Post YOUR Sedan here
User avatar
By OCHO
#344963 I took a look at your other thread about the piston rings, I think for the price of the rings you found on eBay it's worth it to spend another $70 and order the oem Honda rings....that way you will know for sure they will 100% fit :D

I'm sure a lot of us can tell you from personal experience that sometimes it's worth it to spend a bit more money for a proven and reliable product, engine internals being one of them haha!

Saving some money is a great goal for all of us but sometimes we have to pay a little extra for things that are worth it.

So look at it this way, you can try the rings from eBay which may work, but if they don't you'll end up spending $160 more than if you went with oem Honda rings in the first place.

That being said, are you as sure as you can be about the problem being the piston rings? You said you changed the valve cover gasket, head gasket a couple times....have you done a tune up? (Sorry if you said this already in your thread I missed it.) The answer is usually really simple so the more info we can get the better!

Hope all this helps man
User avatar
By Loaf31
#344965 The help is appreciated!

What exactly constitutes a tune-up?
We replaced the coolant about a month ago, did an oil change this
past weekend. Replaced the oil filter about a month ago. New fuel
pump about 8 months ago.
User avatar
By OCHO
#344967 Glad to be of help man!

Tune up is new spark plugs, plug wires, new rotor, and new cap. The choking/sluggish feeling/loss of power could just be a bad plug or wire, timing could be off because of bad rotor causing a misfiring plug ect. I would hate to see you tear the engine apart and pull pistons out and have that not be the problem :shock:

It's good that you are keeping up with fluid changes and everything :thumb:
By Axix23
#344969 I will have a short shifter for sale. I have JDM amber corner lens and front strut bar for sale. Look on my for sale thread.
User avatar
By Loaf31
#344970 Thanks for your concern! :lol:

We replaced the spark plugs about a month ago, and the wires were
replaced with VMS 10.2mm wires. Although I snapped a spark plug
the other day while loosening it. :x How? I have no clue...

We were looking into replacing the cap and rotor, so we had our
mechanic take a look and he said it was nothing to worry about for
at least another 10,000 miles. But I don't think an ignition problem
would spew a ton of white smoke out. I'm still pretty certain it's the rings.
:thumbdown:
By Axix23
#344971 I would never get eBay engine internal parts. I wouldn't even run an eBay water pump.
User avatar
By Loaf31
#344972 Yeah I don't think I would either. My father is now looking at rockauto
for the rings. He's trying to save money, but I hope I'm only gonna
be doing this once, so why not go OEM? The extra $30 will give me peace of
mind at the least.

And I'll check your For sale thread :thumb:
give me a link?
By Axix23
#344974 I got a bunch of stuff forsale threads. Lol
User avatar
By OCHO
#344987 Okay cool only asking to try and help eliminate some possible problems, I could tell from your pics that the wires look brand new but just figured it couldn't hurt to ask anyway :D and you're right an ignition problem won't cause smoke but a wet oily plug could or leaking valve cover seal, that's why I was asking those questions to check things off the list haha

Can I ask some history about the motor? Like how many miles, and do you know what kind of overheating problems caused head gasket failure? Like was the car overheating for a while before you changed the gasket? If so the head could be warped....although you did say the head was rebuilt recently...your compression numbers were low so we know there's an issue somewhere.

It sounds like you guys are going to buy new piston rings no matter what so you'll be able to eliminate that as being a problem once they're installed. It may seem like I'm rambling lol but creating a checklist like this will help eliminate dead ends that aren't the problem.....So:
1. Not ignition problem (new plugs/wires/good rotor/cap)
2. New rings eliminate that as a problem
3. Not head gasket (you've replaced twice)
4. Not valve cover seal (you've replaced that)
5. Fluids/oil are up to date

Yes spend the extra couple bucks for oem replacement man you'll be thanking yourself for years to come lol.
User avatar
By Loaf31
#344988 Hah it's all good man. Any help is appreciated! :D

Engine and Body both have 162,000 miles. The car sat for 7 years before we started working on it again. So, I assumed that when we started it after sitting for so long, that's what blew the head gasket.

When the head was rebuilt about a 2 months ago, it was also honed to be completely flat.

According to my parents, the car never really overheated. I'm positive it's never overheated while I've been working on it.
User avatar
By OCHO
#344998 Damn dude 7 years!! Haha :P

I think there's some good news here, your parents know it hasn't had overheating issues, the head is flat, head gasket is good, ignition is good.

Honestly man knowing the car has sat for that long, you should drive it around for a week or two and see if it stops blowing smoke. If it stops, you don't have to buy anything! If it keeps smoking after a couple weeks, move forward from there.

How's the alternator and battery?
User avatar
By Loaf31
#344999 Alternator is fine as well as battery. Got a new battery about a year ago.

It's been smoking for a month or two now, but it's not really drive-able at the moment because there's like no power, which I blame on the rings. I've read that they cause really bad performance when they're damaged.

My father and I have consulted with our mechanic and he also thinks it's the piston rings.
User avatar
By OCHO
#345001
Loaf31 wrote:Alternator is fine as well as battery. Got a new battery about a year ago.

It's been smoking for a month or two now, but it's not really drive-able at the moment because there's like no power, which I blame on the rings. I've read that they cause really bad performance when they're damaged.

My father and I have consulted with our mechanic and he also thinks it's the piston rings.


Alright cool. Sorry about all the long posts dude! Sounds like you are good to go with the new rings though! Keep us posted man!
User avatar
By Loaf31
#345002 Haha it's no problem. You opened up my mind to be able to see that those things might be the problem! I didn't even think to check them. But It looks that the piston rings are the culprit this time...

Well, I'll most likely be ordering the OEM rings in the next few days.

Also, I've found a guy who's selling a Brand New JDM Wink mirror on Craigslist in my area for $20, which is like $15 off retail price.
I'll probably pick that up in the next few days.
User avatar
By OCHO
#345009 Haha thanks man glad it helped out a little! Yeah definitely go with the oem rings if you can.

Cool sounds like a good deal, post up some pics of it if you end up buying it!