Well...

I finally got it. 03. silverstone, 46k miles. $17500.

drove it home yesterday seemed alright...

I heard a valve tap sound last night...so I got a stethescope and listened...#3 definately has some issues, hopefully just an adjustment, and no damage

From there I pulled the plugs...man they were trashed, looked like OEM stock, trashed...


So I decide to do a compression test.

#1-135 psi
#2-220
#3-235
#4-240


So from there I was like man this sucks...I put some oil in #1 cylinder, do the test again, it went to about 175 psi

I put the new plugs in and drive around, the old #1 plug was so trashed I dunno if it even sparked properly, therefore I was thinking of the excess fuel possibly washed the rings, so I figured new plugs, a good burn in the cylinders would get the thing cleaned up and re sealed...

I get back from driving. #1 had 120 psi WTF?

The rest went down too by at least 10-15 psi in each cylinder after I drove for about 15 minutes

SO I step it up a notch and get out my leakdown tester....

#1 I did it 2 times. 89% the first time 85% the second
#2-3-4 all had about 92-95%

So the leakdown test doesn't seem half as bad as the compression test, and I hear the compression test is less important as the leakdown

My father builds full race motors for domestic V8 GM cars...he said the compression test could be foul due to a piece of dirt or something on the ring, or stuck in a valve etc...

I came from a non-vtec turbo integra...so I assume adjusting the valves on a vtec need a specific tool or something?

I figured I would just get honda to do a valve adjustment, I'm not sure how much costs though?

I figured I would also get a full diagnostic ran on it, but I dunno how much that is either...


Any input on what could be wrong, or what to do would help. Thanks.

 

A diagnostic at Honda ran me $265. I've also seen 00-01 with low-comp on cylinder #4, but #1 on an 03... hopefully someone can figure this out.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slideways2000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">A diagnostic at Honda ran me $265. I've also seen 00-01 with low-comp on cylinder #4, but #1 on an 03... hopefully someone can figure this out.</TD></TR></TABLE>

is it right to left or left to right? from the header side?

 

The one closest to firewall. Sorry, I just looked in the manual, its #1, not #4. Left.

 

#1 cylinder is one furthest from firewall

 

anymore help on this?

 

Ok then I was right... but they say cylinder #1 has the marking on that end of the crankshaft. That's what i get for looking at a drawing.

#4 according to Nishant.

 

vavle adjustment from honda runs about 100 bucks

if you know anything about heads, i would take the head off and look for "damaged" parts

 

any more help on this one?

 

I bought an 03 with 17k on it.

Sounds like the issue I had, eventually the #4 dropped a valve and now I have a F22C in there.

I can bitch and rant about everything that went wrong and I will if you really want me to.

I just feel like I got screwed over by Honda and their warranty and I wish we can all ban together somehow so that I can get some money back. Those of us that seem to have "these issues"

 

well what do you all suggest I should do, pull the head, look at it? just drive it and wait for the smoke then rebuild?

I was going to turbo this thing, since I have almost everything I need but not now...

I have the tools and intelligence to pull this whole thing apart and replace the rings, hone the walls. I just dont feel like it honestly...thats why I bought this car so it could be more reliable, now its sitting out there like my LS-T, cylinder issues.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slideways2000 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The one closest to firewall. Sorry, I just looked in the manual, its #1, not #4. Left.</TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Nishant &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">#1 cylinder is one furthest from firewall</TD></TR></TABLE>

guys dont guess ... get ur facts straight

 

try to adjust the valves before you take it apart ... it might be just the valves NOT the rings ...

 

I'm gonna go ahead and say that it is more than likely a valve issue than it is a ring issue.

 

well. after I get it back from the inspection station, I guess I'll go ahead and adjust the valves...

Thanks all for the input...hopefully I can get the compression back up in that cylinder.

 

I had the same problem... Ended up being the piston rings were bad in that one cylinder. I would add a capful of oil and the compression would climb up about 40psi. mine read 123-210-210-215. The only way to fix the problem is rebuild the engine or install a new one. I ended up buying a used low mileage engine from a wrecked car and selling my old engine to someone who had a cracked block. Good luck.

 

you guys that actually had ring problems, the car would smoke right?

i'm not even getting smoke at cold start up, or under hard acceleration, this is the only thing that is making me believe it is a valve.

I have yet to adjust the valves but I will ASAP.

 

my car was not smoking at all. The engine would idle a bit weird, and I also thought it was something to do with the valves. I had a friend of mine that knows a lot about Hondas check it out and he did a compression test on it. He added some oil and the compression went up. I also told him that if the rings are bad why is the car not smoking? He mentioned that the pistons have more than one ring and he said that the ring that seals the oil from the chamber is fine, he said that the compression ring was the ring that was fried, or that there might be some scorthing on the cylinder walls. My car would run fine once it got over 1500rpm and would even do 100mph on the freeway no problem. But at idle the car would shake and the problem got worse and worse. I think you might have a ring problem with your engine and not a valve problem. Try adjusting the valves and see if that helps, but if not plan on rebuilding the engine or installing a different engine.

 

Do you plan on pushing the car hard? I wouldn't bother with it if you're going to be driving the car around town and not pushing it hard. From what you mentioned, sounded like detonation in the problematic cylinder resulting in ring damage.

Depending on how you'll use the car, if you plan on going crazy, take your time and look around for a spare block to build up for whatever project you decide to pursue. Also depending on your budget, you can always rebuild your current block. It all depends on how much damage that cylinder suffered but I would guess you could get decent mileage out of it for daily driving around town as long as you monitor oil levels. Even if it isn't smoking, doesn't mean it's not burning oil.