ping717

Just recently bought a 2000 hatchback civic cx... obviously the stupid thing wasnt burning oil when i was test driving it. Noticed the engine oil was pretty dirty, told the guy to change it before i buy but, instead he lowered the price and said he doesnt want to do it. Seems pretty reasonable at the time, but now that i changed the oil and started it up to go around the block, it starts smoking out the back... got ripped off, yea, but thats how life goes. Most likely added something to the oil to seal the oil leak until the next oil change i guess. I been doing some research on how to fix this ****... and came up with 2 options:
1. Drop in a swap, quick and easy, hard trying to find a decent engine
2. Rip it apart and fix her up myself, time consuming but cheaper

If anyone in around Hamilton area has a d16y7 for sale please PM me,

Heres the real question... Should i buy one of those engine rebuild kits and go with it? If so what are some good packages to get?

I am currently in university for mechanical engineering and am willing to go with either path!!! Please help

Gunner

Its up to you really..I dont have much experience in this area but it is always cheaper to do it yourself and you will know the quality of work put into it...

MindBomber

Don't jump straight to a full rebuild or swap, first diagnose exactly what's causing the smoking.

What colour is the smoke; white, black, blue?

ping717

smoke is blue, not really blue just a very light hint of blue, what kind of tests should i conduct i am pretty new at this kind of problems, the car is high mileage 323kms, not sure if its just wear and tear or the guy before was driving it like an idoit...
I know what a compression test is, but what is a leak down test?
If need be i can take some pictures of the car running and stuff if it helps

MindBomber

A leak down test allows you to pin point the exact source of leakage by blowing compressed air into the engine and listening for where it escapes, it's a little more involved than a compression test. By pinpointing the source of the leak it will tell you what to replace, no guessing games.

How much oil is being burned?

ping717

i wont be able do a leakdown test myself right?? its gotta be done by a shop? This is the first oil change so I have no idea how much its been burning, but when i changed the oil only 3.2L came out of the pan, the recommended volume of oil is suppose to be 4.3L the problem is i also dont know when this guy last changed the oil

ezone

I'm pretty sure that engine only holds about 3.5 quarts with the factory size filter.

MindBomber

Ezone is correct, 3.5 quarts or 3.3 liters.

A leak down test requires a compressor, but aside from that there's nothing preventing you from doing it at home. It doesn't even need to be a large compressor, one of the tiny ones from Canadian Tire will work.

You can confirm if it's piston rings with just a compression test gauge by adding a bit of oil directly into a cylinder with a low reading and seeing if the pressure increases, but if it's a very slow burn through a valve seat or something like that you'll really need a leak down test to diagnose.

ezone

Ummm, dry/wet compression and leakdown tests only check compression rings. They can't tell you if oil control rings are stuck. The conditions it smokes worst under tells where oil is most likely coming from.

MindBomber

Ohh yesss, that makes sense now that I think about it, thank you for the correction.

The only way to actually confirm bad oil control rings would to be actually remove the piston then, correct?

ezone

Pretty much. An educated guess based on how and when it smokes would surely be confirmed by pulling pistons out.

I don't know what the smoke situation is like though.

Suggest researching caddy northstar oil burning problems and see how GM wanted you to fill the cylinders with carbon treatment to unstick the rings. Get the engine hot, soak it, work it in, soak it, work it in, dump it out, change oil. Gotta do it right though. Could be worth a shot if that really is the problem. Cheap if it does some good.

At that high of a mileage, I would probably plan on a complete re-ring if I opened it up at all.

ping717

okay maybe it is only a slow burn then, yea i might have added a bit too much oil, i swear i saw in the owner's manual saying it is 4.3L, I will try and photocopy the manual and show u guys. I will go do some of these tests this weekend and see how it turns out, Thanks guys. If anything else comes up i will keep u guys updated

ezone

Doesn't matter what you think the owners manual said.
(Make sure your manual isn't for an Accord or something.)

Use the dipstick. It doesn't lie.

Frankenstein87

I have a similar problem. '00 Si, just changed my oil 4 weeks ago. checked it today and the dipstick was dry. It smokes at hi rpm too. I know it doesn't leak, I already took care of those. A guy I work with said he changed the rings in his 99 integra that was doing the same thing and now it doesn't burn anymore, but like you I want to do a bit of research before I go tearing into it. What did you find out?