ok i have a 97 civic ex with a d16y8, and it has about 142,000 miles....


when i start my car, i don't think it burns any oil... it most noticeably burns oil when i get on it (which i rarely do anymore, because i'm tired of spending on money on quarts of oil...), although it seems when i drive normally it burns a lot of oil too (just not visibly)... (i drove from Illinois back to ohio today, and went through a quart, although i was about 80mph almost the whole time) i did a compression test and it read about 170-180 across the board...

in general my car runs very strong, it's just embarrassing when theres a cloud of smoke behind me when i drive...

i have black **** all over the back of my car... and i think the cloud of smoke my car lets off is mostly black, but also blue (i know its oil)...

it is NOT coolant, i just had the headgasket replaced recently


so what do you guys think? piston rings? or valve seals? or what? i hope its just valve seals so i only have to take the head off, or do you think i should just pull the whole motor and do the rings too?

 

do you have a cat? or a test pipe or something of the sort?

 

i have my stock cat, with an apexi n1 exhaust...

 

when you change the oil, does it smell like fuel? Really, really black? You can have an oil analysis done for $20 and they will tell you how much fuel is in your oil. That will shed some light on the health of your engine.

 

it didnt smell like fuel, no.... i just changed it last weekend

 

I'd say valve seals then, but its still just an educated guess. Compression test the motor, specifically looking for differences between cylinders. If its burning oil in one cylinder, the plug should show it too.

 

yeah man i did a compression test... it ran very consistently across the board

 

for the black stuff on ur bumper, when was the last time you tuned up your car? Check the plug colors, they should be tan.

 

75% sure its valve seals then. There's always that chance though...Plugs looked ok too then?

 

car is tuned up for the most part... plugs look OK.... a little black but not bad at all... i just did the wires... fuel filter... timing belt, water pump, headgasket

black stuff on my bumper is definitely oil... i dont really have any doubt

 

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black stuff on my bumper is definitely oil... i dont really have any doubt</TD></TR></TABLE>

Then do a leakdown test to see if you cylinders are sealing correctly and see what is the matter.