3rd from left facing car. I'm guessing it needs a valve job. A friendly mechanic said he'd do it for 700$ I consider myself somewhat mechanically inclined and would like to do it myself. Can anyone recommend a good do it yourself guide? TIA

 

So you did a compression check and found one cylinder was not getting compression?

Are you SURE it the valve? It could be a few other things - like a blown head gasket or maybe bad cylinder rings.

What engine is this that you are talking about anywaY?

It may be an option to replace the whole head (if that's the problem) with a used one for a fraction of the cost.

 

yeah, I agree. Depending on what motor it is, it may be a lot cheaper to just replace the head if it really is a valve problem. That's what I did on my dx motor when I lost compression on one cylinder, except I just got the whole motor.

 

complete legit DX motor - not uncommon to see those sold for $100

 

Sorry about details. I'm not sure what the specific model is, but it's in a 91 civic 1.5L. Maybe you know of a good place to find a new motor cheap online--if it's that much better than just checking the valves and having the head machined?

 

Do you know what trim your car is - DX, STD, HF, LX....??? That would help to figure out what engine you have.

The classifieds on this site have ok prices for complete motors. When you get full access you will be able to go into the classifieds and post a wanted ad or search through the for sale ads.

Where are you located? There are online resources like recycler.com and partstrader.com that can be a pretty good source for parts.

If you are considering a complete engine swap, you also have the oportunity to put in just about any honda or acura engine that's out there.

It would cost more money than what it would cost to have your head reworked by your mechanic for the B-series motors. You would also need a mount kit to be able to use one of these motors. The power would be much more than what you have now.

For the Civic motors available from 1988~1998 (D-series), they just bolt in without any mount kits. They can be bolted directly to your stock transmission. This is a good alternative to put a little pep into your car! A 92~95 VTEC motor is normally running for about $450. If you search around you can find them going for hundreds less. You just have to be in the right place at the right time.

Now that you have seen your options, what exactly do you want to do? just get the car running or maybe modify it a bit for some extra power?

 

As far as I can figure out, the engine model is "D15B2". It has 144K.

If I can get a good engine for under 400$, that might be a good deal, and something that I can afford. But my engine doesn't have that many miles on it so it might be better just to take the head off and see which exhaust valve is burnt (that's my guess as to what's wrong with it anyway). Another option is to sell the car and get another one that is running correctly, since the body and interior could use some work anyway. It seems silly to me to get a performance engine for something that looks like crap, so I'm leaning towards the cheaper and quicker option.

I'm located in Tampa, FL. I'll be looking around for some parts.