ok well last night we popped the head off a b16 with 140k on it. this was the first time the head was taken off of this motor. The exhaust valves are super WHITE which I think means it's running lean? Not sure... They also have what looks like a buildup on the exhaust valves which may be some additive in the fuel, i have no idea. Why are my exhaust valves so damn white?

There is also a shiny spot on 2 pistons (if i remember correctly, 2 and 3) in the valve reliefs. I don't think there was piston to valve contact but it sorta looks like it. Any ideas?

The car is tuned on Hondata S200 and the AFR ranges from 11.4-12.3. I have no idea what the timing is either need a chip burner

sorry i didnt resize the pics, they gotta be big to see the detail

PICS

 

i always thought white meant lean but is that with plugs?, have you used any additives?

im not really sure but im sure someone on here can tell you

 

no additives

only 93octane

 

there is always additives in gas from the pump of some sort, most exhaust valves ive seen have always been white, the combustion chamber seems to have a good amount of carbon, most likely not running too lean, but it has 140k so it has alot of history. Timing would have to be pretty retarded to overheat the exhaust valves. just some thoughts i got when i saw ur pictures, im no expert.

 

If you were running a very conservative tune, the exh valves will suffer a bit. Retarding timing means burning the mixture later, which can lead to higher egt's. That directly impacts the valves' temps, usually for the wrose.

Its hard to tell anything about the pistson, other than the fact there is a lot of carbon on them, and that the person pulling the head failed horribly at draining the coolant. Be certain that person reads fully the actual documented instructions on how to remove/replace the HG. Its simple to do if you don't care about warpage/etc, but there are a few fine steps if you DO care.

 

Blown head gasket...?

 

oil consumption. the white on the exhaust valve is ash residue burning off from the oil.

looks normal asside from the carbon build-up.

 

yep, i just pulled apart a type-r that was going through a quart a week. look at the valves and piston tops on mine:

 

seals on the turbo were blown, there was oil in the intake mani and intercooler

oh yeah and we forgot to drain coolant somehow lol

 

well there is your source of oil that is burning.

 

just wondering if you had some sort of anti lag set up on that motor

 

thats what it looks like by looking at the exhaust valves but no there wasnt. that was the plan to retune and use the antilag for when we're launching on slicks at the strip but i dont know now, didnt know they took THAT much abuse just by running conservative timing, I don't even wanna c what they look like after some anti-lag. Like I said I don't know what timing theyre running on this motor but it's looking pretty conservative.

hiprofile : we followed all the steps of removing the head except for draining coolant, dunno y but that was forgotten until coolant was already everywhere lol

anybody see on the piston pics the shiny spot on the valve relief? I don't know what this is, is it contact or just burnt up **** cuz i couldnt scrape the shiny spot off, looks like fresh metal

 

I've always thought the exhaust valves would be white due to the fact that they are exposed to higher heat going out from the combustion chamber. And the cooler air from the intake is what keeps the intake valves from changing. Every head I've removed looked like that so I wouldn't think that's an issue.

 

Yeah it makes sense. I've never taken apart an oldish motor before without running seafoam first. Seems to clean it out pretty well.

Ok just for discussion sake what would the opposite mean? Another ls/v in a buddies car has one cylinder with white exhaust valves and the rest have blackish valves.

Is there any way to clean the piston tops easily before putting it back together? And a light wire wheel wont hurt the valves will it? Or just get new ones?

 

The marks on the pistons look like areas where some carbon build-up broke off.
Nothing wrong with that.

 

Looks like high egt's from antilag or improper tuning IMO

 

Whats the best way to remove that buildup?

I have some buildup on mine also and tried a few things to remove it without any luck.

 

Best way I have found is when the car is running.
Seafoam does a great job.

With the head off I have covered the pistons with towel and poured B-12 chem tool on the rags (rags to keep the liquid on the surface of the piston and to slow evaporation). Seemed to eat it up decently.

Oil change is a must after either method.

 

Hey guys I'm new here, still tryna find out how to work this.
ive just bought a 5th gen prelude , H22a4
was throwing multiple misfire code and cylinder 3 misfire code. Just pulled the head off and seen the timing was off on the intake side. Also the exhaust valves are white with a lot of build up as well as in the combustion chambers , would this cause the multiple misfire code and cylinder 3 missing?
ill try to upload some pics The timing marks

The combustion chambers
All exhaust valves look like this

 

No. Not necessarily. white valves like that are typical with higher mileage engines, especially those that run in too high of a gear attempting to accelerate. It's rather common.

Your misfire sounds more ignition related. (distributor, internal coil, spark plug gap, etc).

Start checking there 1st. Make sure cap & rotor are changed, usual maintenance, etc..