LS motor burns a little oil, but stil has GOOD compression.

[teh_mugen18]

my motor only burns oil when i get on it hard, and still has good compression in all the cylinders too....

Which leads me to believe that its burning oil through the valve seals and/or headgasket? Am i correct?

I'm trying to preserve this motor as good as i can for boost, and i can have another head re-built if neccessary...

[green91]

ITs probably your rings. You can still have good compression but bad oil control rings. 90% of the time with hondas this is the case.

[Barefoot]

leak down test

[teh_mugen18]

hmm....well if it turns out on the leakdown test that i have good compression rings but some bad oil rings, should i still be okay for a small amount of boost? or will it make the smoking much worse?

I wanna run garrett t25 or t3 super 60, or 14B...~6psi.

[punkr6]

hmm....well if it turns out on the leakdown test that i have good compression rings but some bad oil rings, should i still be okay for a small amount of boost? or will it make the smoking much worse?

I wanna run garrett t25 or t3 super 60, or 14B...~6psi.

rebuild then boost...

[green91]

A leakdown test wont indicate bad oil rings, it will only indicate where you are losing compression at.

[teh_mugen18]

rebuild then boost...

grr...:2up:my LS motor..!! This is the second engine ive had in my car thats not good enough for boosting, and i had high hopes for my fresh b18b1...:(



Oh well, i guess "plan B" is what i'll need to do for making it faster...:ninja:

[green91]

I suppose you could still boost it, but it will definitely accelerate wear/tear on your engine, whereas now it may be possible to rebuild and not have to be replaced. It will get worse if left alone.

[punkr6]

grr...:2up:my LS motor..!! This is the second engine ive had in my car thats not good enough for boosting, and i had high hopes for my fresh b18b1...:(



Oh well, i guess "plan B" is what i'll need to do for making it faster...:ninja:

what is Plan B ?

[teh_mugen18]

I suppose you could still boost it, but it will definitely accelerate wear/tear on your engine, whereas now it may be possible to rebuild and not have to be replaced. It will get worse if left alone.

man, i already have a second block/heads sitting around my house, i might as well just keep my b1 and "all-motor" it, (ls-Vtec) and save up/rebuild the old a1 block sitting in my house for boost :(

EDIT:

what is Plan B ?

lsvtec

[green91]

You could probably re-ring the smoking engine and be okay. Just make sure to measure bore size & taper to make sure its within spec.

[teh_mugen18]

You could probably re-ring the smoking engine and be okay. Just make sure to measure bore size & taper to make sure its within spec.

if this doesnt require pulling the motor out, then this sounds like it might be the best thing.. (its such a pain pulling the motor, i hate doing it)... but if i cant avoid pulling it out, then ill just wait and build the second block...

[green91]

You could re-ring and leave the block in the car but it would be a bit of a pain LOL. Once u get the hang of pull engines ,its not a big deal. I literally pull these engines in an hour with air tools.

[teh_mugen18]

lol but first things first, how do i even find out if its my rings or my valve seals? Because supposedly leak-down testing or compression testing doesnt work to prove bad oil rings vs the valve seals.

[green91]

Typically with valve seals, you will see smoke on a cold start after sitting and also will see smoke after a period of high vac or decel, whereas rings typically smoke at higher rpm.

The last 3 honda engines ive rebuilt (including mine) all had great compression but burned oil. All 3 incidentally had the oil control rings seized into the pistons and weren't seating in the bores correctly causing the engines to burn oil. Not saying its impossible but i've never had a honda that consumed alot of oil end up being valve seals.

[Vteckidd]

ITs probably your rings. You can still have good compression but bad oil control rings. 90% of the time with hondas this is the case.
:goodjob:

[Vteckidd]

depends on how much oil it is too, if its a qt every 3000 miles no big deal, if its a qt every 500 miles, its a problem

i literally had a GSR with 90k miles on it that burned a qt every 100 miles, we put HONDA rings in it, and it didnt smoke a drop for another 100k (last i heard about it)

Most likely it is NOT valve stem seals, although you can replace those rather easily at the same time you do the rings

[green91]

I agree. IF you purchase a head gasket kit, it will come with new valve stem seals anyway, along with every other gasket you will need for the top-end reassembly

[teh_mugen18]

Typically with valve seals, you will see smoke on a cold start after sitting and also will see smoke after a period of high vac or decel, whereas rings typically smoke at higher rpm.



The only times i see oil being burned is when im up in the upper rpms, or if i've been sitting at a stoplight for a long period of time. Doesnt happen any other time.

But, either way to me sounds like ill need to re-ring my motor and re-do the valve seals...correcto?

[Z0_o6]

yes. go ahead and do both, it isn't very expensive. the valve stem seals are easy, and the rings are only a little more work really. you CAN re-ring it in the car, but i would strongly suggest pulling it and having a machine shop hone the cylinders.