91 Civic 3door Hatch Si Blue Smoke

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Gito

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Own a 91 Honda Civic Hatchback Si 1.6L with 492,356 miles that is now blowing some blue smoke out of the tail pipe. I just noticed the blue smoke today while parked and idling. I put my car in Reverse and backed up a little, as soon as I revved the engine I noticed a small plume of blue smoke. I did not bother worrying and thought that it was maybe a one time thing. Later on the day, while driving my car, I came to a complete stop and noticed a particular smell which was followed again by the blue smoke I noticed earlier.

I am the first owner and have taken care of my car since day one. All oil changes religiously performed by me.

I got home kind of late today so I did not have a chance to pull the plugs.

I did however pull all the plug wires and noticed slight oil fluid pooling at base of the spark plugs.
I immediately thought that my valve head cover seals are shot again and thought that replacing them would correct the problem.
I then remembered that I had a problem with one of the spark plugs a few months ago. I was hard to remove and was close to cross threading the spark plug hole. I noticed that there was excess carbon/oil buildup on the threads and was kind of worried.

Looking thru other websites, my cars symptoms don't sound good

Please advise
 
It's old and tired. You might want to pop the head off and have it machined or buy a new/rebuilt one and reinstall and run some 5w30 Valvoline MaxLife. Along with new seals for the spark plugs where the oil is pooling up.
 
Would the oil pooling at the spark plug base be causing the blue smoke?
Hard starting symptom was, in the past, a good indicator that my valve cover seals were shot and oil was leaking into the spark plug end (gapping end)
 
Originally Posted By: Gito
Would the oil pooling at the spark plug base be causing the blue smoke?
Hard starting symptom was, in the past, a good indicator that my valve cover seals were shot and oil was leaking into the spark plug end (gapping end)
I'm not sure if it could be causing blue smoke, I'll let someone else comment on that but I think it blowing the blue smoke is from the old and tired engine.
 
OneEyeJack has an 86....I didn't find the post, but he had to re-ring his engine due to CA smog laws. It ran fine but put out too much smoke.

IMO that, plus the valve cover gaskets.
 
You should go thicker in viscosity. Rotella 5w40 would be my pick. Or some HM Valvoline. If that doesn't help you would need to pull the head of and do valves and possibly even piston rings if you have excessive blow by.
Great cars those old Hondas, my neighbour have 91 Civic 1.5 Gti with 200k still on original cambelt !
 
Last edited:
The engine has never been worked on...Not even a valve adjustment
My tranny went out at 363k...Engine still feels good and gets 35 plus mpg
 
Just wondering if I should continue driving while I think about what to do next?
My back up car is a 1979 300sd (w116) which is another excellent unbelievable car...BUT...doesn't get 35 mpg
 
Yeah you can drive it. It's getting worn out, as should be expected. Drive it until it's down on power, and then replace engine or car.
grin.gif
 
Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
492,356 miles

That's a very impressive run IMO.

Bought the car brand new back in October of 1990.
 
Just going to keep on driving it. Still getting 35 to 39 mpg and the engine feels very strong. Very surprised that I have to think about repairs or getting another car.

How much would the repair cost and what other parts should be replaced since they would be opening it up (opening up the engine head)
 
I pulled out all of the spark plugs today. Before pulling them I took a flashlight and noticed a small amount of oil pooling at base of spark plug seat. No motor oil was observed on the spark plug WIRES. I cleaned up the opening and went looking to see where the oil was coming from. The valve head cover gasket looked good and so did all 4 valve head cover (ring gaskets). I don't believe the oil is coming from the top. I did notice that the tubes leading to the spark plugs seemed not to be sitting flush with each other and small ridges were observed a joints between such tubes. to make myself more clear, the spark plugs are accessible thru the tube openings...Could oil be traveling between such joints. Are these parts replaceable (tubes)?

I am also thinking about replacing the valve stem seals.
How difficult is it to replace the valve steam seals?
What are the part numbers?

Please advise
 
Originally Posted By: Gito
I pulled out all of the spark plugs today. Before pulling them I took a flashlight and noticed a small amount of oil pooling at base of spark plug seat.

Yup. Common problem on the D-series SOHC engine. And the cause is not what you would suspect. Here you go:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/oilyplugs/index.html

Originally Posted By: Gito
I am also thinking about replacing the valve stem seals. How difficult is it to replace the valve steam seals?

It's no harder than any other engine, but that valve train is really fiddly to work with.

Originally Posted By: Gito
What are the part numbers?

Here you go. Again.
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto...5=CYLINDER+HEAD

Image from above page. Seals are #4 and #5. See that page for the part numbers.
SH33E1000B.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Tegger
Originally Posted By: Gito
I pulled out all of the spark plugs today. Before pulling them I took a flashlight and noticed a small amount of oil pooling at base of spark plug seat.

Yup. Common problem on the D-series SOHC engine. And the cause is not what you would suspect. Here you go:
http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/oilyplugs/index.html

Originally Posted By: Gito
I am also thinking about replacing the valve stem seals. How difficult is it to replace the valve steam seals?

It's no harder than any other engine, but that valve train is really fiddly to work with.

Originally Posted By: Gito
What are the part numbers?

Here you go. Again.
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto...5=CYLINDER+HEAD

Image from above page. Seals are #4 and #5. See that page for the part numbers.
SH33E1000B.gif



Good info....Releasing the cam might be a little tricky.
Thanks
 
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