hadden Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 I just bought a 1989 civic hatch and knew it wasn't perfect but didn't know what the problems were. it blows white/ blue smoke when revving too high, if I shift early it wont smoke and it isn't over heating. it has a new head and gaskets, isn't leaking oil just burning it. thinking about replacing the valve stem seals then the oil cooler oring and seeing if that stops the smoking. and ideas or suggestions would be great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Matteu Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Valve stems is it. If that doesn't solve it then your piston oil rings are going bad. I was told it was possible for the compression rings to still be good while the oil rings are toast, so you could be burning for a while before you start to see performance suffer. In my experience, valve stem seals foul the plugs and/or smokes more at idle and start-up more than at any other time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadden Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 so should I basically replace both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Matteu Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 (edited) LOL oil rings are on the piston, in other words an engine rebuild since you cannot replace rings without honing the cylinders. When you go that far, other stuff might pop up like needing new pistons if they are damaged or too small if the cylinders need to be bored larger. Which leads into other stuff like needing the crankshaft polished and buying new bearings. It's prudent to replace the valve stem seals before tearing into a full rebuild, just to be sure where the pproblem is. Edited August 6, 2013 by James Matteu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadden Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 Sorry not the most knowledgeable about cars. I must be wrong about the name of the oring because I watched a video on YouTube and its a ring right under the oil filter and it said it could help with smoke. It was just a guess but thank you for your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Matteu Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 That's the oil pressure sending sensor and that remediess smoke from under the car, not smoke from the tail light. Where IS your smoke coming from?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadden Posted August 6, 2013 Author Share Posted August 6, 2013 Oh ok. It is coming out the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Matteu Posted August 6, 2013 Share Posted August 6, 2013 Yeah, that's not an oil leak leaking onto the exhaust and burning/smoldering as you suggested; rather, you're burning oil in the combustion chamber. This comes down to how bad it is. I mentioned a loss of power being more related to the compression ring integrity not oil rings. What you should also consider (after replacing the valve stem seals) is how much oil are you losing. Do the math, if your burning a hole into your pocket in replacing lost oil, it makes sense to make the repair (after replacing the valve stems to be sure it's not those seals at fault). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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