Today I was up early and drove my girl to a friends to take her to the airport, on my way back about 40 miles of driving the car started running rough and makes a deep exhaust sound unlike the normal higher pitch that we're all used to.

so I pulled over checked my temp and to see if the check engine light was on all was normal across the board but car idles really rough and sounds like it wants to give up, engine shakes around quite a bit in the bay while idling.

I checked my plugs and found oil all over the 1st cylinder spark electrode and on the rest of the spark plugs there was clean oil not black found around the threads, now I know my seals need to be replaced but not sure if this has to do with the seals, they been bad for a few months now and never had this issue.

anyone have any ideas? bad map sensor maybe? or head issues itself?

 

It could be a bajillion things. Since you have the plugs out, now's a good time to do a compression test. If the numbers look good, and you see no signs of oil/coolant mixing, then you can start with a basic tune up to include plugs, wires, cap, and rotor - don't forget to loctite the rotor screw, and of course the valve cover gasket kit with tube seals.

 

You know your spark plug grommets are bad. Pull the CEL(s), replace the spark plug grommets (just get a full valve cover gasket kit), replace your spark plugs, and work from there.

 

Forgot to specify that the wire plugs themselves do not have oil just the spark plugs, i was talking about the valve stem seals are bad, usually at higher RPM's it sucks oil and burns it.

 

Egr valve probally. Pull the vacuum line off and see if that helps

 

Welp, if you're not ready to replace those stem seals yet, just toss in some fresh plugs and see how it runs. Hard to say how long it will take to foul the plugs again.

 

No EGR valve on D15B7 only on D15Z1 and I think Y7? HX VX models.

Ill try new plugs other then that I'll test the MAP sensor for any issues heard it can cause rough idling issues but if that checks out I guess its time to jump inside that head.

 

Stop guessing, start diagnosing. There is no reason to think it's your MAP sensor. No, the Y7 does not have an EGR. Pull the CEL codes. Step 1. Period. Replace your plugs. Step 2. Period.

 

just to throw it out there no codes came up tomcat39 read correctly, thank you.
There is no guessing going on here its straight testing, I don't even know where that all came from honestly. Didn't Google which engine has EGR, just know only certain models have one, obviously not mine.

Thanks crvtectim for mentioning a compression test because of the all the sudden mass amount of oil on my electrode in the 4th cylinder on new sparks hmmmm I was thinking the same thing. 0 compression in cylinder 4, great compression in the rest. sorry I know I posted 1st cylinder it was early.

Did not think it was the head gasket in this case do to the car still driving and not overheated and bellowing white smoke everywhere.

I went ahead and started on removing the head. Some time later I found an exciting history of events.

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OK, so you obviously have a massive oil problem in cylinder 4, but did you do any diagnostics to figure out exactly what that problem was?

 

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hole right through the valve just powder. I knew someone with a head that was in working order for cheap so I picked it up as mine would need a complete valve job they were pretty nasty.
parts and labor would of ran me near $300 if I had the money to blow I would but I been left with all the bills/rent this month dun dun duunnnnn... now I'm just waiting on the gaskets to get here while I do some major cleanup around the block and bay.

Thanks for helping crvtectim and all that kept it chill and friendly.

 

Oh wow that valve is fucked up. That would explain the rough running, but it wouldn't explain the MASSIVE amount of oil you're getting in that cylinder. You should look into that, as well.

 

Just a guess here, maybe after the hole developed and because I drove on it for another 15 miles the oil getting past the seals now had a constant open hole allowing for it to come through consistently.

 

those valves are 3rd world ugly wouldn't you agree? hahaha makes me think to why it was so gutless although I know the D15 is no go-getter lol

 

Yeah, that valve is FUCKED. I guess it's possible that whatever fucked up that valve may have also fucked up the valve stem seal for that valve, but it would take a full tear down on the head to confirm that.

With the valve fucked up like that, I would also be sure to clean the **** out of that piston top so you can inspect it for damage. That chunk of metal must have gone somewhere.

 

Burnt valve, very common on the 88-95 non vtec motors. I have worked on or bought several with the same issue. Normally i would say just replace the head but with all that oil something more is going on. The oil in there will cause that cyl to run lean and burn a valve.

 

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did not find anything wrong with the block or any of the passages not sure what would be causing that issue besides the head itself.

 

You're welcome. Sucks man, but at least you're on the path to fixing it now. Good luck.