Who said Honda's are reliable? I blew up my 2nd! Need a motor

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1

Guess i’m looking for a relatively fresh d16z vtec…or, if i can get a good deal on a b16 or b18 or H-series with the needed parts to make it work, i’ll upgrade a bit. Was planning on a new car in spring, but am not financially ready for that yet…and rather than rushing into something because of this minor setback and settling for less than what i really want, or settling for payments higher than i really want…i’ll rock the civic a bit longer and make sure i’m 100% ready when i do get something new.

The story…

Driving back from bowling…less than a mile from my destination, i notice my car suddenly starts to sound like a Subrau, and when i rev at all it sounds like something’s slapping at the hood. I first assume a snapped belt since the sound’s pace is faster as the revs are higher…and since it started to bogg a bit if i let off the gas, i kept it constantly around 2k at lights in neutral and while driving.

Get to the parking lot of the apt complex, and let the car idle…it smoothens out so i think i’ll pop the hood and look to see what’s making the noise. I don’t have a flashlight so i pull out my phone camera, switch to video and turn the flash on since it’s pretty bright and will stay lit for 30 seconds at a time…

I get my phone’s flash on and just as i illuminate the engine bay, BOOM! Spark plug shoots right out, missing my face by inches, going into a field behind me…leaving the spark plug wire, split in half, hanging in front of the exhaust mani sparking a bit…and the car begins surging between 500rpm’s to 2500. Jump in the car, turn it off, then recap my experience nearly being impailed by a spark plug and calm down a bit…

1995 civic lx with d16z vtec swap…all fluids were recently topped off, car had shown NO SIGNS of serious problem other than the typical honda slight burning of oil.

Just in time for Christmas shopping! FML.

Luckily i know someone amazing, props to her, that’s willing to let me use her car since she’s car-sitting for a friend for a few months, so i don’t have to feel the need to rush to fix this and drop a ton of coin on the first motor/new beater i find.

2

I got a extra y8 head with a cometic headgasket to match it and I need to get rid of them soon I got a ticket I need to pay!
-Dave
716-698-2651

3

so what exactly happened? sounds like you need to put a spark plug back in and make sure its in tight this time…

4

hondas are really reliable when you dont beat the fuck out of them…

http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59006

well, at least youre not surprised. my honda has almost 400,000 miles on it (392k) og motor, tranny, even clutch. how many times has it seen redline since ive owned it? uhhhhh never, its a 20 year old honda?

5

hondas arent unbreakable, although when taken care of properly they will last a very very very long time,

i cant count how many 300,000mile civics ive owned or know of personally that were on stock motors

6

lol

7

take your other spark plugs out, if they are NGK like they should be the crush gasket should be flattened, indicating that you tightened them enough. not questioning your ability/knowledge of mechanics or automobiles, just maybe you didnt eat you wheaties that morning.
and X2 on saxons post

8

Hmmm maybe drop Toronto JDM and PM and see what they have laying around

9

The only time i can see a motor having pressure backwards like that to shoot out a spark plug in that manner is if the exhaust is clogged.

10

my civic si with 140,000 miles still pulls really strong,and sometimes i abuse that thing by reving it up to 8500rpm.No smoke ,and piston compression is still good.

11

:fuzzyfish:

12

if you need a b18b let me know I can help you out on that one,I just swapped a 98 ls integra with a jdm b20b. I have the stock motor with 112,191 in my house.

13

if all you did was chuck the plug, I have a spare z6 head. If yours is fixable I might even consider a partial trade if you’re looking to get it fixed on the cheap

14

Geez…all the honda guys getting their panties in a twist over my joking around about honda reliability…TAKE A JOKE! I wouldn’t rock them as dails/beaters if i didn’t think they were reliable as fuck, despite my enjoyment of beating on them a bit.

Gonna pull one of the other plugs soon to see if it’ll even thread in where the one flew out, just to see if the threads are shot or not in the head.

Google or Wikipedia search “Compression Stroke,” and let me know what you find.

15

:eek:

What are you doing to these poor cars?

Haha, weren’t we just talking about how likely it was this car had bad compression, leaky head gasket, etc…

16

you might be able to do a heli coil instead of changing the whole head…