I had low compression on one cylinder (about 160 compared to 200 across the board) and I've got the engine out of the car right now. I wasn't planning on getting the block honded again, it only have several thousand miles on it since I built the engine. I believe the rings on this one cylinder were bent during installation. I've got a new set of rings, should I change all of them or just one? Is it okay not to rehone the block?

 

may as well do them all since the motor is out. it'll save you the trouble later

 

And should the cylinders be rehoned? Is it safe to do this myself with a cylinder honer from sears and a drill?

 

Make sure it's not a burnt valve. If it were me, since the rebuild was very recent, I'd just do the one cyl

 

Like everything else , if you take the time to do something do it right. that means do all 4.

 

If you are not going to rehone, new rings will do no good. Just fix the problem however you should pump air into the bad cylinder to be sure it is the rings and not valves. Just listen for escaping air.


[Modified by earl, 9:28 AM 8/1/2002]

 

I added oil into the cylinder that was low and did a compression check and the numbers shot right up to above normal (around 210 psi). I'm going to get a cylinder honer from sears and redo all 4 cylinders. Does anyone have any advice on technique used to do this?

 

Did you try oil in the other 3 cyl to see how much they jump? Could surprise you.

 

No I didn't check the other 3. So what do you recommend doing. I now have new piston rings and a head gasket, so should I just go ahead and rebuild everything?

 

If the head is off, take it outside the garage, flip it up side down and level. Watch out that the lost motion sensors don't fall out. Pour gasoline carefully into the combustion chamber (with spark plug installed) of the bad cylinder. See if the gas runs out the intake or exhaust. If it doesn't, your ok. If does, that valve would need attention.


[Modified by earl, 7:04 PM 8/1/2002]

 

And if not that it is the rings?

 

do all -- save work

 

1. get a drill with variable speed
2. buy honing stones with grid 400 or finer (higher # is finer)
3. practice on a piece of tubing of similar diameter
4. use engine oil or ATF as a honing fluid, try to get 60 degrees honing marks
5. go SLOW & take your time
I just did my GSR rebuild & that's what I did to hone the cylinders. Came out beautifull & the rings were seated after 1000 miles break-in period.
Good luck to you!
Yuri K

 

Did as suggested, and gas came out one on the exhaust valves on the cylinder that is low. What are probable causes for a burnt valve. Or it could have just been installation error as I just had those valves put in. Any place on the east coast carry ferrea valves?

 

Hey, even a blind squirel finds a nut every once in a while.
Just re-grind the valve and seat and you are back in biz. Or do a complete valve job to be safe. You might want to replace the ring in that one cyl also to be safe but if the walls all look the same maybe your ok..

 

A guess as to why it happened..some kind of foreign object got in somehow..nut, bolt, rock, metal chip..about anything
OR could be a slightly bent valve


[Modified by earl, 9:19 PM 8/2/2002]

 

Just prior to this I had coolant mixing in with the oil. Combined with the low compression I originally thought something was up with the headgasket. This is the only aspect of this problem that I can't quite figure out.

 

I don't think you should hone it yourself.. Bring it too a machine shop that has experience. The honing process is more important than you think. Trust me bring it too an experienced shop and make sure everything (cylinders) is as clean as possible before you put it back together....

 

Sounds like u got the head gasket at the same time but that's a big coincidence..

 

I don't think you should hone it yourself.. Bring it too a machine shop that has experience. The honing process is more important than you think. Trust me bring it too an experienced shop and make sure everything (cylinders) is as clean as possible before you put it back together....


um just wondering, but have u ever done it b4? Do you have any idea how hard it is? Do you even know what u need to do? Obviously not.
Honda sleve metal is pretty tuff, so turn up the spring tention on ur hone kit taht u buy, strip ur block down to bare, take off crank, oil pump vtec oil squirters...
do rapid up and down motion using wd40 as lubracant. After about 5-10 mintues on each cylinder, or untill u see a fresh new rough surface on ur cylinder walls, ur done

i hate people that comment on **** they have no personal experance doing. YES IVE DONE IT MANY TIMES, ITS ALWAYS WORKED PREFECT, I was tought how to do it by someone that has over 30 years of automotive experiance that TEACHES classes. so for any of u that think u know better that HAVENT done it... fudge off

 

SirH..Just curious, after honing one cylinder for 5 to 10 minutes, exactly how many thousandths does that take off the cylinder walls?

 

Is there a guide somewhere on honing a honda block? I did get a cylinder honer from sears and new rings, but since that doesn't seem to be the problem I'm not going to mess with the bottom end right now. In the future, however, I probably will want to hone it myself.

 

Basically you just want to take the glaze off the cylinder. A few passes up and down should do it. Not 10 minutes like Sir said. A machine shop may hone for that period of time but they are taking out material to oversize the block.

 

A few passes up and down how fast (drill speed and up/down movement)?

Being a weekend I couldn't take the head to a machine shop to have it looked at, so I sprayed some carb cleaner on the valves and tried to clean them up a bit, getting all the carbon off. I redid the gasoline test and none of the valves are leaking, or if they are too slowly to see. I've left gas in there for about 15 minutes now and none has trickeled out; it out took at minute or two last time and it was all the way out of the exhaust port. Is it possibile that doing this fixed it, or ijs it just a temporary fix?

 

Hard to say. I think I would pull the piston out of the cyl that is having the problem to see what's going on. You only want to do this once.
You are going for a cross hatch pattern on the cyl but u dont want to enlarge it, just take off the glaze. Use wd40 when honing. Use a fairly slow drill speed and see what happens. Easier to take it off than put it back on
Sounds like the head is ok but u may want to have the one valve looked at to make sure.