Burning Oil?

T

Twamgl3

Road Burner
Points
72
Location
Essex
Car
Mitsubishi Carisma
I'll see if anyone knows the answer to this?

I've identified the problem - I'm using around 3/4 of litre of oil a week (which is at least 300 miles). When the engine was running and hot yesterday there was smoke coming from the dipstick (which is not damaged in anyway).

There's no puddle under the car wherever it's been parked, and it recently passed the MoT so I can't see that the oil is being burned else the emissions test would have been affected.

I reckon the head gasket's OK as the coolant and oil are separate, and clean.

I'm going to test the crankcase breathing plumbing - there's a valve that may have been damaged and the Haynes manual shows me how to deal with that.

Other problems may be the valve stems or piston rings. I hope its not the latter as I don't really want to hoik the engine out and take the big end apart.

I wondered if anyone had suffered (and rectified!) the same symptoms I'm suffering with:

High engine oil comsumption;
smoke from the dipstick when engine is hot;
but; no more smoke from the exhaust than usual;
head gasket is ok.

I'll update this thread with the results of me checking the crankcase breather plumbing after the weekend.
 
Have you tried an engine oil flush and change of oil? It sounds like sludge is blocking things up causing a pressure/heat build up.
 
the engine is knackered mate sorry

head gaskets dont go on hondas
no sign of leaks, smokey exhaust and dipstick
the civic either burns oil or it dosent

start the car first thing in the morning, run to the back and watch the firstthing that comes out the exhaust, if its blue smoke the car is knackered

get back to me and let me know
 
Any luck with this? You seem to have answered your own question but...

First check all the breather pipes for blockages as you said you would. Failing that...

Check for smoke on startup and on load just after deacceleration. If it gives a puff of blue smoke under these conditions it's probably the stem seals as you're spewing out the oil that's been sucked past the seals by vaccuum.

Other thing to do is a wet and dry compression test as it could also be the piston rings, especially with smoke out of the dipstick.
 
My wife realised how upset I was about the car so father-in-law told me (he didn't ask) to get it into his workshop*, so that's where it is now. I didn't get around to doing any checks myself.

I didn't think it was the stem seals as there doesn't appear to be any oil in the exhaust - in fact there doesn't appear to be any smoke in the exhaust at all.

And Prevtec - do you mean the engine's knackered and not the car! I'll get another engine if I have to.

I must admit I've never replaced piston rings myself, but if I have free reign over a workshop for a weekend I'm sure I'd be able to do it.

I've replaced valve stem seals on a car before (but it had half as many valves!), and the other thing, which I really should have checked before driving the car up to the workshop was the crankcase breather plumbing. Can't remember if I said or not but my brother had a similar problem with his Mazda and it was cured for the sake of a £30 valve which had become damaged.

Crankcase gases going into the sump would be an obvious reason for the smoke coming from the dipstick.

*I should point out that father-in-law is an 'Agricultural Engineer' so my £800 car pales in significance to the £120,000 tractors and combines that usually grace the workshop. It is the fastest thing there, though! My Fiesta was actually slower 0-60 than some of the stuff he maintains and sells.
 
Last edited:
yes the engine is wrecked, i presume the car is ok
when changing piston, rings, anything to do with taking the head gasket off, you need to take note

every single nut, bolt, has to be torque wrenched tight according to the manufactors handbook, if its out 1nm, forget it

the head needs to be skimmed

new gaskets are required

if i were you id get a replacment engine and just swap it
its easier, and probably cheaper

also, honda engines dont like when you take their head and bottom end apart
it will take professional work for the head being skimmed, and you will need a proper gasket to seal it
 
prevtec said:
it will take professional work for the head being skimmed, and you will need a proper gasket to seal it
Click to expand...

If it comes to it, I'll have to do it.

If the head does need to be skimmed I can take a proper look at it whilst its off the block to see how much of a port and polish it will take, and then I can work out how many thousandths to take away with the skim.

I was toying with idea of buying a spare head and seeing how far I could take it, anyway. It's just a suitable head hasn't caught my attention yet, and I'd rather fix the faults before I move onto 'improvements'.

I was considering making it breath better with a CAI, less restrictive exhaust (from the head to the tail) and seeing what I could do in terms of fuel delivery.

There's no point trying to get 500bhp out of a 1.5 litre, especially when some of the larger Honda engines will slot in the bay - but there's always room for improvement on a stock engine.
 
Twamgl3 said:
If it comes to it, I'll have to do it.

If the head does need to be skimmed I can take a proper look at it whilst its off the block to see how much of a port and polish it will take, and then I can work out how many thousandths to take away with the skim.

I was toying with idea of buying a spare head and seeing how far I could take it, anyway. It's just a suitable head hasn't caught my attention yet, and I'd rather fix the faults before I move onto 'improvements'.

I was considering making it breath better with a CAI, less restrictive exhaust (from the head to the tail) and seeing what I could do in terms of fuel delivery.

There's no point trying to get 500bhp out of a 1.5 litre, especially when some of the larger Honda engines will slot in the bay - but there's always room for improvement on a stock engine.
Click to expand...
i know that, in fact a civic type r engine will go straight in to your lsi

i was only saying if you want the easiest, and cheapest way out of it, get a replacment

if your going to go to the botter of taking heads off, just get a dohc vtec, and have a nice project for yourself:p
 
pgarner said:
k20 wont go straight in. you need custom mounts and other parts as it isnt a common enough mod yet for its to be ready avalible
Click to expand...
dosent have to be a k20, what about a b16, that will go straight in
in fact im helping the buddy do his 1, and thats an intera trype r from a dc2
 
b series will go straight in. sorry most folk just go on about the newer type Rs.
there is kits slowly coming on for the k20 swaps but not cheap from what i hear. mates doing this on a eg civic and hes had a hell of a time finding stuff
 
Well the car's come back from the garage after a lot of head scratching. The problem seems to have gone away on its own as all symptoms have disappeared.

I'm going to keep an eye on it and not assume I'm lucky enough to have a self fixing car. I've got about 12 litres of oil in the boot so I know I can get home if the problem reappears. The real test will be at the end of the month when I will be driving 650+ miles in one round trip!

I'd love to drop a more powerful engine in - the obvious choice would be a B16A2 from a VTi model Civic, CRX or Del Sol, but its not on my list of priorities at the moment as I need the car on the road for work, and in my present situation I can't afford the extra costs in fuel, insurance and tax - let alone the engine and ancillaries!

I was reading about someone dropping a rebuilt H22A from a Prelude into the hatchback version of my car. A little bit of fettling to that will double the power of my car (although I daresay it will have a bad effect on the handling and increase the weight).

More realistic at the moment is me buying another 1.5 litre engine and rebuilding it as close to new as possible in my own time in the shed and then dropping it straight in once I'm done. That way there's less to tell the insurance company (might see if I can get bits balanced and get rid of some weight where I can) and I'll be getting as close to the factory numbers for torque and power as possible.
 
No power steering isn't an issue though. Just loop the lines and have a reservoir for the fluid to go. No drag on the engine, razor sharp steering and excellent road feel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Please watch this on my YouTube channel & Subscribe.


Back
Top