ChrisC

Hi everybody,

I hope someone can help me.
So this is the problem:

I have a Civic '97 EX (124,000+ miles). It was burning oil and it was very dark.
Plus the water overflow tank seems to have a little oil in it

Till a week ago I had the check engine light on. The car was running fine (maybe just a little dull on acceleration) so I did not think too much about that. But last week I had to do the smog check to renew the registration and the CEL on means automatic fail.

I ending up changing the distributor because of code P1362 (the TDC sensor was broken - even tested with the ohmmeter) and since the sensor cannot be replaced alone on '97 models I changed the whole thing. I found a new one on eBay for $135 (the same that cost $290 at Autozone ). I adjusted the timing with the timing light (not sure if it was correctly synchronized before, now it should be fine). The CEL problem was fixed and car seems working better now.

I re-gap the sparking plugs (they did not need a lot of adjustment). I found some oil outside on the top of sparking plug in the second cylinder. I could not explain that except that maybe some oil dripped in during a previous change. What else could it be? I have platinum sparking plugs and they were pretty dark inside like they had been burning a lot of crap.

I changed the oil putting in Valvoline Max Life Synthetic blend - $14 at Walmart) and the filter (FRAM with Extra Guard - $3.50). Previously I had standard oil and standard filter from a previous change at a lube place close-by.

Since the oil was so black, after the oil was dripped out, I turned on the car a few times for 10-15 second so the oil pump could remove all the old oil. I was opening and closing the oil lead on the engine between a cycle and I noticed some smog coming out from the the hole. Is it normal?

When nothing else was dripping out I took out the oil filter (that was empty) and repeat the cycle. Finally I put the bolt back in, the filter and the oil.

I had also a crack on the manifold on the 4th cylinder pipe. After looking online I decided to repair the crack with CarGo ThermoSteel. It took a while to clean it up with a few sheets of sand paper but it look like that it made the trick and so far it is holding strong.

The car brilliantly passed the smog check. After 200 miles (that are not probably enough to judge) it looks like no more oil has been burned and the color of the oil is just lightly a little darker. Maybe the problem with the distributor was the cause of the problem?

I am concerned about the oily water in the overflow tank . What do you think I should do to be sure everything is OK?

I hope you did not bore you with the details but I think it is better to write too many details than not enough.

Last thing: I never heard/seen the overheating fan on. If I leave the car in idle for a while it does not come on. The temperature indicator goes till a little less than half and it stays there. Could the temperature sensor be faulty? Can the little oil interfere with that? How do I test that everything is working?

Thank you in advance!

Best,
Chris

Foffie

iTrader: (3)

im still sticking with running the car intentionally without oil is stupid from the other post you made as far as oil in coolant you need a head gasket unless you put the oil in the radiator/overflow tank the oil covered spark plugs could be one of 2 things: Piston rings are done which a new motor is usually the cheaper route or spark plug tube seals which i cant remember if a 97 will have(smeone else please confirm this) as i know my 01 does. Just remember honda's run for ever but F**k man theres a limit

HLC

again, that smog you saw coming out of your motor after YOU RAN IT WITH NO OIL is probably the bearings going HEY YOU SUCK and giving out. go get a new motor.

02civicsi02

Your problem is where you ran the motor without oil like in the other thread you made. Do yourself a favor and stop working on cars and take it somewhere.

ChrisC

I did that with my previous cars I owned without having any engine problems. I am sorry to shake your believes and make you realize that an engine can run without oil for a few seconds without necessary melt. I do understand that it may be dangerous. I am grateful for the feedback.

Car was burning oil BEFORE I ran the motor without oil. Now (after 200 miles) it seems doing better (see above and other thread).

After reading another thread on the forum, I think that the smog coming from the oil's hole can be naturally coming from the valves that are not perfectly sealed. And that can be the reason why the car is burning oil. If anybody can confirm that this can be a cause, please tell me. I would also like to know what is the less invasive way to test for valves sealing problems and fix the problem eventually.

I do understand that this does not explain the oil in the coolant. Should I flush the cooling system and see what happen? If the problem is really the head gasket, can flushing the system actually be a bad idea? I am afraid that if the head gasket is the problem now there could be some clogs at the "right place" in the gasket that are limiting the problems and flushing the system can remove them and create a worse leak. What do you think about that?

Foffie

iTrader: (3)

once your head gasket is leaking the only fix is to remove the head and replace the gasket. If you flush your cooling system guess what your head gasket will still be bad. oil in your coolant has to come from somewhere and short of drilling a hole in your oil pan and radiator and connecting the two with a garden hose your head gasket is the only other possible culprit and Honestly not to be a jerk but if your asking this many questions that we in the automotive repair world refer to as ID-10-T questions then i would recommend not doing the job yourself
as far as oil burning since weve determined a faulty headgasket maybe thats where your oil is going its very common for cars of age to burn oil hell my 01 burns it and its got almost 120k. Yes valves can cause smoke due to not seating correctly but there is no way in hell you woulda passed smog if that was the case

ChrisC

Ok, I do agree that if the gasket is bad the best way to fix it is to take the head off and replace it... nevertheless, I heard of people having quite stable successes with Thermagasket and similar products. I also heard stories of these products causing more damages because people were careless about details.

Anyway, what I meant is that if there is some corrosion and minor leaks in the gasket, the engine can still work Ok for a while and the reason is because burned oil, rust, etc sometimes form clogs in "strategic" points. Flushing the system can remove or reduce even these clogs or accelerate corrosion of the damaged gasket. This creates more problems and the car really may end up needing a new gasket to operate very soon. If the car is still working OK and just spilling a very low quantity of oil in the coolant, I can still drive the car. Does it make sense?

Also I am not 100% sure there is oil . How can I be REALLY sure that there really is oil in the overflow tanks?
Even if it is really oil in the coolant, before thinking about a new gasket (or Thermagasket alternative), I wanted to be sure that the gasket is really the problem without risking to create a worse problem. I have never replaced the coolant since I bought the car less than 20k miles ago, and I can think at least other 2 ways on how the oil could end up in the coolant. One is that someone spilled oil in the coolant oil by accident, the other is a crack in the engine. In both cases trying to replace the head gasket is a waste of time and money. I am trying to exclude them and other causes that I cannot think of right now. Does anybody have a step-by-step guide to diagnostic if there is a problem and what is it? What about a compression test?

If it is really the gasket, I am not probably going to do the work myself (at least not alone). I wonder how long and how much money replacing the gasket would take?

The car does not do any smoke when it is warmed but I read here (https://www.civicforums.com/forums/1...rning-oil.html) that if there are defects in the valve seals you will only see a little blue smoke at cold start-up. Correct?