well tonight we were in my car and we noticed a burning oil smell coming from the lude, then we saw blue smoke. So yeah, that's not good. We get back to my friends place and decide to do a compression test to make sure everything is in good shape. The compression results were all pretty close to each other (within 5psi) so that was fine. Thats when things got worse. The compression tester got stuck in the head. So we tried to use various sockets to get the damn thing out...no luck. So, we pull the valve cover off. No luck there either, one of the nuts and studs stripped and is locked tighter than fort knox. So we finally get the valve cover off, but broke the piece that the stud goes into. Trying to fish the little piece of metal out, it falls into an oil passage. Now we begin to take the head off the car. So...yeah, my car is now headless for the moment. My car is seriously cursed. Oh and we never found the little piece.
Good things to come out of this...(hey I'm trying to look at the good side of this)
1. I lost some blood (i didn't need all that blood anyway)
2. I found a huge oil leak on the VTEC solenoid. There's my oil consumption.
3. I needed a timing belt change (uhh...I do now anyway)
4. I needed a head gasket (well it looked like it was starting to go)
5. I needed this experience (on a thursday night when I have to work at 7:45 am)
6. Found out that my engine is actually in pretty good shape (pistons, sleeves, etc.)
7. I needed my oil, coolant, and some sh!t changed anyway.
8. I didn't really need sleep
9. Found that my head ports were already pretty good (in terms of finishing)
10. Pulling the motor would have been too easy.
Things I'm hoping for tomorrow
1. I really hope Huey's has a timing belt kit, head gasket kit, vtec solenoid gasket, intake manifold gaskets2. That we get it back to running condition by saturday morning.
3. That nothing else breaks in the process of putting it all back together.
4. That I actually wake up tomorrow to go to work.
tell me about it, god i hope honda has the parts I need. The head is going to the machine shop up the street today and hopefully they can easily fix the problem where the chunk of metal used to go.
umm I doubt it helps now but I have had that happen with the compression tester head getting stuck. What I did to get it was I took a spark plug that I had laying around and grinded down the threaded side then threaded it into the compression tester head and was able to apply pressure and twist to get it out.
yeah, we thought of a way to get it out without removing the head, but that was just too damned easy....we didn't think of it until after the head was out of the car
Hey looks like my car right now. Except i removed more stuff. I removed the radiator. I didnt want to damage my C&R and i also removed my wiring harness, thats one less thing to get in the way.
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AIM:ISUBIEXI
S/SI/Vtec Hybrid. RS*R Header, JDM downpipe, Custom Downpipe back 2.25 Exhaust, Intake, ""Mugen"" Programmed p13, No balancer belt, no AC, Fidanza Flywheel, ACT clutch, SI trans, Power Slot rotors, SkunkII Coilovers, Enki Rims.
wow...reminds me of when I pulled my head off. PTA - but well worth it. I learned a lot. good luck with it, hope honda's got all the parts you need & doesn;t have to order any.
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That's one bad mother - shut your mouth - ... i'm just talkin bout my lude
www.mdpreludeclub.org
www.ohpoc.org
ordered all the parts from Manchester Honda and have them overnighting them to me to get here tomorrow. At least I'm getting some maintenance stuff out of the way....
yeah, we enjoy working on cars, so we were having an alright time and we were all trying to keep me from being so pissed at honda for making crappy bolts.
The head is sitting at a machine shop right now getting cleaned out and ported and polished and also slightly decked. Some good is coming out of this after all.
Even better, if the compression part gets stuck in there, just put superglue on the hose and thread it back on there. Wait 5 minutes and unscrew it. That's all I had to do.
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97 EGP Base 5spd Prelude. Engine: DC short ram, DC SS headers, AEM pulleys, Random High flow cat, Mugen sport exhaust, Apexi VAFC. Suspension: Tein SS, Tanabe front lower tie, Neuspeed front upper strut, Neuspeed rear sway, Tanabe rear upper strut, DC rear lower tie, 17X7.5 5Zigen Typhoons with 215/40/17 Goodyear F1 GS-D3s. Other: Bride Ergo II, Spoon oil cap, Magnecor wires, relocated Odyssey 680 battery, Denso iridiums, Mugen pedals, Mugen lugnuts, shortened shifter w/ Momo airleather, Rotora slotted rotors and Endless NA-Y pads, Goodridge SS lines.
the compression tester thing is out of the head. Went through the hole on the under side of the head and got it out. So yeah, this has been a lot of fun.
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good luck. my car is in pieces in the interior trying to get that damn JDM navigation and climate control
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