New Valve Seals, Guides, Lap, or 3-point?
11-11-2017
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New Valve Seals, Guides, Lap, or 3-point?
The Car: 92 Civic EX with 258,000 miles on it, original owners.
The Symptom: Lack of power, also leaks oil on garage floor
I recently noticed that my wife's Honda doesn't have as much power and is running rough. It was do for a tune-up anyway, so I replaced the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. It ran better, but still rough. I noticed when replacing the plugs that cylinder #3 was black and not burning correctly, so it was an obvious suspect. Did a cylinder contribution test by unplugging the injectors one at a time to see how the engine ran. 1,2, and 4 nearly killed the engine, but 3 had no effect.
Got a compression tester from AutoZone and checked the compression. The best I could get was 105, 65, 0, and 120 from cylinders 1-4, respectively. Next did a cylinder leak-down test and could hear cylinders 3 leaking at the exhaust tailpipe and intake. I could also hear some leakage with #2 from the same place, but not as much. Nothing coming from the oil filler and no bubbles in the radiator. Radiator fluid is perfectly clear.
I've also had an oil leak I've been chasing for the past year. I've replaced the oil pan gasket, the VTEC gasket, and the rear main seal. The valve cover gasket was replaced by an auto shop prior, so I haven't replace that yet. It still is leaking oil. The leakage rate has increased in the past month.
At this point I believe the compression problem and probably the oil leakage are related to bad valves in some way. What I don't know yet is exactly what the next step should be. Can the lack of compression and oil leakage be blamed on just bad valve stem seals or is it more serious than that and need to have the head pulled and lap and/or grind the valves, etc.?
Any suggestions?
Alan
The Symptom: Lack of power, also leaks oil on garage floor
I recently noticed that my wife's Honda doesn't have as much power and is running rough. It was do for a tune-up anyway, so I replaced the plugs, wires, cap, and rotor. It ran better, but still rough. I noticed when replacing the plugs that cylinder #3 was black and not burning correctly, so it was an obvious suspect. Did a cylinder contribution test by unplugging the injectors one at a time to see how the engine ran. 1,2, and 4 nearly killed the engine, but 3 had no effect.
Got a compression tester from AutoZone and checked the compression. The best I could get was 105, 65, 0, and 120 from cylinders 1-4, respectively. Next did a cylinder leak-down test and could hear cylinders 3 leaking at the exhaust tailpipe and intake. I could also hear some leakage with #2 from the same place, but not as much. Nothing coming from the oil filler and no bubbles in the radiator. Radiator fluid is perfectly clear.
I've also had an oil leak I've been chasing for the past year. I've replaced the oil pan gasket, the VTEC gasket, and the rear main seal. The valve cover gasket was replaced by an auto shop prior, so I haven't replace that yet. It still is leaking oil. The leakage rate has increased in the past month.
At this point I believe the compression problem and probably the oil leakage are related to bad valves in some way. What I don't know yet is exactly what the next step should be. Can the lack of compression and oil leakage be blamed on just bad valve stem seals or is it more serious than that and need to have the head pulled and lap and/or grind the valves, etc.?
Any suggestions?
Alan
11-11-2017
#2
If you think a good mechanic is expensive, try hiring a bad one
Re: New Valve Seals, Guides, Lap, or 3-point?
Compression--wet test done? No improvement in the bad readings?
Check valve adjustment first, then see if compression improves.
If no, reconfirm source of leakage with leakdown test.
If valves still leak then pulling the head off will be necessary for a valve job......and if you have to take the cylinder head off then it might be a good time to replace the piston rings (because high mileage rings stick and cause oil consumption) if you plan on keeping this thing running forever
Valve leakage/low compression should not have any bearing on oil leakage unless it's the result of blowby into the crankcase (doubtful).
You need to find the source of that oil leak first and fix the real cause of the oil leakage, depending on what it is it might be easier to do with the head and timing belt and oil pan out of the way (like an oil pump reseal).
258k.....find a low mileage used engine, reseal it and put a fresh timing belt in and drop it in?
Check valve adjustment first, then see if compression improves.
If no, reconfirm source of leakage with leakdown test.
If valves still leak then pulling the head off will be necessary for a valve job......and if you have to take the cylinder head off then it might be a good time to replace the piston rings (because high mileage rings stick and cause oil consumption) if you plan on keeping this thing running forever
Valve leakage/low compression should not have any bearing on oil leakage unless it's the result of blowby into the crankcase (doubtful).
You need to find the source of that oil leak first and fix the real cause of the oil leakage, depending on what it is it might be easier to do with the head and timing belt and oil pan out of the way (like an oil pump reseal).
258k.....find a low mileage used engine, reseal it and put a fresh timing belt in and drop it in?
