My GF just bought a '92 Honda Civic, it has about 110k miles on it. We got a great deal on it so we accepted the fact that it seemed to burn oil. I am trying to determine where/why it's burning oil.

When I followed her home after purchasing the car, I noticed that it smokes quite a bit when she accelerates, once she's at speed the smoke, for the most part, goes away. This car has headers on it, and a cool air intake. I was looking at the pcv system and by holding my finger over the hose running into the valve cover I feel a suction, correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't I feel pressure coming out of the valve cover?

I have read that burning oil mostly comes from either rings or valve seals. I know to replace the rings is a pain, but what about the valve seals? I read there's a way to replace those fairly simply without removing the head by using air pressure in the cyclinder. I haven't had a chance to do a pressure check yet. And I don't know what a leakdown check is or how to do it so an explanation of how to do that is appreciated. I did an oil change on the car on 4/1/06, and replaced the oil filter, on 4/16/06 it needed two quarts of oil already. (this car is driven a lot every day mind you) I also changed the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor on 4/1/06. I noticed when I pulled the plugs out that they had a silvery shiny liquid-like substance on them and on the threads, what might this be? I was thinking some kind of oil additive that the old owners might have used in an attempt to slow the oil burning? Any thoughts on that? The 2nd and 3rd plugs seemed to have a slightly wet oily look to them, 1 and 4 were dry but pretty black.

I also think that the car is running rich also. Along with the blue smoke there seems to be black smoke coming out as well. I also notice that after 3 weeks of owning the car theres quite a layer of this black, sooty, chalky stuff on the back bumper right above the muffler. I have read that headers will make a car run rich, is there any way to correct this short of taking the headers off?

I am hoping to get some good, informative replies. Please be blunt and honest in your responses, I'd like to know EVERY possiblity anyone can think of because I'd hate to see my GF's new car go to $#!T, when I can most likely fix whatever may be causing the oil consumption and smoke.

Thank You in advance for your replies,
Tormoni

 

Black smoke is a rich A/F mixture and blue smoke is burning oil. Run a compression test. About the PCV, there should be a vacuum at the PCV valve and when you shake the valve you should hear the valve rattle around. A leakdown test is like a compression test but it uses a different tool. I think that a leakdown test tells you the compression after the piston has reaced TDC. On a regular compression tester, once it reaches a pressure the guage will only go up not down. About changing the valve seals. I've never done it before, but i just looked it up in the service manual and it seems like you have to have the cylinder head off to change the valve seals. You have to remove the valve springs, keepers, and valves to get to the valve seals. At that point you use a special tool to pound out the old valve seals and you have to use a special seal to get the new valve seals in there. I could be wrong, the service manual kinda confused me between the seals and guides.

 

Ok, if I have to remove the head, I will, it's not a problem. I had to replace the head on my old Ford Festiva one time so I know I can do it. I would just have to get a new head gasket and get all the torque specs, etc. If I am going to have to remove the head, would it be beneficial to purchase new valves altogether while I have it off replacing the seals? Along with new springs and keepers? I figure ya might as well while ya got the head off. Would I have to re-seat or grind the valves or anything because I don't have the equipment for that. I learned how to do it in School though.

Also, how hard is it to replace rings on a car without tearing the whole engine out? I know i would have to remove the bottom end and take the rod ends off to push the pistons out (might as well replace bearings while I'm there) but would I need to do anything else in particular while I have the pistons out? And would replacing the rings only fix the oil burning if in fact it's the rings that are bad? or would I have to replace the pistons too? I guess it would depend on the wear of the cylinders?

Thanks for your reply.

Tormoni

 

I've never heard of anyone removing the pistons out of an engine while it was still in the car. I would think that this would be extremely difficult if not impossible. If you want to rebuild the engine, take the engine out and do it. If you wanna change the valves, springs, and retainers you can but i don't know why you could. You don't really stand to gain anything since i don't think that these parts really ever go bad. You can have the valves done at a machine shop. Rebuilding the engine wouldn't be so bad, since its like having a brand new engine. At a 110k miles, you engine shouldn't be in that bad shape unless its been abused.

 

get like a chilton or haynes and you will be golden....

 

I got the service manual for 92-95 civics if you need it. Its a really big PDF file though.

 

Yea..if you have it in PDF send it. It would be much appreciated!

I know it is possible to take pistons out of a car while the engine is still in it. My buddy has done it before on a 4cyl. He took the head off, then took off the oil pan, took the rod ends off and pushed the pistons up through the top. Now I know the only thing that may stop someone from being able to do this is if there's such wear that theres a ridge at the very top of the cyclinder that would block the piston from coming out. I don't have the equipment to pull an engine out of a car so I'd definately have to see if this car can be done that way (if replacing the rings is even needed, otherwise I ain't doin it)

So if the car being at 110K miles shouldn't be in bad shape, why is it smoking? smoking and having to put a quart in every week, to me, is in bad shape. I want to fix the burning of oil ASAP. I am gonna get a compression guage probably before this weekend and check that out. And can anyone give me a def answer on what a leakdown test is and how to do it?

But yea, if you have the PDF of the manual that would be awesome! You can email it to me at
tormoni@cfl.rr.com
Or post it somewhere where I can download it real quick.

I will post the results of the compression tests as soon as I get them. And Leakdown test if anyone can tell me exactly how to do it.

 

On a civic it's possible to replace the rings with the engine sitting in the car. It's just PITA

 

i replace rings with the engine still in the car....IMO it saves time and is less of a hassle than pulling the entire engine out. but thats just me.....once the pan is down you can either remove the main girddle and go from there or leave the girddle on but i prefer the girddle off as its more roomy. however remember to reinstall the girddle as the crank can warp if left un supported for long.

 

Yea...according to the manual (I found it on the internet) you can replace the rings with the engine still in the car. It also says that you can replace the valve seals without removing the head, sweet... I'm still not sure which I will have to do yet, I haven't done a compression test yet...and nobody has gotten back to me yet on how to perform a leakdown test...