Here's the deal. I bought a 98 EX 11 months ago, with 85k on it, bone stock. I changed the oil right away, with Mobil One 5w30 synthetic, and after 5k I changed it again, with the same oil. It was okay, it was a little low, but not a quart. Then at 95k I went to the oil change/car wash across the street because a friend who works the counter hooks me up. They never mentioned anything, so I would imagine it was fine at that point. Now, at 100k I changed the oil along with the trans oil that is part of the 100k maintenance, and I ended up with more trans oil than motor oil lol. I must have burned a little more than 1.5 quarts, which isn't terrible, but definitely not fine.

The car is still stock, and I don't really beat on it at all. One thing I have been doing lately that is out of the ordinary, is shifting to 5th gear at 40 mph, which brings the rpms between 1500 and 2000. This has helped save at the pump, but according to my dad it could be resulting in burning oil. My knowledge tells me that maybe the switch to synthetic( I have no idea what kind was in there when I bought it; it might have been synthetic but I highly doubt it with a generic oil filter on there) is responsible, or maybe the lower cruising rpms at 40 mph could be the reason.

Today I did a compression test, using 5 cycles to get readings, and I came up with 170-180-175-190, which is not low at all, and within the variance percentage of adjacent cylinders. The only odd thing I noticed while checking the plugs was that the #4 spark plug, from the 190 psi cylinder, had black soot all around the rim, or bottom of the threads. I have never seen this on any spark plug from my cars; would this be because the cylinder is running rich? Could that result in carbon buildup in the chamber which would raise the compression higher than the others? I have never owned a car which has burned this much oil in a single change period, and the only thing I can think of is my valve guides could be leaking, but wouldn't that result in the spark plugs being oily? They all looked fine except the soot on the outside ring of the #4 plug.

Any help/ideas/experiences are welcome

 

Anybody?

 

 

ditch the syntethic oil, use somthing thicker.
run a can of seafoam through the break booster.
maybe an oil stablizer also.
see if that helps any

 

First, do another compression test, but this time test each cylinder twice. Before the second test for each cylinder, pour a cap full of oil into it and see if your numbers change significantly.

Also, at your next oil change, try switching to a conventional high-mileage 5W-30 (I wouldn't suggest a higher viscosity) and see what your results are.

Either way, if you are using about 1.5 quarts between oil changes, that's not necessarily cause for alarm.

 

Are you doing the compression check at wide open throttle?

 

Yes I am doing it at WOT. This is the fourth time I've done a compression test on one of my cars, I know what I'm doing.

My old Integra used to burn a little oil, but probably not a full quart, and that had 140k when I sold it, and I used synthetic for probably the last 35k of those miles. My 180k Accord never burned much oil, and neither did my beat to hell b16 hatch.

I will try pouring a little oil in and seeing if that makes a noticeable difference, but isn't ~180 psi quite normal for a d16? If it does make a difference, that means my rings are getting worn, right?

 

that reminds me...my dumbass step brother had 250ml of oil left when i last did his oil change. His car still runs aright so we'll see how it goes.

Do a leakdown test to see if your cylinders seal properly.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Uncle Ben’s &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yes I am doing it at WOT. This is the fourth time I've done a compression test on one of my cars, I know what I'm doing.

My old Integra used to burn a little oil, but probably not a full quart, and that had 140k when I sold it, and I used synthetic for probably the last 35k of those miles. My 180k Accord never burned much oil, and neither did my beat to hell b16 hatch.

I will try pouring a little oil in and seeing if that makes a noticeable difference, but isn't ~180 psi quite normal for a d16? If it does make a difference, that means my rings are getting worn, right?</TD></TR></TABLE>

woahhh...
I was not implying that you did not know what you are doing..

yes, oil in the cylinders and a gradual rise in pressure are signs of bad rings.

 

It's all good. I'll try putting a little oil in the cylinders this week when I have the time to do another test. If that doesn't really yield any results, I will have to rent **** to do a leakdown test I guess.

 

sorry for the newb question/hijack.

Uncle Ben, could you give me the steps to do a compression test? I'm thinking about doing a little FI on my 96 civic which has a d16y8. I have the tester but don't know exactly how to do the test.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by rza49311 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sorry for the newb question/hijack.

