Piston Soak Honda 2.4

[DannyM]

I have a TSX with the Honda 2.4 180k and it has been burning a quart every 800 to 1000 miles... I had a bottle of MMO so I figured I would just use it up on this attempt. I know many of you say MMO will not have much effect and it might not ... but there are people out there with success and I had the bottle from a while back anyway.
Anyway I followed the common instructions of removing plugs , pouring a couple oz in each hole and letting it sit, so far about 30 hour or so , and I had cranked the engine just a few seconds WITHOUT the plugs like most do , but I am getting nothing on the rag for ANY of the cylinders.. so I am sure that means all my rings are stuck bad??

I am going to continue another 24 and another application but I might need to use the car by tomorrow and then start another attempt later in the week.. for this my question is is it safe to put the plugs back in ?? . Nothing is shooting out on the rag when I crank for a few seconds.. and I can see no liquid in the immediate vicinity inside the plug chambers. . How to know if it is for sure safe to install the plugs?

 

[Elkins45]

I’ve soaked my Scion twice now and I gave it a 15-20 second crank before I installed the plugs. By the second or third cycle there's no more liquid coming out.

Here’s some free advice: while you are doing this invest in a bottle of Berryman’s B12 fuel system cleaner. It’s a much more powerful solvent than MMO. If you’re going to all the trouble you might as well give it the best chance of success.

 

[Killer223]

make sure youre disconnecting the fuel injection fuse before cranking it over for more than a few seconds, if still no oil on the rags, install plugs.
i would use a better solvent than the MMO, personally. something like seafoam, or B12.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

My friend that works for VW as one of the head techs recommended doing a regular motor flush with BG EPR. They use it in their, I think for a TSB, for the oil burning motors. At this point you need to an oil change either way before you actually start and drive it. Use a cheap oil. Then you can do the EPR next week.

Instructions he gave were warm up the motor, add EPR, start and hold about 1500 rpm for 15-20 minutes then do an oil change. See how that works.

After that I might try using High Performance Lubricants Engine Cleaner which seems to get good reviews here at BITOG.

 

[DannyM]

make sure youre disconnecting the fuel injection fuse before cranking it over for more than a few seconds, if still no oil on the rags, install plugs.
i would use a better solvent than the MMO, personally. something like seafoam, or B12.

I notice that most people DON'T disconnect that fuse for piston soaks.... but I see the fuel pump, . and the FI main and FI sub below .

page 478-480 http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/L10909/L10909OM.PDF

 

[Elkins45]

My friend that works for VW as one of the head techs recommended doing a regular motor flush with BG EPR. They use it in their, I think for a TSB, for the oil burning motors. At this point you need to an oil change either way before you actually start and drive it. Use a cheap oil. Then you can do the EPR next week.

Instructions he gave were warm up the motor, add EPR, start and hold about 1500 rpm for 15-20 minutes then do an oil change. See how that works.

After that I might try using High Performance Lubricants Engine Cleaner which seems to get good reviews here at BITOG.

The piston soak had much more of an impact than the EPR flush did on my Scion.

 

[michaelluscher]

The piston soak had much more of an impact than the EPR flush did on my Scion.

Same with my 2.4 xB

 

[Elkins45]

Also, to the OPs original question: I don’t think you can infer that all your rings are stuck because the liquid has drained after 30 hours. There’s not a perfect mechanical seal even with perfect rings and 30 hours is a long time for gravity to pull that fluid down through the small imperfections.

 

[DannyM]

Also, to the OPs original question: I don’t think you can infer that all your rings are stuck because the liquid has drained after 30 hours. There’s not a perfect mechanical seal even with perfect rings and 30 hours is a long time for gravity to pull that fluid down through the small imperfections.

got it.. but I notice on several forums where these guys show their rag they put over the holes while cranking the engine with no plugs.. and they claim the holes that shoot up dirty oil are the ones not stuck and any that don't shoot up anything are the stuck ones...... this is after 24 hours or so

 

[Elkins45]

got it.. but I notice on several forums where these guys show their rag they put over the holes while cranking the engine with no plugs.. and they claim the holes that shoot up dirty oil are the ones not stuck and any that don't shoot up anything are the stuck ones...... this is after 24 hours or so

I hope that’s not true because if it is I only have one cylinder with good rings.

 

[DannyM]

.
turned the engine over again for several seconds and again I checked the rag with nothing coming up.. So I am assuming it is safe to start with the plugs in ?? . no standing liquid inside the plug compartments or that I can see deeper in the holes..

I am not as mechanically inclined as most on this forum so I have a question that may be ridiculous to some.. but if you look at the photos attached here.. at the very top of the plug compartments you can see what looks like black rings.. very top.. but those are openings and I can see fluid in there.. Is this normal ??