YACT: THe joys of roasting fine oil.

[Goosemaster]

Well, I finally got around to finding out how much replacing a a piston ring/piston rings cost.

$1800 smackers I looked at my hayne's manual and it looks WAY too complicated for the knowledge and tools at my disposal, tools being the key word.

Anyways, I was flipping through the channels, and Speed channel had that "two gars garage" show on doign a bit about carbon deposit removal on cylinder heads. My car has problems starting and even worse that I shall not mention as they are suspension related. I will be changing the oil and sparkplugs soon.

I was interested to see what you people thought about these products that promise clean heads. Basically, I need to know how effective they are. I realize there are different types such as some that spray into the air intake and some that appearantly promise equal results via using a bottle in the gas tank.

In addittion, seeing as how my car has been burning oil for perhaps 8-12 months ( i know ), would it be unwise to remove the deposits? For example, I have consistently heard that using synthetic oil in a car that has only used organic can cause problems as it might have better detergents than the cheap stuff, and could therefore expose otherwise clogged leaks. Could such an issue arise by cleaning the top surface of the sylinder and anything surrounding it?

Thanks.


EDIT: writing impe.....impe....impediment....

 

[KokomoGST]

If you're talking about combustion chamber cleaner (which removes carbon deposits from the piston top and intake tract), it really does work. I have used Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner in my car with very good results. Those that you dump into the gas tank are worthless... gas already has detergents in it.

Unfortunately I doubt it will do you any good with your oil burning problems. Easy way to check to see if the rings are going is to slap a vacuum gauge on the car. Any good and competent mechanic should have either recommended or done it for you. If you wanna some vacuum tests for yourself, its pretty easy if you can stomach buying the vacuum gauge. I'd rather not go into specifics with beer in my hand but it's pretty easy stuff.

If you switch to a synthetic with an aggressive detergent package, you probably won't make the problems that much worse. You'll be needing a car sooner than later if deposits were holding your engine together. I'd just keep on adding cheap oil if the car is a beater until I can get another car.

 

[OrganizedChaos]

car specs?

i wish i could just go and spend $1800 bucks to get a 99 cent piston ring replaced.

 

[Goosemaster]

1990 Honda LX accord 4 cylinder. aka "beater"

It is almost dead but still has a leg to stand on.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: KokomoGST
If you're talking about combustion chamber cleaner (which removes carbon deposits from the piston top and intake tract), it really does work. I have used Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner in my car with very good results. Those that you dump into the gas tank are worthless... gas already has detergents in it.

Unfortunately I doubt it will do you any good with your oil burning problems. Easy way to check to see if the rings are going is to slap a vacuum gauge on the car. Any good and competent mechanic should have either recommended or done it for you. If you wanna some vacuum tests for yourself, its pretty easy if you can stomach buying the vacuum gauge. I'd rather not go into specifics with beer in my hand but it's pretty easy stuff.

If you switch to a synthetic with an aggressive detergent package, you probably won't make the problems that much worse. You'll be needing a car sooner than later if deposits were holding your engine together. I'd just keep on adding cheap oil if the car is a beater until I can get another car.

Unfortunately, I jsut asked the mechanic how much it costs...not to diagnose anything. I'll look into the vacum guage.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Well, I finally got around to finding out how much replacing a a piston ring/piston rings cost.

$1800 smackers I looked at my hayne's manual and it looks WAY too complicated for the knowledge and tools at my disposal, tools being the key word.

Anyways, I was flipping through the channels, and Speed channel had that "two gars garage" show on doign a bit about carbon deposit removal on cylinder heads. My car has problems starting and even worse that I shall not mention as they are suspension related. I will be changing the oil and sparkplugs soon.

I was interested to see what you people thought about these products that promise clean heads. Basically, I need to know how effective they are. I realize there are different types such as some that spray into the air intake and some that appearantly promise equal results via using a bottle in the gas tank.

In addittion, seeing as how my car has been burning oil for perhaps 8-12 months ( i know ), would it be unwise to remove the deposits? For example, I have consistently heard that using synthetic oil in a car that has only used organic can cause problems as it might have better detergents than the cheap stuff, and could therefore expose otherwise clogged leaks. Could such an issue arise by cleaning the top surface of the sylinder and anything surrounding it?

