CivixChick

Me and my husband replaced the headgasket (D16Y7) after buying the 96 Civic. It was puking antifreeze out the radiator. After about a week the car started idling on a miss, we did a compression test and it was pretty bleak from bad to worse so we pulled the head again. Easier the second time at about 40 minutes. The valves were caked with crud so he decided to lap the valves to see if it helped before dumping more into it and it did help. We did a compression test which was good and then a leakdown, the #4 seemed to have a lot of hissing into the engine but let it go. The valves were lashed both times.

The engine runs good, burns a little oil but it has 258K on it so I guess it's fine, replaced the valve seals too. Lots of valve guide play but no real driving issues.

So much for history, my husband is getting a bit pissed. He is not happy with the mileage and last night he was checking things and when the engine was running, if you uncap the oil fill cover it spews oil out like there is an air can pushung it out. There is a little tube thing on the other side of the cover but that has vacume. My HB says that it should be going to the same place and he dont get why its blowing out the filler but vacuming out the little nipple thing.

We don't have a lot of money and after doing the gasket 2x he is kinda lost. He is saying to get another motor and cutting it down and the heads to get 11 to one something but really we can't be going into this yet.

Ok he just said he is going to pull the valve covers and see if something is messed up. He did search on here but didn't find anything even close to this problem. I can't talk to him now, i am wondering if mabey this is normal? We never had a honda and only v8 old cars and on them I know this is nt normal for them.

Any clues would be nice, I will add later after he calms down. maybe another cpmression or leakdown test, I will post numbers if he writes them down.

Thanks, my spelling sucks but I tried to be complete in this and ask for help.

ezone

Inspect the PCV valve. It is connected to manifold vacuum.

Check for vacuum or pressure at the vent tube between the valve cover and the air breather tube, check it at idle. Slight vacuum is good, but pressure would be excessive blowby.

You do not remove the oil cap while the engine is running. It WILL spit oil out. This is normal, and expected.


Why wasn't this addressed while the head was off? I bet it needed rings, and still does.

Does it run bad? Dead miss, or low power all around?

And this was caused by....?

CivixChick

[QUOTE] it does have vacume

Yes most likely needs rings

No miss, runs fine now

Bad rings?

1st time he pulled the head he just replaced the gasket, after that it started missing at an idle. Pulled the head again and pulled the valves out, they were caked with a hard white... ? stuff? Wire wheeled them and lapped them into the head until it looked like a good seal. Runs fine since. He said was most likely from too tight of lash, were not all closing all the way.

Last night he did a compression test, I dont have the numbers and he isn't here but first test was dry and #3 was lower than the rest. Added a capful of transmission fluid and the numbers went real high so he says the engine is trash.

The last time he pulled the head he saw cracks in the cylinders, all of them. He said it looks like someone let it freeze without antifreeze and it squished them. I saw them, real tiny but all around the holes. That is why he didnt put new rings in it, said the holes are not straight and new rings wont fix anything like that, lol.

I guess we are going to look for another motor and redo that instead of wasting money on this one. I will write the numbers when he gets back. He says that people are going to laugh at this.

CivixChick

Wife says to post numbers:
cyl 1-2-3-4
dry test 170-180-110-190
wet 180-250-320-320
wet#2 230-230-280-250

^ esplain me this!
1st wet cycled before test, test 2 was just going back over and testing, no added oil from test 1

2 capfulls of oil, (maybe 2 tbl spns) too much and caused hydrolock?

Clearly a ring issue going on here but the cylinders dont look square visibly, didn't think to dial them to make sure though. Might just pop some rings in it for the fun of it and ball hone.

ezone

What happened with #4? The first post said: "the #4 seemed to have a lot of hissing into the engine"


#3 looks nearly dead. I'd expect 180+ outta that engine if you keep cranking until the gauge stops climbing.

Did you do a leakdown this time?

320? No way. You musta been near hydraulic lock.
I would think 2 tbsp should have been ok, maybe you overdid it? I dunno.

You can eyeball a cylinder wall accurately? Wow. Pull a ring off and push it through a little at a time and check for gaps indicating low spots in the cylinder walls.

Make sure to clean all the carbon buildup out of the ring grooves.

I wouldn't even bother to hone it with a dingleberry hone. Too hard to clean properly after grinding with the engine in the car and crank still in place (hot soapy water, white glove test before assembly, too hard unless block is bare and on the stand for me).
I'd pop in an OE ring set, oil the walls, and run it. They'll break in.