I have a 2000 GSR with 95,000 miles. When I'm going 55 or above on the highway and I coast and slow down by 5 mph or more, then accelerate, a big black cloud comes out. Also if I get off the highway I can smell burnt oil and occasionally smoke comes out when I accelerate for a few blocks.

I just got the car and it was abused. Bad timing with adjustable cam gears that are off I'm sure, running rich, OBDII to OBDI conversion, and motor lacks alot of power. I did a compression test and it was almost perfect.

I have another B18C1 in the garage that I'm going to swap out unless it is a relatively easy fix to stop the oil burning.

Any ideas?

 

if the compression test is nearly perfect your problem is not the motor, it's all the hacking that has been done to it. bent valves from weird cam gears don't do perfect numbers. if you have over 170psi of compression on all 4 your problem lies elsewhere.

 

Yeah the compression test was about 210 for all cylinders. My friend suggested maybe a spun main bearing.

 

Yeah if you have 210 across all 4, the engine should be fine. Have you checked your oil level to see if you're actually losing any?

 

you will have low oil psi and the engine should knock if this is the case. also you won't really go through oil. my guess is cam timing or ignition timing or the ecu is out of wack. something non internal

 

black smoke means its running rich, not burning oil, unless youre seeing things. just get it tuned.

 

this was what i suspected as well. however, if the timing belt is off one tooth it will still run but will usually be real rich, down on power etc. double check the timing belt, look into the tune etc

 

I would start by putting stock cam gears on there before doing anything else, then make sure everything is aligned, and put the timing belt back on. Also make sure it's tensioned properly so it doesn't jump time later.

 

Thanks for all the responses.

It is running rich, which is some of the smoke coming out, but it is burning oil and my level does go down. I can smell it too.

The timing is definitly screwed up. I think it could be off by a tooth as well as the adjustable cam gears are off a few degrees. The timing belt isn't tensioned properly either. The guy who had it before me messed up everything he touched. I got this as a project car.

I have another motor with 15,000 miles less in my garage with a skunk2 IM, along with other bells and whistles. I need to decide if i want to fix this one or if I should just swap it and avoid all these problems. With either motor, I would have to do the timing belt and water pump, new ECU, and tune. It might still be more worth it to swap.

But if it is just the timing causing the oil burning, now I know I can sell if for more to my friend.

How does oil burn if the timing is off? Isn't everything sealed no matter what?

 

Heres what I don't understand about the adjust gears that are on it. They are set roughly at zero but the gaps on either side of the bolt are not equal.

 

intake cam looks advanced

 

actually it looks retarded. those gears are not marked correctly for a counterclockwise b series engine. i have my i doubts if those are even b series gears? usually aem has the b gears marked correctly. the intake cam is retarded in this picture. sell those gears and get stock pr3 honda cam gears. if you do not have any i'll sell you a set for $20

 

PR-3 is R cam gears?

 

Yes, those cam gears are marked correctly. If you loosen the bolts and rotate the camshaft (and middle red portion of the gear) counterclockwise, advancing the cam, the little pointer on the outer black part of the gear would move toward the "A" on the markings.

But those old 3-bolt AEM gears are a POS anyway and notorious for slipping. Get some stock cam gears on there and then troubleshoot from there if you still have problems.

 

I think stock cam gears and a fresh timing belt would help out more than you think.

 

the strange thing is if you were to rotate that intake cam gear to where it was set at zero, the 3 bolts wouldn't be near the middle of the adjustment range.

it looks to me like the intake gear either slipped or was installed incorrectly.

 

my stock gsr cam gears say PR-3

 

what am i seeing weird. counterclock is advance on a b series but the last todas i had i could have swore were marked the other way. i'll try and find a pic

 

pr3 are stock on the gsr and type r.

 

http://www.team-integra.net/images/B...AEMCamGear.jpg

now I'm confused LOL. that's from team integra so I'm assuming it's for a b-series. either way though, something doesn't look right with the OP's setup and if it were me, I would go back to stock or get better cam gears

 

The intake cam is set at 0. It is just the camera angle that makes it look as though it isn't

I noticed today that if I'm on the highway going 60, coast until 55, then step on the gas again there is a big could. But if I do the same thing only coast in neutral, there isn't a cloud of smoke. My theory is that the tension on the belt is so loose that having a load on it, decelerating in gear changing the load, and reapplying load causes the belt to shift back and forth causing the timing to fluctuate. Anyone think there is any truth to that?

 

Bump. Want to confirm before I do anything.

 

well the general consensus seems to be get some stock cam gears and a new timing belt. since you already have another b18c in the garage, why not swap those gears into your current engine and see if that fixes the problem.

it would be a free way to at least eliminate those aem gears as the culprit.

 

The one in my garage has AEM cam gears too. I'm buying stock ones and doing a new timing belt.

 

I just found this in another forum.

Valve stem seals: this keep the oil around the cams from leaking down into the cylinder. they tend to harden up over 10-15 years and 150-250 k miles. If you get a puff of smoke out of the tailpipe when you let off of the throttle while in gear, it is a good chance the seals are dried out. It IS possible to repair them without taking down the engine but you may want to wait until you need to do the timing belt too since much of the same stuff comes off.


Looks like I'll be replacing those too.