I'm new to this forum, so I hope someone can help with my problem. I have a 2005 Civic (D17A1 engine) that needed a replacement engine. After a long and painful dealings with an engine manufacturer (long story), I've ended up with a 2001 engine to rebuild. Per Carfax's, the engine only had 79,000 miles on it when the car was scraped for an accident. The looks of the engine makes me believe that's about right. So, since we had the engine on the bench, we replaced the rings and main and rod bearings. The crank was clean and measured with in specs, so we didn't grind the crank. The bearings we used were Honda bearings. We also replaced the oil pump with a Mellings oil pump. The rods and mains plastigage between 0.001" and 0.0015" clearance.We also replaced the orifice in the head. We also added an electric oil pressure gauge which we have checked against 3 other mechanical gauges. When we start the engine (10W30 oil) cold (room temp) we get near 100psi oil pressure at 2000rpm and over 50psi at idle . However, after driving the car for 20minutes or so, the idle oil pressure will drop to less than 5psi. We've checked the oil pressure with different oil weights up to 50 weight just to see the effects and we get about the same results. This is driving me nuts.

One other strange occurrence, we've had two Fel-Pro oil pan gaskets fail since we've rebuild the engine. Hope someone can help with this problem. I miss my Honda.

 

Here's what I think , Why didn't you rebuild the original engine ? It's usually best to go with what the car was designed for why you would end up with a 2001 engine that has a slightly different design ? I know 5W20 is what these motors call for why would you use 10W anything and then you go and try different grade oils . There's break in oil for fresh motors and other procedures for rebuilding motors ., There's a lot to it and some things gained through experience may not be in a tech manual for rebuilding engines . You may have missed something in your rebuild and the oil pressure is blowing by your mistakes . Did you knock the dimples down on the oil pan bolt holes ? Are you sure it was it the gasket that failed ? While it may be expensive a crate motor is always an option and when all is said and done it may have been a better route for you . At least now you have some experience in 1.7 motor rebuilds which certainly isn't a bad thing ..

 

Could be the wrong or a malfunctioning pump, OEM oil pumps are always best with Honda engines.

 

I agree.
There was an article in a magazine a bunch of years back, and they rebuilt a d15 in a crx. The shop specialized in honda engines and had rebuilt hundreds of sohc d series engines. They didn't replace the oil pump with a new unit, and said they would consider changing it out only if the original had over 300,000 miles on it. Remember Roger Foo and his race civic beating up on the big budget race teams? His engine was all honda parts from the si,itr,ctr. He didn't go to Summit racing and buy "better" internals for a reason.

 

We actually when back to the original Honda oil pump and it made very little improvement.

 

OK. I'll give you some more history.


My original engine had over 300k mile on it when we spun an bearing. So, so save time (we thought) I ordered a manufactured long block engine and had the original head reworked by the local machine shop. We installed the reman engine. We used Royal Purple break-in oil for the first 20minutes and changed to 10W30 conventional oil. We have oil pressure problems (oil light would come on at idle) from the start once the got to operating temperature. So, we changed the sending unit and even when to a Honda oil filter. That engine got sent back and replaced a second engine. These engine gave use similar results. This time we inspected the mains and rod bearings and found debris in the bearings and the Plastigage results showed the clearances were out of spec. We even had the machine shop measure the clearances and they verified our results.After, filing a 20 some odd page failure report (with pictures) with the company, they sent me a third engine. This engine was inspected before we put into the car. It was also found to have excess clearance and debris in the mains. So, the company refunded my money and sent me a rebuild-able core engine. That's how I ended up with a 2001 D17A1 engine for my 2005 Civic. This saga has been going on for a year now. If I knew then what I know now, I would have rebuild my original engine or scraped the entire car.

We did pull the new Melling oil pump and replaced it with the Honda oil pump that was on the core engine. It helped a little, but not enough. The oil system on these D17A1 engines is really a simple system. With the clearances we have, I just don't understand why we are not holding 20psi or more at hot idle. This is driving me nuts.

 

can you give the initials of the co. that sold those bad engines ?

 

The company was Po...Tr...Pr. Even though I got 3 engines with issues, I have to give them credit for standing behind their product. The paid for the removal and replacement of the two engines we installed and all of the shipping cost. They also followed up and refunded all of my money on the last engine and provided me with a rebuildable core engine. Would I used them again for a Honda engine, no. Would I consider them for a push rod Ford or Chev engine, maybe.

 

O.K. Thanks , it may not have been their fault , a supplier may have given them a crappy parts , like a whole box of them .

 

Now if I can figure out why my engine won't hold oil pressure at hot idle. Attached are the rod and main bearing plastigauge results.