First of all, yes I did a search. The search results just came back with topics such as "with a little research you'll be able to tell whether it is rings or valves" or "it could be either one", etc.

I am using 1 quart of oil every 300-400 miles in my 125k mile LS Integra. I have gone through the valve lash three times to make sure it is correct, and it is. When I start the car up (a cold start - after it's been sitting) the valves knock for about 3 seconds and then stop knocking. In this cold-start routine I also spit oil out the tail pipe as it leaves little spatters on the pavement.

Can anyone point me to a thread that you may have bookmarked or a book that I need to go buy or ANYTHING that can help me figure out whether it is my valves or my rings? I have a compression tester and feeler gauges, but I just don't know what to test and/or how to test to see if my problem lies with my valves or my rings.

Here's what I'm thinking - if the compression test comes back OK then it could still be the valves because if the valve seals are bad oil will leak down past them and sit on top of the valves until I start to turn over the motor at which point the oil will be dumped into the combustion chamber OR the seats may not be perfect so it could trickle down anyway. But if the compression test isn't on-par then I'm still looking at either rings or valve seats that are causing the compression test not to meet part. See what I'm saying?

However, I do remember reading something a long time ago about pouring a tiny bit of oil down inside the cylinder you are testing and see if the compression goes up. If the compression goes up then your rings are OK. If compression is the same and/or goes down then the rings are bad. Does this sound familiar or am I just making $hit up?

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

you got it backwards if you add oil and compression improves it IS your rings if it stays the same its you valve guides

 

Gotcha.

I got talking to my dad and I think it's a combination of the two. The valve seals are probably gone because of the oil splatter upon initial start up and the rings are probably in bad shape due to how much oil I use during daily driving. It looks like I need to save for another b16a swap!

 

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

I got talking to my dad and I think it's a combination of the two. The valve seals are probably gone because of the oil splatter upon initial start up and the rings are probably in bad shape due to how much oil I use during daily driving. It looks like I need to save for another b16a swap! </TD></TR></TABLE>

are you sure its oil and not just water(condesation mixting with the soot in your exhaust?

even if a compression test come back normal your oiling rings could still be bad. get a leak down test too.

also and smoke? if so when does it happen?

 

sounds like its your rings

 

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

are you sure its oil and not just water(condesation mixting with the soot in your exhaust?

even if a compression test come back normal your oiling rings could still be bad. get a leak down test too.

also and smoke? if so when does it happen?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well it could be water mixed in with the suit. I just bled by ABS system AGAIN and while I had the car on it spattered out behind the tail pipe again but it wiped up really easily...so it might be water.

The smoke happens when I get on it (which is hardly ever since I've noticed the oil consumption) - I can actually see the puff behind me at night with another cars lights on behind me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Electrodynamic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well it could be water mixed in with the suit. I just bled by ABS system AGAIN and while I had the car on it spattered out behind the tail pipe again but it wiped up really easily...so it might be water.

The smoke happens when I get on it (which is hardly ever since I've noticed the oil consumption) - I can actually see the puff behind me at night with another cars lights on behind me.</TD></TR></TABLE>


could be vavle seals, because valve seals normally smoke on initial start-up and idle.

 

i had a similar problem with my teg before i got the motor rebuilt. i was pouring in 1-2 qts of oil every week and i had black stuff all up in my rear bumper.

compression test came out good too. the problem ended up being my oil rings and valve guides. =*(

i also had white smoke come out during startup for about 30 seconds - and that part is because of the valves.

hope any of this helps.