OK, if anyone want to help out and play a guessing game here goes....

1990 Civic SI. All original, about 155k miles. I bought it at 114k miles in 2006 and did a full timing belt service with water pump and anything and everything my mechanic thought to be changed while in there. Engine has always run strong, never used oil.

I've been working overseas or out of state for the past 4 years and it was with relatives who used it occasionally most of that time. I used the car extensively in 2011, drove from bay area California to New Mexico and back. Other than some undercarriage damage from a big rock on dirt road, no problems. Ran fine for thousands of miles after that trip.

So, I lend it to some friends of my family as a favor and when it was returned a few months ago it seemed fine. A few days ago I get a call from my relatives saying "the honda won't start". Sounds to me like the starter, because they say it make a spinning noise but does not crank. He has a friend come over and they try to get power to the starter solenoid. They have no luck, so it goes to a mechanic and now they say the plugs are soaked in oil and, I need to confirm this, no compression?! He can't find the root of the issue and wants to inspect the timing belt. They said it was very low on oil when they checked that when it first didn't start. But it sounds like it took two quarts, not 4, so I don't think it was out of oil. No signs of oil where it was parked.

I've heard some say that a slipped/broken timing belt will usually not harm a D16A6, but officially it's listed as an interference design?? Was thinking perhaps the belt slipped and when they kept cranking it the head was damaged, thus the oil on the plugs. A busted head would explain the lack of compression too I'd guess.

I'm not sure if I'm getting the whole story. Sounds like there's more wrong with that engine that could possibly have happened given what I've been told.

This is why I've never lent out my cars and why again I'll be going back to that policy.

Anyway, anyone have a clue? Sound like something that's happened to you? Sounds like it'll need a new head no matter what. I can hope the rings and pistons are OK?

The car is in nice shape and the interior is fantastic for it's age. So it may be worth a repair, but I may be finding a buyer looking to do an engine swap. Anyone want a cherry '90 Civic SI??

Thanks in advance!

 

Yeah my clue is that they beat the crap out of the car while you loaned it to them and now they don't want to fuc**** deal with it, because that will cost them money and its not even their car so they will say, " Who the f*** cares? We didn't f*** it up." sorry bud that's what you get for letting people drive your car without paying you!

 

I would go for a rebuild or swap since it has not been cared for in years and probably abused much of the time it was out of your sight. Oil was probably low for a long time, so there might be a lot of bottom end wear, could also have a bad head gasket if the timing is good.


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Damn people should learn how to take care of
Stuff especially if it's not theirs, but I would just swap it
Real quick, but good luck

 

Whole story sounds fishy :/

 

OK, the mechanic they took it too says he got it running. Timing belt looks new. He said the plugs were fouled keeping the car from starting, so much fuel got poured into the cylinders the rings weren't sealing and thus he was getting no compression. He said he put some oil in the cylinders and it started with massive cloud of smoke. They did a smog check it failed of course, but they think if I put a new distributor cap and O2 sensor on there it might pass. But they wanted $350 for an 02 sensor, so I won't be having any more work done there.

So if that is what happened I wonder how bad the cylinders/rings are after they cranked and cranked it with nothing but fuel lubing things.

 

sounds like a shop i would never do business with....

 

$20 part -> $350 = 17.5x mark up... holy hell hahah

even with labor thats still $250 too much

 

If your not even going to pass smog, I would just get rid of the car.