Burning oil - bad rings or valve seals?

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Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
I'd give it a run of M1 0w40 and see what happens.


Why 0W-40? I'm not trying to give you a hard time but what's the logic?

Honda spec's 5W-30 for the engine, 10W-30 is OK if temps stay above 20 deg. F.
 
Because the oil has been known to clean. It is also slightly heavier, which in itself may reduce the consumption.
 
Originally Posted By: VolvoBruce
Compression test question:

Compression test procedure as I've seen in a couple writeups
REQUIRES WARMED UP ENGINE.

However I've been told to NEVER remove spark plugs from a hot engine with aluminum head - can damage the threads in head.

So??? What's the deal here? Which way to go? Sorta warm engine but not hot??


Engine doesn't need to be hot or even warmed up really to do a compression test. It'd probably be a good idea if the engine was a little warm though. Just don't take plugs out hot and let the engine cool down for a while if it has been ran.
 
Originally Posted By: mechanicx

Engine doesn't need to be hot or even warmed up really to do a compression test. It'd probably be a good idea if the engine was a little warm though. Just don't take plugs out hot and let the engine cool down for a while if it has been ran.


Thanks - that makes sense. Will give me time to eat something after work before doing the compression test.
 
Originally Posted By: VolvoBruce
Originally Posted By: mechanicx

Engine doesn't need to be hot or even warmed up really to do a compression test. It'd probably be a good idea if the engine was a little warm though. Just don't take plugs out hot and let the engine cool down for a while if it has been ran.


Thanks - that makes sense. Will give me time to eat something after work before doing the compression test.


Yeah I about always test compression cold, and on a good engine the pressure builds right up.
 
Originally Posted By: VolvoBruce
Originally Posted By: XCELERATIONRULES
If it smokes heavily when started,then lessens,it's the seals.
If it smokes at throttle,the rings are worn.


Tomorrow in daylight I'll test giving it gas, without the high-vacuum, high-rpm coast before giving gas. I sure hope its not rings.


my honda has 342,000 miles----almost all dino. I had high, and i do mean HIGH, consumption when it first got a taste of the sythetic, but it slowed after I got things cleaned up--switched back to dino --ran several arx cycles then stayed with PYB for a while with low OCI's...then the last time I put PP in there, i had almost no consumption....unless you count the rear main leak which was there before the synth..(it is messy under there, but I am not having to add oil... PYB has worked well for me---my car drank the maxlife like crazy----about a qt per 600 miles.....i couldn't believe it. but during that time, i was kinda letting the OCI's go longer--up to 7500miles.... once i got more consistent, it stopped. I would just run PP or PYB at 3k OCI's for a while-----just because it worked for my honda.
 
Do each cylinder twice. Once straight up and then remove the tester and squirt some oil in the cylinder. None should splash on the valves given your plug hole orientation. Record:compare

Move on to the next cylinder. If the compression is substantially higher with the squirt ..then it's rings. Or rather if it substantially below spec without it, but improves with the oil squirt ..yes..that's a better way to say it.
 
I'd bet it's the rings. I've read the rings are the weak link on 1990's Civics.

I used to work in a WM TLE garage, and I'm not kidding whe I say almost EVERY 1990's 1.6 litre Civic that came in was low on oil - ether just showing on the stick, or right off it. I don't know if yours is a 1.6 litre, but they were the worst, by far.
 
You can have good compression and bad oil control; they're separate rings. Saturns are known for this.

Before I re-ringed my saturn, the downhill burp test blew lots of smoke. You undoubtedly have a decelleration fuel cutoff so that extra oil just pumps up and pools on the piston tops until you hit the gas again.

Whatcha gonna do? 1) live with it 2) fix it. Watch the rebate section for free or $.49 oil!
 
Who says it isn't BOTH rings and guides?
Why does it have to be either/or?
So far, I see no concrete evidence either way.
Older Hondas had weak rings, and are often the cause of oil use.
Guides are not ruled out, as your symptoms definitely show them to be faulty.
 
descriptions all lead to guides and rings, valve stem seals, etc. and in your case: sounds like you bought over a neglected engine and parts of it already worn out.

In this case, no Jesus-in-a-can will fix it but a full rebuild will.

Q.
 
That Civic HX still gets 40+ miles per gallon and is worth less than $2000

there is no reason to rebuild that engine since it will easily last another 200,000 miles with just topping off with the least expensive oil you can find.
 
just did the valve seals on my corolla. it was burning 1 qt every 500 miles. there would be a cloud of white smoke on startup that smelled like oil if i did not start the car overnight.

if you do em, make sure to set the cylinder to TDC before you remove the spring or else your valve job will turn into a head gasket job
 
Thanks, guys.

Sorry to say, I got kinda lousy test results.
The good news is they were pretty even, the bad news is they were low, just below or at the minimum spec of 135 psi. 'Standard' is 184 psi, with max 28 psi variation between cylinders.

Dry, the cylinders were between 125-135 psi.
Wet, between 155-180. I wrote it all down and tossed the paper in the car, I'm done for the night.

Hey, it drives great, I just have to keep topping up the oil!
Takes about a qt per 1000 miles.
 
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