I know my car isn't a type R, but you guys seem to be experts when it comes to this stuff, my 91 crx dx seems to be burning oil. Every time i do a compression test i get 185 185 185 185. no joke. My car has 186,000 miles on the clock and im guessing this high # is because of carbon build up on the pistons. However it seems That I am losing about a qt of oil every 4 wks. I did think my oil pan was the cause, but it doesn't leak to the point were oil gets on the ground. The person i got the car from had not done a valve adjustment in a long time because the damn thing was loud. I even drove it like this for about 1500 miles before I did my first adjustment. Could out of adjustment valves be the cause of the missing oil?

 

Well the same thing is happening to me. I have checked my compression and it was 225 across but I am leaking about 3 quarts every oil change. I also dont have any oil leaking from the motor. The rear bumper is all blackened from the oil burning up in my motor. People have told me that one or more of my valve seals are leaking and hence the oil consumption.

 

drain the oil, remove the oil pan and hondabond the chit out of the seating area...

You must eliminate any and all causes of external oil leaks before making any assumptions about internal problems.

 

Thanks, that makes sense. But could it also be the the valve guides, if im getting good compression? If so, im pretty sure you have to remove the head. how hard is this to do? if only the previous owner took care of the car, she was really running it into the ground when I got to it. At least there is no body rust

 

Well, the reason i was asking is that valves out of adjustment don't seat properly. If thats the case, wouldnt oil find it's way into the combustion chamber? Or is my logic way off?

 

Only if your valve seals are bad.

Sounds like you need a rebuild. It could be a dozen different things.

 

Usually when you don't adjust the valve for a long time, the adjustment will get looser (too much play between the lobe and the rocker arm). For the valve to not sit properly, the valve adjustment has to be too tight. Also for oil to find its way pass the valve it means you have loose valve guides. So I don't think a valve adjustment will solve your problem.

 

I was thinking the same EXACT thing..........

 

same here.

 

For the amount of mileage and most likely "hard miles" accumulated seems like your motor is still pretty strong. How hard do you drive the car? high rpm Vtec engagement is gonna consume more oil. A rebuild in the near future would probably be a good idea..

 

i was burning about 1 quart every 1k miles and my mechanic reckoned it was valve seals, but when he pulled the head he said the seals were fine and still fairly soft, so he took out the pistons and found the rings were done. so i had everything done, and when i got the car back he told me to expect to burn soem oil in the initial breakin period, but i done 1200miles before changing the oil again, and it never burned a single drop!!

 

Strangely enough, I don't push her that hard. I started noticing oil consumption after i installed my test pipe( my cat was bad) it revs pretty quick, but it still pulls strong. I want to convert to MPFI and then do a motor swap when I get the cash.

 

Compression test is ok. It's enough to say the piston rings are not done?

There are two type of rings. Can somebody explain better than me?

 

Here is what I expirenced.

Blow oil at HIGH RPM only (VTEC) 1 quart in a 20 min race session

MY OIL RINGS are bad.

If it were valves it would ONLY smoke at IDLE when Vacuum is at its highest

Bumper is black.. so was mine.. ALSO my plugs were still real clean.. because it was burning off so hot and at HIGH RPM only..

Just FYI.. good luck.. rings is fun!

 

My compression test was great.. 245 accross the board.. so..

If the compression is good.. and there no smoke at startup or idle
and a leakdown is great as well... and the plugs are real clean.

Then its the oil rings and not the compression rings,.

The job of the oil rings are to "wipe" the walls clean, and if they leave iol on the walls.. then there will be smoke. The compresson rings cannot do it alone.

 

thank, it's exactly my condition...

 

I guess mine are the oil rings then because that sounds just like my situation. I didn't know they had compression rings and oil rings...interesting. I guess it is time for a rebuild lol.

 

My new pistons are on the way and I will let you know in a few weeks whether the rings fixed it (if you want to wait to be absolutely sure!)

 

Then I guess my oil rings are going. My spark plugs don't show a trace of oil on them. They are a light tan color. I thought that was a sign of normal combustion?


[Modified by b16awarrior, 8:59 PM 8/29/2002]


[Modified by b16awarrior, 9:00 PM 8/29/2002]

 

sounds fine to me (color) A little white is ok as well.

 

Thanks for all the infomative replys guys.

 

Hi Guys,

But is there any blue smoke out of the tailpipe on either, acelleration, decelleration, or at first start-up in the morning?

Bad rings=blue smoke on acelleration
Bad seals=blue smoke on deceleration (shifting or coast-down)
Blue smoke on initial start-up also equals bad seals

Try a better oil or a grade thicker oil first and see what happens. A grade heavier may well cut way, way down on consumption.

John

 

Black on the bumper could also be too rich an Air Fuel mixture, which would also consume oil.

John

 

I have the same problem its the rings need to be replaced.. the car drives fine but when vtec hits a trail of blue smoke puffs out!

 

This is very interesting. I dont have any blue smoke at all and I have BETTER gas mileage now after the tuning than before. BUT I am loosing oil...about 3-3.5 quarts of it per 3K oil change. My FPR is set at 55psi when there is no vacuum. Anyone have any ideas? This is a very informative thread. Thanks everyone.