Beyer

1995 civic
Was running rough and Blowing smoke - appears to be white. It now runs smooth with new plugs, but still smokes.
No apparent water in oil.
No apparent oil in antifreeze.
Compression check was 190-220 on all 4 cylinders
#2 spark plug looked like the ceramic was broken so I put in new plugs. Now it runs better but still smokes and stinks.
#2 cylinder has highest compression.
#2 cylinder gunked up new plug in less than 15 minutes idle time.
#2 cylinder appears to have oil on top of piston using a flashlight and looking down spark plug hole.

What the hell is it? I thought head gasket, but have good compression and no apparent water in the oil. Valve stem seals?

ezone

Pics of the plugs?


Compression test cannot tell you the condition of the oil control rings.
The oil rings could be completely missing and the compression test would still show good.


How fast has it been using oil?
How fast does it use coolant?

How many miles on it?
What sort of air filtration has it had all of its life?


Smoke white, or could it be light blue?

Beyer

#2 cylinder originally had a plug with broken ceramic. Changed plugs, and the car ran better (but still smoked). New plug in #2 was black and wet and almost completely cover in a matter of 15 minutes.
I have a pic, let me figure out how to load.

ezone

Wet with coolant or oil?



Load your pic to an image hosting site,
then find the 'insert image' icon () above, put the link there.
EDIT: Above the text box in the reply area

Beyer

Looks like oil to me.

ezone

15 minutes to soak a plug in oil is an awfully short time.

Got a pic yet?

Beyer

Nah, just pulled the head off. Gasket looks fine but the valves and the combustion chamber look a little beat up. Going to throw on another head and gasket.

ezone

Seems like the only way oil will get in is through the rings or the valves, and valves haven't been a big problem area IMO.

How many miles are on the engine?

You might pop the #2 piston out of the block and check out the rings, see if the oil control rings are stuck in the groove. The time to do it is while the head is off.

Beyer

230000 miles.
Agree, might pull the piston.

ezone

Ooh, at that mileage it might be time for rings anyway.....Especially if it has had a lifetime of running with air filters of questionable quality.
Or if it has been severely overheated.

Did it smoke or consume oil before this?

Beyer

Appears oil scraper rings were stuck from build up. Hope this fixes it.