Hey, all. Just looking for some opinions here. Do y'all think it'd be worth it to pull my motor and replace all the gaskets and seals (short of the head gasket and valve guide seals), but leave the bottom end untouched?

Here's the situation. I own a 1995 Integra GSR. It has almost 240,000 miles on it and has never been rebuilt. But it runs fine, no weird noises or anything, and pulls strong. It just smokes in VTEC. I'm unsure what the compression is because when I tried to do a compression test either a piece of carbon stuck my tester open or there was SOOO much pressure it broke the tester (I'm hoping for the latter, lol). But anyways it made right at 150whp/112wtq with ebay exhaust and header with crushed bottom and an AEM SRI with a small off-brand cone filter. So I think for the most part it's a strong motor.

The motor seems healthy with the exception of the smoke. I've put 10,000 miles on it since I got it 3 months ago. It use to use a quart of oil every 1,000 miles, but recently it got worse. Now it uses a quart every 500 or more. I know it leaks, but I don't know how much it leaks when parked since I park on gravel. But when I jack up the front it definitely drips from the back and onto the exhaust. I was fine with a quart every thousand miles, but this is ridiculous. It uses oil almost fast than I can keep track with how much I drive and it's kinda dangerous for me.

The car is my daily, and while I do have other cars, I'd like to have it off the road for as little time as possible. I really don't like to skimp on anything, but right now I can't afford to do a full rebuild (I have a tendency to bullet-proof. Last year I spent $2000 to rebuild a 70hp motor so I'd be able to drive it forever. Biggest mistake ever because the car got totaled and now I have a perfect motor with 12,500 miles on it that no one will ever want and I will never have a need for again), or have my motor blow up.

I've never assembled a bottom end and as much as I would like to do it, I can't afford to screw it up. I'm perfectly comfortable with everything else, though. Just not rods, pistons, and crank. I figure I could pull the motor, replace the seals/gaskets, and have it back in my car running in two, maybe three days.

Also, the reason I don't want to replace the valve guide seals is because I did that once before without replacing the rings, and basically what happens is the new seals will help to create a lot more vacuum and if the rings are worn out enough the vacuum will pull an excessive amount of oil through the rings and the motor will burn oil and like crazy.

While I'm here I may as well ask (I'm about to do a search) are the head bolts torque to yield? Do they "need" to be replaced after every use?

Like I said, really don't like to skimp, and I understand you get what you pay for. But the price on this is so good I can't help but ask if it's any good. http://www.jisautoengine.com/acura-i...t-hfsb18v.html

I know replacing all the seals and gaskets won't completely rid the oil consumption because it is burning some, but I think a lot of it is from leaking, so I think it'll help quite a bit. I'd be glad to pay about $350 in parts to do this. And of course, while it's out I'll replace the regular stuff (water pump, timing kit, thermostat).

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

it's not going to fix anything. rings are your culprit, as with most high mileage hondas. i doubt it's leaking that much to cause such an oil loss.

 

thats just throwing money away.

 

**UPDATE**

Ok, so I finally got off my rear and took a better look at my oil consumption. As I stated before when I first got the car it used a quart every 1000 miles. I just kept a good eye on my oil level and I'm definitely using a quart every 250 miles now. Most of that change happened in a 1000 mile period. Now I'm pretty open minded, but I don't care what anyone says, there's no way my rings wore out that much that fast. That sounds like a leak getting bigger to me.

This morning, after letting the car sit all night so all the left over oil would drip off, I put a pan under it and started the car. I also let the pan sit under the car without it running and it didn't leak anything. Just saying that to show that this is a dynamic leak. This is what I collected after idling for 15 minutes from a cold start:













Anybody still think my rings are THE problem, and not just a contribution?

 

Identify individual seals that are leaking. replace those. do no more than that until you're ready for a full rebuild/replacement.

 

Well, I figure it's time to update. The leak turned out to be the oil cooler o-ring. Man that thing was pissing oil, even at idle. I don't want to know how much was coming out of there when there was actually pressure behind it, lol.

Anyways, that was my biggest leak. My cam seal is leaking (as per usual it seems), so I ordered a replacement today. Idk if I have any other major leaks, but if I do, these two should be the bulk of them.