I bought a 90 crx with 292k miles on it about a month ago.The guy said that it ran on 3 pistons.I believe its the head gasket all though im not sure.there is alot of residue on the block and i found out that it is oil.I believe it has a leak around the head.Would this probably mean the head gasket?Also car blows white smoke and smells pretty bad.Is there anything too do too see if it is the head gasket.Or do you think its something else?

 

if your car is spitting out white smoke, the head gasket is most assuredly blown. This gasket serves to separate the coolant lines that run throughout your block from everything else, and when that gasket goes, collant leaks into the combustion chamber and you get steam-looking **** coming out your tailpipe.
As for running on three cylinders, that sounds to me like a spark problem. Check to see that none of your plugs are fused and that all the spark wires are conducting correctly.

Hope this helps, best of luck.

 

hey i noticed your in ct.It runs on 3 cylinders because of the low compression prolly from the head gasket.Maybe its the rings but i doubt it.I know it does steeam from the valve cover slightly and tail pipe.I do have a perfect a6 head downstairs,and im gonna get the mpfi swap.So ill put these on with a small head gasket.

 

take your radiator cap off and see if it bubbles! Quick way to see if the headgasket is toast! Also see if your making oil!

 

ya i tried it

didnt seem too...do i have too have the car running for a while when i do this?

 

My car is doing the same exact thing. White smoke coming out of the tailpipe. I thought it was because the weather outside is cold. But nope, its hella warm outside and it still smokes. My way of fixing this is a motor swap.

 

yeah, I'm in CT in the summers, but I go to college in MD...but anyway, back to your car. When you say that it's steaming from the valve cover, is it steaming from the valve cover gasket itself (on the very edges of the black rectangle in the middle of your engine bay that says "HONDA 16 valve"...no offense if you already knew that) or is it coming from lower down where the head gasket itself is located? if its from the vlave cover gasket I dunno wtf is wrong with ur car, but if its steaming from farther down the answer is your head gasket. Most definitely.
Oh, and YES you would have to wait for your coolant to heat up in order to see bubbles underneath your radiator cap. If I'm not mistaken, coolant does not start to circulate through your engine until the car has warmed up enough.
If your problem was the rings AND the head gasketm you would get oil from the sump getting into your combustion chamber and burning a thick blue smoke out the back along with what would loook like steam.

Keep me updated...I like this ****. And if I've given any misinformation, feel free to educate me, H-T.

 

Well i live about 20 mins away from you in ct..but anyways.I believe it smokes from where the head touchs the block.Im in the process of removing all ac lines and compressor.After that im gonna rebuild the engine.If the pistons are good shape i will use the stock botom end.It isnt the rings because there is no blue smoke at all,just slight white smoke.So i hope its the head gasket.Thats not so bad.One other question anyone know if you can have the bumper cover on without the bumper reinforcement?I took it off too do some work and its rusted pretty bad.

 

I've never tried to separate the two, but from the looks of where the bolts are located I bet you could but it back on w/o the reinforcement. The only thing I'd worry about was the thing flapping around on the highway without the extra weight to anchor it down.

Hey, if you live in CT we should work on a small project together sometime. Lemme know if you see a light blue rtawd wagon in a junkyard somewhere. I want those painted bumpers.

 

alright will do about the tard wag,my crx is my project.Im ripping out useless engine materials now.I want too get the engine out soon.I was think about rebuilding the d15 but that would be around 500 dollars , so then i started thinking just buy a zc.But then i still need mpfi swap materials.So now im thinking b16,i could prolly install it myself.I just dont know about all the wiring.Seems very confusing for a wiring novice,any experience with this?

 

look at your oil if there is water in it, its the head gasket