Thanks.


EDIT: writing impe.....impe....impediment....

$1800 buys alot of oil

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

well the reason it is so expensive is because the bottom of the engine has to be taken out and and the piston removed, which usually means the crank is coming out with it, then putting it back in it has to be aligned with the cam(s) and all that fun stuff.

For 1800 you could have gotten a new engine put in.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
well the reason it is so expensive is because the bottom of the engine has to be taken out and and the piston removed, which usually means the crank is coming out with it, then putting it back in it has to be aligned with the cam(s) and all that fun stuff.

For 1800 you could have gotten a new engine put in.

For $1800, I would buy a used engine and reuilbd it as much as possible. $1800 will buy you alot for a Honda. Do you have any mechanical skills or interests?

 

[jagec]

Use Seafoam...it's good stuff. Obviously won't cure your oil leak, but it will make your car run better if it has a lot of carbon deposits.

I believe you buy 2 cans...half a can into your crankcase oil, 3/4 a can into your gas tank, and the rest is used for the intake manifold/combustion chamber cleaning (you suck it up through a vacuum hose).

Makes a LOT of smoke though.

 

[thedarkwolf]

For $1800 I'd buy another 1990 honda and leave the old one parked in the front yard to piss of the nieghbors.

 

[Goosemaster]

Thanks for the responses

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
$1800 buys alot of oil

Well since you put it that way Actually the vehicle has been very unreliable, which is why I am interested in fixing it. It is not so much the hassle of constantly replacing the oil as it is having a car that doesn't want to to start when it "feels" like. BTW, this car has even gone a far as making me miss a final exam.

Originally posted by: JeffreyLebowski
well the reason it is so expensive is because the bottom of the engine has to be taken out and and the piston removed, which usually means the crank is coming out with it, then putting it back in it has to be aligned with the cam(s) and all that fun stuff.

For 1800 you could have gotten a new engine put in.

wow. That is a lot! I don't remember any of that in the Hayne's manual...or perhaps it wasn't visible when my eyes crusted over in shock.

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
For $1800, I would buy a used engine and reuilbd it as much as possible. $1800 will buy you alot for a Honda. Do you have any mechanical skills or interests?

Here's the thing. I do not have
the mechanical skills, but I do have the drive. The problem is that I don;t have a job, am taking summer classes (6wk...instead of 16wk....which is fast as hell) and this is my transportation. In addittion, my dad has an old baeat-up van parked infront of our garage which he *still* hasn't gotten rid of for ages. Basically, I cannot do the work in the garage, and since I cannot do it on the street, it will not get donw. I have been itching to mess with my brakes and change my oil, but doing it out on the streetcould potentially cause a LOT of trouble with the neighbors. They are good people mind you, but quite intent on keeping their community 'picturesque.' Some hispanic changing his oil...actually...anyone chaning their oil in the street is prolly a big nono here. That is not of line IMO. WE havea nice community and I respect their intentions.

In addition, I have no tools for such a big job. Just the cylinder-sepfic work once you tear the engine apart such as the boring if needed and the piston ring removal/application tool are things that I do not have.

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
Use Seafoam...it's good stuff. Obviously won't cure your oil leak, but it will make your car run better if it has a lot of carbon deposits.

I believe you buy 2 cans...half a can into your crankcase oil, 3/4 a can into your gas tank, and the rest is used for the intake manifold/combustion chamber cleaning (you suck it up through a vacuum hose).

Makes a LOT of smoke though.

Interesting. I will check it out.

Originally posted by: thedarkwolf
For $1800 I'd buy another 1990 honda and leave the old one parked in the front yard to piss of the nieghbors.

no $$..yet

 

[TwoBills]

When you change the oil, replace it with a straight weight, non-detergent oil. Cheapest stuff out there, a bit hard to find. Once you go to non-detergent you can't switch to a detergent oil of any kind, ya gotta stay with non-detergent for the rest of the engines life,so buy a case or two when you find it (@$12). This oil will acually build up deposits inside the engine, which is what you want. If you even top off with a detergent oil it will start cleaning, and you blew it. Throw a 1/2 can of STP in the crankcase every once in a while.