91 Civic D15B2 - Timing skipped, now high RPM oil consumption

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mastamac007

New Member
A little background info:
1991 Civic DX 4-DR, 5-spd, 280K

Was driving the other day when around 40MPH, the engine died (with a clunk no less). Computer gave me a code 15 which has to do with a wrong ignition timing signal. A quick roadside check saw no spark, so thinking it was the rebuilt igniter/distributer I put in 6 months ago, I brought it to the local napa shop for a warranty repair. They put in a new rebuilt but it didn't solve the issue. Their prognosis was that the timing skipped a tooth or two, due to a failing timing belt tensioner (the belt still looked ok). $600 later it runs, but...

It now burns oil. At 280K it did consume/leak a little, but nothing like what it's currently doing.

It smokes when you start it,
It idles OK, but misfires occasionaly,
It will NOT reach redline when floored, it simply burns oil and wants to choke out/die
Above 4K the oil consumption is noticeable, above 5K it's abilty to run changes.
Overall noticable loss of power

The A/C works and the front suspension is a year old. I'd like to drive it till next spring or so, but i'd be nice if I could trust my civic through another ICY MN winter/ensure my engine doesn't slowly carbon into shite

So..

Oh awesome lords of Honda knowlege, what say you of my d15? New valve guides? Junkyard head & new gasket set? Thanks much for looking

P.S.-While a engine swap sounds fun, i'm not entirely inclined to do so.
 
Of first off civic motors are what they call interference engines so if it did skip timing it could have bent valves or anything like that internally. The easiest way to find that out is to do a leakdown test or at least a compression check. If you do a leakdown test take off the oil cap and listen for a hiss if you hear that it means that your valve guides are shot. If you cant do a compresion check or leakdown test then the next step would be to remove the head and check for bent valves. If the valves are bent then that would be causing your issues.
 
Sorry, should have mentioned that. I didn't do a leak down, but they did a compression check before putting on the timing belt and supposedly everything was in spec. Late last night I double-checked the timing and, with the help of the factory service manual, I think it's one tooth off. Would one tooth do that?

Thanks for the advice on the leak down though. I'll for sure do that.
 
Like I said above the leakdown test is the best option for you right now. If you have a compressor you can do it at your house and not have to pay a shop. Did you get any type of warranty when they replaced all of those parts. If you are having a signifigant increase in oil consumption then it can only be either bad rings or bad valve guides. Either one of those can be easily diagnosed by a leak down test.
 
Sure this is a kinda old thread but did you ever get your civic running straight again?
Timing definately needs to be right on otherwise lose of power, gas mileage and other things will result.
 
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