Blue Smoke and Engine Rebuilds

[AnonymousCoward]

As far as engines go I'm a novice so if I've gotten a concept wrong, correct me.

My brothers were following me the other day and said they saw blue smoke coming out when I was shifting and such. I find out this is almost 90% of the time going to be worn pistons or piston rings actually. Anywho, I realize you have to have the engine rebuilt to fix this. I'm wondering who here has done that, and for how much? Also has anyone rebuilt with aftermarket/high performance parts and has someone gone all stock? I'd like to hear both sides. Also, I wanna know if it would be possible to add higher compression pistons to increase power if you beefed up the rest (rods an such)? Also, out of curiousity (because I could never afford it) what is the feasibility of overboring the cylanders? If I could get more power out of a naturally aspirated motor I would prefer that, simply because I appreciate the reliability and ease of maintenance.

 

[Dsmed]

The very first thing you need to do is buy a chiltons manual. Then perform a compression and leak down test to see if yuor rings are gone. Don't be turned away by the directions in the manual, they may sound a bit confusing at first, but just take the book with you to the car and pop the hood and then give it a go. 9 times out of 10, your rings will be fine. Chances are that your valve stem seals are shot. They tend to crumble apart after a while on our motors. In order to do the valve stem seals, it will be way easier to pull the head off the block. If you leave it on there, you will have to put rope inside the spark plug holes in order to keep the valves from sliding down in after you pull the retainer clips off the valve stems. The job really isn't that hard, it just sounds confusing. And while you are at it, you may as well do your timing belt and balance shaft belt. I would suggest pulling the head so you can do a head gasket also. PM me if you have any other questions about the rebuild.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

I do have a manual, but it's a Haynes if I remember correctly. It really isn't very helpful. My factory Kawasaki Ninja 250 manual is helpful. The Haynes is not.

Chances are I won't be doing a rebuild any time soon since I'm poor. But if the day comes and I decide to do it I'll come here for help. I don't know yet whether the car is worth keeping or if more problems like this will keep popping up and I should just use it as a beater.

Thanks for the info though, now I know something I didn't know before.

 

[Dsmed]

Where in ohio are you located at? If it is pretty close to cleveland, then I can give you a hand when you decide to do it. Let me know.

 

[AnonymousCoward]

I live about 30 minutes east of Columbus in Newark. Small town with about 50k people.

 

[HondaHunter2002]

AnonymousCoward

as for the valve stem's they are extremely cheap.. take a shot for it yourself you will save bigtime $$$ i think i picked up the valve stems for under 5$ if i remember correctly.. i was burning oil like insanooooo i changed my valve stems and it solved 80% of my problem.. than use a thicker grade of oil and bam no more oil burning! : )
just pray that it isn't your piston rings also... cuz than ur tearin down to the block..
hey dsmed
do you have to pull the engine out of the car to do the piston rings on our cars?? someone told me you didn't but i thought for sure you do

 

[AnonymousCoward]

wow, that would be awesome if if that's all it took. For that cheap, it's almost worth a shot. As long as I trust myself not to drop things in there that I can't get out, of course

Thanks, Mr. Hunter.

 

[HondaHunter2002]

hey man no problem.. ne thing for a fellow dsm'r.
fair warning though, if you do the valve stems yourself i hope you have patience.. the valve spring compressor tool is a son of a #@%#@%#@%#@%#@%... drives me insane when it slipps... if you have access to an air compressor also you won't need string.. and no need to pull the head off the block although that is the easiest way.. but wee bit more complicated..
fairly simple self-explantory process with a repair manual
but if you do bring it to a garage, i suggest to get more than 1 opinion.. i brought mine in when it started and they said piston rings right away just to milk me for the labour.. stingy #@%#@%#@%#@%#@%es!! however i came on here and read up on this thread actually how dsmed said that our valve stems get torn apart easy so i knew how to do that.. i went and did that, used thicker grade oil and added an additive called cd5.. problem solved!! thanks dsmed!
oh and flush out your engine while you have it apart get rid of all the deposits.. great time to do it when you are changing valve stems