Need to confirm my head is screwed

[Dasfinc]

I aquired a D16Z6 Head in great condition with an OBX intake manifold sans the Vtec Solinoid for some PC repair work last night, and my current head is leaking compression like all holly hell.

Couple of big questions here:

My car is a 92 CX Civic that has a 16 Valve Head swap with a P06 ECU, 91 SI cam, and I/H/E

The car when doing the compression test Crank once 40, twice 80, third time 120, and immediatly after hitting 120 it starts slowly dropping off untill it turns over again.

While Driving the car, at nearly 4K RPM it suddenly begins to pull strongly *I'm assuming this is because the Pistons spinning fast enough to hold constant compression*

Car burns maybe a quart of oil between oil changes.

The 16 valve head I had put on the car Had pitted Valves when I had installed it to begin with, and appeared to be, and was most likely off an abused/high mileage engine, and my block only has 98K Miles on it.

In the past 3 months since the headswap was the power has been degrading, and the leak getting worse.

with all this in mind, would you pretty definatly say the head is the problem and is fucked and the valves are leaking, or is there ANY possiblity this is my piston rings?

 

[Dasfinc]

bump, could really use some confirmation on this

 

[fixngo]

when you burn oil like that, it should be because your piston rings are loose, and that could be the reason for the drop of compression

do you have smoke coming off your exhaust

if i was you i would check the rings

 

[Dasfinc]

it'd make sense, but its not making any smoke, so it may just be something stupid like a valve cover leak. Wouldn't it always be running like hell at all RPM if it was the rings? cause at 4K RPM the car moves out just fine.

 

[fixngo]

just curious, what head gasket did you use, does the engine shake on idle, does all the cylinders have the same out come of the test, could be the cams not allowing enough air through the valves

 

[1988hondacrxsiR1]

The cylinder head is what allows your engine to move air in and exhaust out. It is bolted onto the top of the engine block. The head houses the camshafts, valves, valvesprings,

 

[Dasfinc]

just curious, what head gasket did you use, does the engine shake on idle, does all the cylinders have the same out come of the test, could be the cams not allowing enough air through the valves

D15B7 Headgasket, Engine idles smooth as silk *Abeit a bit low*, all cylinders are 120, and the cam is articulating that valves just fine.

 

[Dasfinc]

Manly at low RPM acceleration bogs heavily untill it breaks 4Grand *it does have a slight miss as well at low RPM, but its VERY subtle, and I don't believe its part of the problem * there is no smoke while I'm accelerating and the headgasket is new, so I'm fairly confident the headgasket isn't leaking.

 

[1988hondacrxsiR1]

the gasket is paper crap get mls gasket better than paper

 

[fixngo]

let me quote that again, i dont know if your 91 cams and the d16 cams are the same

what if the cams might not open the valves long enough

 

[1988hondacrxsiR1]

what are the lift and duration on 91 CAMS

 

[Dasfinc]

the 91 SI Cam is a wee bit more aggressive than the stock cam and is a known power adder on the D15B7 head, but again, that isn't the problem, the car ran fine for 3 months, this has been getting worse over the past like month and a half

 

[1988hondacrxsiR1]

GET A NEW HEAD THEN LESS PROBLEMS WTK HOW MANY MILES?

 

[Dasfinc]

GET A NEW HEAD THEN LESS PROBLEMS WTK HOW MANY MILES?

I have a New D16Z6 Head with OBX intake mani, and a Z6 Headgasket and Timing belt waiting to go on the car... the new head has 92K on it, My block has 98K on it, the head on there right now has ___K on it.

I'm just trying to confirm the head is the problem and not the block/pistons, and looking for peoples thoughts/concerns.

 

[Dasfinc]

How about doing a leak down test to find out where the leak is coming from? There are proper steps to this guys and throwing parts at an engine ain't one of 'em.

Thank you, thats what I was looking for!

I don't want to do my swap unless I know my block is good, I'm looking for confirmation, Thank you so much Blanco.

How do you perform a Leak down test and what is involved?

 

[1988hondacrxsiR1]

READ THIS PAGE
JDM Honda Civic - JTuned: March 2003 - Piston Engine Theory

AND SEE IF ITS HEAD BLOCK ETC

 

[Dasfinc]

READ THIS PAGE
JDM Honda Civic - JTuned: March 2003 - Piston Engine Theory

AND SEE IF ITS HEAD BLOCK ETC

thats so totally mind-numbingly useless to this problem right now it hurts my brain, Lol.

I consider myself a fairly skilled enthusiast and not retarded when it comes to these things, I'm fairly confident its the head, but I was wondering what else could be done to test that... not for information from someone who forgot to push the capslock button on "Whats in an internal combustion engine"

 

[1988hondacrxsiR1]

okay try leakdown and compression test. If compression is low in one piston and others are good this means block is problem with bad rings if bad compression all the way head is the culprit good luck!

 

[Dasfinc]

Compression is 120 Flawlessly on all 4 pistons, but it begins to leak as soon as it hits 120 on all 4.

 

[1988hondacrxsiR1]

good lucking on the page thanks i will add as my favorites for sources thanks again