I recently bought my ITR from someone who didn't maintain it like an ITR. When I bought it, he reported black smoke so I troubleshooted the fuel system when I got it, after everything it turned out it is blue smoke.

I am thinking piston ring or valve seal. The engine has 126,000 miles and it was never run hard or raced. I would think a honda engine's rings would be good past 126k, or at least that's what I am hoping.

I did two dry compression checks and this is what I found:
Max-270 PSI, Min-135 PSI, Max deviation-28 PSI

Cylinder..........PSI
1...................210
2...................205
3...................215
4...................230

What kind of life can you expect out of the stock ITR rings? The car was said to have been tuned, oiled and kept up regularly, but I don't know for sure.

The previous owner also bought an OBD1 ECU tuned for the ITR of this guy from eBay. I don't know if bad VTEC tuning or anything related to ECU can do this, but let me know.

Would appreciate any help.

Thanks,
Jake
ITR 98-0102

 

Blue smoke means burning oil. Piston rings, valve seals, head gasket etc...

How much oil do you have to add, how often?

 

I have only driven it once, from NY to MD. It seemed to not burn too much at all on the 5 hour ride, still has plenty of oil.

It seemed like as the engine warmed up, after about an hour of driving, hardly any smoke was visible while driving the car. When it was cold, it only clouded when accelerating.

Since the compression test was good can I rule out the head gasket? I would like to start work but don't want to disassemble the valve train to check the seals for nothing.

Thanks,
Jake

 

If it passes smog, just run it the way it is. I would.

 

A bunch of ITRs burn oil, Mine burns a ton of oil :| It uses 1qt per track session and 1qt per gas tank...

I also have good compression and make very strong #s on the dyno, So I'm going to let it stay this way for a while. IF it gets worse I might make a warranty claim, but I'd rather pay and skip that headache and have it built by a shop I trust.

 

Ok thanks, that's good to know. I think I will just let it run for a while until I can afford the time and money for a rebuild.

Has your car been visibly smoking? What results to you get on the compression tests?

Thanks,
Jake

 

Good thread. I didn't know this is a rather common problem. I hope that engine keeps on going for years.

 

Do a running compression test....

 

How do you do a running compression test?

bluetwo-thanks for your service, man. I will feel your pain soon...

Jake

 

You never heard of that huh??

Here's the first link that came up on google, http://www.misterfixit.com/dyncompr.htm
This guy's write up is alot better then me explaining it to you. When I do this test I basicly look for 50% difference between static and running. That's a good indication your engine is okay. Also you could do a wet compression test as well if you want to get the whole story.