I have a stock 2000 civic ex that smokes alot at idle and especially when you give it gas. I pulled the head and found that an exhaust valve on cylinder 4 had a chip out of it so i replaced that head with a known good one laying around. While the head was off i looked at the cylinder walls and didnt notice any cracks. Once all back together I did a compression test that checked out pretty good in all cylinders. I next did a leak down test and cylinder number 4 showed about 35% leakage and heard air coming from the dipstick. i then did a coolant pressure test and the gauge took forever to reach 14ish psi (needle was steady indicating no exhaust gases entering coolant system??). Only thing i can think of is a cracked block but its just not adding up to me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

what coolant are you using? My experience with Honda's is to always use OEM coolant and I can't stress enough how many times I've been right. what color is your smoke? White is coolant, Black is oil, Blue is gas(sometimes when its blue its hard to see color try looking from an angle if your unsure)

 

It would be A bit more helpful to know more details about your car as well, considering you changed the head, what head bolts are you using and are your head gasket and IM and Exhaust Manifold gaskets and Engine seals all replaced. It could literally be more than a few things completely unrelated to a ''cracked block'' Also, as many times as I'm sure you've ran the car smoking and revving it, are you positive you aren't leaking anything from anywhere? check around your oil pan for any buildup and if you have it, work your way up from there; pcv valve/hose, heater bypass, coolant hoses running to/from iacv/fitv. Theres a nice thread called https://honda-tech.com/forums/honda-civic-del-sol-1992-2000-1/faqs-frequently-asked-tech-questions-1998336/. Search works good too. I would check all of those before blaming the block and I cant stress the OEM fluids enough. Hope this helps

 

I just put in water for now until i get the issue figured out. Im not driving the car. I used a mls felpro head gasket and new oem honda head bolts. Intake and exhaust gaskets are new.

 

I decided to tare the block apart because im having s hard time finding a d16 for a good price. The cylinder walls have no sign of scoring or cracks. The picton rings looked good but i guess i havnt seen many rings. Anything i should look for?

 

you still havent told us, its smoking oil correct???

if so, have you thought that your valve seals are bad?

theres only so many ways oil can get into the combustion chamber, the most common culprits being valve seals and piston rings.

but maybe you just have a bad ring in cylinder 4???

i for one know that id get the rings checked out before i decide to drop and replace the entire engine. sounds like a whole lot of work.. plus, you already know how your engine runs, i wouldnt risk getting some mystery engine and just assuming that all of the seals are fine.

and if you hear air coming out of the dipstick, that could be because air is getting past the ring and escaping through the dipstick. i dont see why youre jumping to conclusions about a cracked block.

is there any oil in your coolant?

 

Its blowing white smoke, not a bluish tint. Not an issue with valve seals because i put a known good head on it. There is no mixing of oil and coolant. Engine is already out of car.

 

well if its white that means ur burning coolant which means either your headgasket is bad or yea you have a cracked block.