how does a leakdown test work? i heard alot of people talking about it but i never done it. how does it work? also if u are burning coolant it normally means the heat will go thru the crack too and make ur car overheat. by normal operating temps it makes me wonder?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KraZEtEggIE &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... also if u are burning coolant it normally means the heat will go thru the crack too and make ur car overheat. by normal operating temps it makes me wonder?</TD></TR></TABLE>

i'm stumped.

leak down forces air into the cylinder. you can tell if/where/how bad a problem is by where air comes out.

after the leakdown, i will double check the head studs. maybe they need to be retorqued...

 

When you "fixed" the cylinder, did you just hone and re-ring the 1 cylinder? If so that might be your problem, especially if you didnt go through the break in procedure. I dont know much about fixing one cylinder, but I'd hone/re-ring the whole motor and go through the breakin to seal the rings. I've known motors to have good compression but still burn oil.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blah13 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When you "fixed" the cylinder, did you just hone and re-ring the 1 cylinder? If so that might be your problem, especially if you didnt go through the break in procedure. I dont know much about fixing one cylinder, but I'd hone/re-ring the whole motor and go through the breakin to seal the rings. I've known motors to have good compression but still burn oil.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes, just the one cylinder. i drove the car, easily, through a variety of rpm ranges. freeway, street. i put about 150 miles on it in a matter of a few hours. i'm told the stock rings don't take THAT long to break in, as opposed to chrome-moly ones.
i expect some blowby, yes.

well, i did a leak down test. there was some air coming from the dipstick tube while testing cyl. #2, but still showed only 7% leakdown. the other cylinders were 3-5%, including the one i fixed.
no air coming through radiator, exhaust, intake, etc.

*we noticed the smell of fuel after removing the valve cover
*after replacing all plugs and valve cover, the car seems to idle better and run a bit better as well.. i have noticed no smoke, but it WAS night.

could all this have been from a loose plug? maybe a loose plug wire? then the un-burned fuel was escaping and i THOUGHT it was white?

WTF? we're lost.

perfect compression. perfect leakdown. am i just making this too complicated and missing something REALLY simple?

 

Actually, 7% leakdown is a quite a bit on a fresh motor. If its coming through the dipstick hole, its coming through the rings somehow. So either, your rings didn't seat 100% on that cylinder, or something else is wrong. My motor after 3000 miles on a fresh motor saw no more that 1-2% leakdown on all cylinders.

 

So, that causes the buring of oil if compression is good, and you just had new rings? I think I MIGHT have the same problem. Good compression, white smoke, and oil lose.

 

Another thing, just because your compression is good, it doesn't mean that your oil control rings are good too. They could cause a loss of oil too. Also, a lot of honda motors tend to burn "some" oil.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AzSi22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Actually, 7% leakdown is a quite a bit on a fresh motor. If its coming through the dipstick hole, its coming through the rings somehow. So either, your rings didn't seat 100% on that cylinder, or something else is wrong. My motor after 3000 miles on a fresh motor saw no more that 1-2% leakdown on all cylinders. </TD></TR></TABLE>

the 7% was in one of the original cylinders. the one that i redid was a bit less than 3%. i was only able to do piston/rings on the #1 cyl.

 

reinstalled valve cover and plugs after doing last leakdown.. now there is VERY little smoke, if any.. WTF? i think i may have noticed a BIT of white smoke when boosting hard.. otherwise NOT a bit.. i give up. drive it 'till it dies.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kaj &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">reinstalled valve cover and plugs after doing last leakdown.. now there is VERY little smoke, if any.. WTF? i think i may have noticed a BIT of white smoke when boosting hard.. otherwise NOT a bit.. i give up. drive it 'till it dies.</TD></TR></TABLE>


So now there is only white smoke at 4+ RPMs? Are you still blowing smoke when taking off at a light? When you are boosting hard, are you mabey running a little rich, or have you been running lean during this whole testing phase?

 

the problem seems to have been found.


apparently there is a problem with the pcv valve and the canister that catches the oil. in boosted cars, it tends to fill up quite quickly. well, i think mine is full, and THAT is where the smoke is coming from

i NEVER thought about it 'till a friend brought it up. says he had three cars come in with the SAME symptoms i had, and that was the fix. i'm gonna empty it out today.
i'm also told there's a GRIP of posts on here that talk about this and how to remedy the situation (install a better catch can so i can tell how much oil is in it).