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Losing Oil - Compression looks ok

3K views 27 replies 6 participants last post by  Chubby Bunny 
  • Losing 1 - 2 qts per fill-up.
  • No noticeable oil leaks on engine or underneath car
  • No exh smoke
  • Starts fine
  • 1/4 spark plugs was oily when removed
  • 175K miles on car
  • Pretty thick layer of soot in tail pipe and exhaust is aftermarket
  • Replaced PCV
  • Compression seemed ok but maybe I'm doing it wrong.... it's been a while
o warmed up car
o disconnected distributor
o I cranked the engine about five revs for each cylinder.
o Readings were all 180 after five revs and I noticed that pressure continued to build beyond 5 revs

At this point, I'm open to any theories on where the oil is going, or what I've failed to check
Arn't old cars fun?
1-2 qts/ fill up is quite a bit. 1 plug oily so some oil got to be burning at lease in that cylinder.
Did you check coolant level? If bad head gasket you could have oil getting into coolant. That would be clear if you check coolant.
If no oil leaking outside engine, then it's going inside engine and usually means ring job and or head gasket job, or oil seals on valves.
No cheap fix for this one.
 
I probably should do a leak down test; I have a test kit.

The mechanic is booked until late April so I will keep testing.

Today I put a paper towel over oil fill and it stayed in place on its own with the engine running, meaning that the crankcase is alternating between vacuum and pressure, which I believe means the pcv system is functioning properly. Also, if blow by was excessive, I assume the excessive pressure would have blown it off the valve cover.

I'd also like to find another comparable year civic to compare the amount of blow by.

Besides the usual suspects, I have a couple of other theories on what could be causing this, but they're not very good.

  • It has 185/60/14 tires, which means 2 inches more circumference, so it's kind of like driving in too high of a gear. It's definitely noticeable. Perhaps this additional resistance on the engine produces more oil consumption.
  • I don't know this, but suspect that the PO put in a lower-temp thermostat. Perhaps the pistons aren't fully expanding.
Not a tire size issue, not a thermostat issue. Motor sealing issue.
Notice you said coolant level was low but smelled oily.
Bottom line on this is motor job. Even if you only plan to pull head for head gasket, you'll be replacing valve seals and probably do valve job. That's probably best case, but my guess is once you pull head you'll see ring failure and oil soaked piston. At this point rings, maybe new overbore piston to freshen bore on old motor, bearings, etc. Motor job.
 
Great Question. It's my 16yo daughter's car. She bought it with her own money. So our goal is minimal investment.... mainly just addressing deferred maintenance issues, un-doing past modifications that went badly, like the ds power window. If I have to, I will spring for a replacement engine.
You have a serious decision to make on the car. Motor needs attention and might as well consider to worst for that. rings,bearings,seals,head gasket, etc. so you have to know what a rebuild will run. Vs buying a replacement motor which may or may not be any good. You are talking about a 34 year old car. Not sure what rebuilds run, but if guessing I'd say 3K.
You have to way that against what the car will sell for to recoup your investment. 88 HF's are ideal for motor swap's. Drop a b16 or b18 in it and you end up with a great driver. Might be above the budget for you, but selling it before investing any more might limit your loss.
Good Luck.
 
After reading about your motor situation, I reached out to a friend who is in the process of doing a b18 motor swap into his 88 hf. He already sold the hf motor, but then told me it was not an original HF motor. Previous owner swapped in another d15 motor and put all the hf stuff on it. Really thinking about this I would think any 88-91 d15 motor would work, and they are not a lot of money.
Plus there is also a guy in Kansas names Jeremiah Freeman who has a lot of CRX parts. At one point I remember that he stated he had maybe 30 CRX's. Maybe an HF? He's on Facebook if you do that thing.
ZC are fun thing to do, but this is for a 16 year old daughter first car project, so maybe later.
D16a6 motors are not that plentiful, as I have looking for one for quite a while.
 
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