A few months ago, I pushed the car to its limits on the freeway. It was really hot, and I havent had a chance to get my oil changed. I may also have been somewhat low on coolant. When I got off the freeway, the car was driving like ****. Missing, stumbling, and stalling. Also my valve cover breather hose was spitting out smoke. I did a compression check, and my 2 middle cylinders went from my usual 240 to 90 and 110. After pouring a little bit of engine oil in to the cylinders through the spark plug hole, the compression went up by 50-60. This means that my rings are deffinetly gone. It cannot be the headgasket, because I dont have any oil in my coolant, and there isnt any serious smoke coming out of the exhaust. The engine iddles very irraticaly, and dies if I dont keep it at constant 1k-2k rpm. I have another block I can throw in there, but before I do that, I want to totaly make sure its my rings. What do you think guys ?

 

Well either way you're going to need to pull the head, so just pull the head and find out.

 

How will I know if its the rings just by looking at them ? Could I use a feeler gauge to check the clearance between the rings and the cylinder ?


[Modified by enabi, 7:10 AM 9/19/2002]

 

You may have chipped a little piece off the exhaust valves. Thats what happened to my friends 89 Civic Si. One day it was running fine, then the next it ran like crap and wouldn't idle and had no power. Turns out it had 25psi in one of the cylinders and when he took the head off, a little piece was missing from one of the exhaust valves. Either way just pull the head and see what you can see. Look for some vertical scratching on the cylinder walls. That may indicate bad rings.

 

Ok, thanks for the info. I have been hearing a funny rattle. But it kinda comes and goes, so I dont think I spun a rod. But I could have chipped something.

 

you can't "spin" a rod, you can spin the rod bearing, and in most cases you car will sieze if that happens. sounds like you did some damage there, either rings or the head gasket.
stan

 

Yes, I know I cant spin a rod. I guess I'll take off the head, and check out all my valves, seals, gasket, and take a look at all my bearings whiel Im at it too.

 

do a leak down test........good way to check the rings....right?

 

wish I had the hardware to do a leak down test. Im not even sure where to go to get one. I know my honda dealer charges something like 200 for a compression check. They are completelty insane.

 

rings rings rings

fun fun fun

 

You can spin a rod.


http://www.homemadeturbo.com/blowndx2.jpg

See, thats what hapens when you spin a rod. It flails wildly and punches holes in your block.

-Dustin


[Modified by Autocratic_1st_Gen, 4:16 PM 9/19/2002]

 

Thats what I would refer to as "braking a rod". It spun after it broke...

 

maybe i'm just not thinking clearly here....but isn't pouring oil in the spark plug hole a bad idea?? i mean isn't the whole point of rings, to keep oil OUT of the combustion chamber?
i'm just not understanding the point of doing such.

 

thats how u test for bad rings. the oil is supposed to promote a seal on the combustion chamber and if compression shoots up after putting the oil in, rings are usually the culprit.