Uncle Ben, could you give me the steps to do a compression test? I'm thinking about doing a little FI on my 96 civic which has a d16y8. I have the tester but don't know exactly how to do the test.</TD></TR></TABLE>

1. You take out the fuses to disable the fuel pump, ecu, and ignition. Just to be safe I also took the clips off the injectors, and disconnected the connector on the distributor.

2. Pull the spark plug wires off the plugs, and either mark them or place them in a manner in which you won't mix them up(this has happened to me in the past lol) Take a 5/8 long tube socket, ratchet and atleast an 8 inch extension, and take one or all of the spark plugs out.

3. Put a little oil on the threads of the compression tester hose(even newer testers can be rough to thread, and have a chance of stripping the threads) and screw it into the spark plug hole.

4. If you have a partner, have them hold the gauge, while you turn the engine over with the throttle wide open. There are three ways people do this: the ASE way, the Honda technician way, and the Honda tech way. These are, respectively, three jumps of the needle, five jumps of the needle, and burning your starter out while turning the engine until the needle stops moving so you can brag about having 30 psi over factory spec on Honda-Tech If you do not have a partner like I did the last time, find a spot under the hood to prop the gauge so that it is facing the windshield, so you can watch it while cranking the engine inside the car.

5. Just repeat steps 3 and 4 for the rest of the cylinders. Honda specifications are atleast 135 psi of compression in each cylinder, and no more than a 28 psi difference between cylinders. The universal specs suggest something is wrong if adjacent cylinders have more than 15% difference in pressure.

If you have normal, satisfactory results, something like 175-180-175-180 then your engine is in good shape mechanically, and you shouldn't need to do a leakdown test. But, if your results are something like 170-140-175-170 then you should do a leakdown test to see where the #2 cylinder is losing air. Before you do that, you can try to pour a bit of oil in that cylinder, and then try doing the test again; if the psi goes up to normal then your piston ring(s) are likely shot.

 

Thanks man! I'm going to give this a shot soon.

 

Bump for my car still burning oil. I think I am going to have a leakdown test done soon, but I bought a spare longblock just in case. Since the compression is fine, the rings are likely good, but how could I test to see if the valve seals or the oil rings are the culprit? All four pistons have carbon deposits on them, from what I can see through the sparkplug hole. Since it never smokes(nobody has ever seen it, plus I almost never wash the car and there has never been any residue whatsoever on the bumper) it is probably burning oil consistently? I never get into vtec with this car either. Also, my spark plugs are all white on the tips, is this an indicator that the engine is running rich, meaning the carbon deposits are certainly from oil? Whenever I search, everybody seems to have smoke, but I don't. I have made sure it is not leaking oil anywhere.

Also, it's burning oil faster now. Now it burns a little over a quart every 1k miles.

 

 

its true what your dad said about lugging your engine in 5th. that can cause oil consumption. as for compression testing it doesn't tell you anything about your oil control rings you can have good even compression in all cylinders and burn a **** ton of oil. to tell if your valve seals are the culprit start your engine after its been sitting for a couple of hours and look for blue smoke on start up. also check if your pcv valve is correct. it controls the flow of your crankcase vapors and if a wrong valve is on then it could be drawing to much oil vapor and burning it. but you've also checked for external leaks.

 

Yeah, I've had designated parking in a concrete floored garage since day one. There is zero oil on the cement. Oh well fvck it, maybe I'll just throw the longblock I just picked up on the cheap and do the 300+ whp turbo build I've always wanted to do lol.

 

where do you live? Because you might need to use a little thicker oil (like I do down here in florida) because the heat is so high it thins out the oil.

 

I live just a bit north of you, where it is currently 50 degrees I'm already using a half quart of Lucal oil stabilizer, which is probably more viscous than honey, and it still burns oil lol.

 

damn. well i figured it was worth a shot. Its 85 here lol. I always put in 10w-40, but im also on boost and the motor is built.

 

ive heard the after 40k miles unless full synthetic oil was used prior you should just use conventional because it could shorten the length of ur engine? anyone else head of this? so the switch from conventional to full synthetic could of done it

 

replace those sparkplugs as well as ignition wires rotor and cap. use mobil 1 oil and run some engine restorer