Here's my situation. I have been going through oil like mad with my H22 (1 quart every 50-70 miles). Every time I'm at WOT, high cam or low cam, a ridiculous amount of smoke goes shooting out my tailpipe the entire time I'm at WOT. I did have a minor leak in my oil pan gasket which is now fixed. Anyways, I have removed my Intake Manifold several times in the last few months for various reasons and every time I do it there are trails of oil sitting in each manifold runner. I have oil in the runners whether the stock PCV system is hooked up, or if my catch can is hooked up (even if my catch can was catching all the oil I'd be emptying it after every drive). My compression is good, 225-230 on all 4 cylinders, and the head recieved a fresh rebuild a few months ago.

I just want to know if anyone has any ideas as to why I seem to be sucking up oil like I am? Is it the PCV system not working well or something else? I'm tempted to stick a breather on the end that normally hooks up to the Manifold, or on both ends of the valve cover, but then if I continue to go through oil like I have my engine bay will get coated with oil.

 

do you have the valve cover breather hooked up, the one that pulls air into the intake before the throttle body?

if so, thats the problem, just put a catch can on that one too and see if that solves the problem, it is either that breather or the pcv.....

 

I just installed a turbo onto my buddies h23a. And hes having the same problem. Ill be watching to see if any one has any good ideas.

 

I'm NA by the way, but this will certainly help any boosted people experiencing the same problem.

No breathers (as in the mini-filter type) hooked up right now. I have the standard hose going from the Intake pipe to the Valve cover. So you're sugggesting putting a catch can between that connection as well?

Another thing I forgot to mention that may or may not be a factor is that, at start up my car lets out a lot of black stuff (I'm assuming carbon) from the tail pipe. I now have a permanent 18" streak on the ground behind my car where I park. If I hold my hand at my tailpipe while it warms up, when I pull my hand away it is covered with lots of black spots (and water from condensation).


Modified by 2lude4u at 7:42 AM 6/30/2005

 

Normally it does suck in a lot of oil vapors throught the PCV, which is why many people put a catch can there. I have my can there and I empty a 1/4 quart of oil or so every couple months.

 

I understand that. The problem is I'm going through a quart a day, if I drive to work. I have visible trails of oil on my runners that drip out as I'm removing the manifold. This is very abnormal and I can't seem to figure out what the cause is. I think I'm going to try a few different things with breathers to figure this out, but I'm definately open to any input anyone may have.

 

The PCV could be the cause of some of your consumption - try replacing the valve as a cheap maintenance item. But from the amount you're burning, it sounds like you've got ring sealing issues.

And it's definitely possible to have good compression numbers with bad oil rings - try and get a leakdown test done.

 

Well, an update is I finally did do a leakdown test and they ranged between 15-20%, most being on the higher end. According to the gauge this is an okay reading (according to the gauge 0-40% is okay, but that's probably for domestic big blocks or something), but from my understanding with a Honda you really don't want to see anything higher than 10%.

Is the 15-20% leakdown responsible for me going through a quart of oil every 50-70 miles? Is my block basically toast (bad rings or scored cylinders), or is 15-20% really not that bad, though not optimal?

 

I am having the exact same problem answers would be great.