ~220, ~220, ~220, ~195 on cylinders 1-4. I did it twice.

I pulled the plugs which were stock if I recall, 55k miles, and all had oily/black residue. Plug #4 had the most and a lot more white crusty build-up on it then the others too. I replaced the plugs with new NGK Iridiums, topped off the oil and then went and beat on the car for about 45 minutes in the back country and came back to check the oil/plugs. I had burnt 1/4 quart of oil and plug #4 was oily/black already. The other plugs were a little dirty, but not like #4.

What do you guys think? Time for a professional to take a look see?

(edit: just realized I left out the part where I did replace the plugs)


Modified by uncleben at 1:02 PM 6/3/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by uncleben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What do you guys think? Time for a professional to take a look see? </TD></TR></TABLE>

There's always the "look the other way" method of fixing it. Ignore it until it gets worse.

New PCV and maybe a catchcan "could help".

Bbasso has a similar issue.

 

55k on stock plugs. Time to get get new ones

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by uncleben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I pulled the plugs which were stock if I recall, 55k miles, and all had oily/black residue. Plug #4 had the most and a lot more white crusty build-up on it then the others too. I topped off the oil and then went and beat on the car for about 45 minutes in the back country and came back to check the oil/plugs. I had burnt 1/4 quart of oil and plug #4 was oily/black already. The other plugs were a little dirty, but not like #4.

What do you guys think? Time for a professional to take a look see? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Mine burns oil like a lot of other Rs but I checked my spark plugs recently with no sign of oily residue. The Chilton manual has a reference page about spark plugs used for diagnosing engine problems. Oily residue seems to indicate a bad piston ring. I think some white/gray soot means it is burning rich.
Hope this helps

 

1 qt per session
1 qt per tank on highway cruising
with very nice dyno #s and all around power.
my solution... waiting it out until It does not drive anymore, then fix.
But I have very good compression across all 4 cylinders
I replaced the pcv and it did nothing to help.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bbasso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">1 qt per session
1 qt per tank on highway cruising
with very nice dyno #s and all around power.
my solution... waiting it out until It does not drive anymore, then fix.
But I have very good compression across all 4 cylinders
I replaced the pcv and it did nothing to help.</TD></TR></TABLE>

sounds like my car, but haven't checked #'s yet.

 

I replaced the PCV too. The old one *was* shot, but it didn't fix anything either. Several people offline have been telling me piston rings too, at least on #4 where compression is low. So "ringing" a piston(s), is this a costly endeavor? Is there more involved that needs to be done when replacing rings?

Having 2 Honda's in my life that never run right is getting to be a royal PITA. Hopefully the hatchcrapper will hold together in Topeka this weekend

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B2FiNiTY &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">55k on stock plugs. Time to get get new ones </TD></TR></TABLE>

I was thinking, can't that boy read?? Then I read my post and realized in editing it I had left out the fact that I did change the plugs. Heh, sorry. I should have mentioend also that the car sure seemed much more peppy and responsive (or something I don't know what the butt dyno is telling me exactly) from replacing the plugs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by uncleben &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I replaced the PCV too. The old one *was* shot, but it didn't fix anything either. Several people offline have been telling me piston rings too, at least on #4 where compression is low. So "ringing" a piston(s), is this a costly endeavor? Is there more involved that needs to be done when replacing rings?

Having 2 Honda's in my life that never run right is getting to be a royal PITA. Hopefully the hatchcrapper will hold together in Topeka this weekend </TD></TR></TABLE> could be valve seals. same problem on my friends GS-R motor. cyllinder 4, on the intake side both seals are trashed. knocking him down to 90 psi with the others being around 150-160. yank the head yourself and take it to a machine shop. if they dont find anything then take the block out and get it re-ringed. not very much to have done. if you pull it apart then you're looking at most $500 for fixing this oil problem, and breaking in the motor all over again which is fun, NOT! lol

 

if you lived by me ide pull it apart for you for pretty cheap. but you are to far away

 

Piston rings maybe, but that doesn't explain cylinder number 4. If it were just the piston oil rings (not compression) you'd get good compression across the board, but have oil consumption. You've got that quirky problem with #4 that means something else has to be wrong. Maybe it's rings and ???

And it's not as simple as reringing the pistons. You should hone the cylinders and technically overbore then the first standard overbore and install oversized (first standard overbore) pistons with those new rings. There have been lots of stories of folks who honed and installed new rings on their old pistons and oil consumption didn't go away.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by typer_801 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
And it's not as simple as reringing the pistons. You should hone the cylinders and technically overbore then the first standard overbore and install oversized (first standard overbore) pistons with those new rings. There have been lots of stories of folks who honed and installed new rings on their old pistons and oil consumption didn't go away. </TD></TR></TABLE>

My Acura dealer quoted $3,000 for this work. I vowed never to go there again except for oil filters and touch-up paint.