HELP - 87 Civic Wagon smokes after valve Job

Discussion in 'Civic' started by Robsonline, Apr 8, 2004.

  1. Robsonline

    Robsonline Guest

    Hi All, I really need some help on this. This is a long story, but I
    will try to make it short. The timing belt broke on my 87 Civic
    Wagon. I had it towed to my local mechanic. He replaced the belt,
    but it bent the exhaust valve on the number 1 cylinder. I drove it
    around for two weeks trying to decide if I was going to fix the bent
    valve. It ran fine except it would hesitate at low RPMs, and it did
    not smoke. He quoted me $500-$600 to do a valve job. The car is in
    great shape except for the bent valve, so I said go ahead and repair
    it. This is were the nightmare really starts. It takes the mechanic
    two weeks to repair, and then he said the cost was $968. When asked
    why it was so much more then what he quoted, he said that while he had
    it torn down, he decided to replace the PC Valve and do a tune up. I
    reluctantly paid him and got in my car and left. I started to notice
    that the valves are still making a lot of noise. I took it back to
    work and called him, and he said bring it back in a week and he would
    adjust them. I left work to go home, and when I started my civic, it
    blew a cloud of blue black smoke that completely enveloped my car.
    When the smoke cleared and it had been running for a few minutes, the
    smoke went away and did not smoke while driving. I drove it home, but
    if I tried to get over 55 MPH, the car would sputter and almost die.
    I took it back the next day, and the mechanic kept it for almost two
    months. He had one excuse after another, and I pressured him to redo
    the valve job. He finally relented, and took it back apart. He said
    he found the problem. He said the valve guides were bad. When I
    asked why that had not been replaced, again he had no good answer. He
    got my civic back together, but now it smokes all the time.
    Compression tests are good on all the cylinders, but the number 1
    cylinder keeps fouling out. When you pull the plug, it is coated in
    oil. Now my mechanic is telling me that my cylinder rings are bad on
    number 1 cylinder, and that it will be another $1500 to rebuild it.
    He said that he knows that he did the valve job right this time, and
    refuses to fix the problem. He told me to come get my car or
    authorize him to repair it. I know that it did not smoke before the
    valve job, and he has no answer as to why it is smoking now except
    that he wants more money. Can anyone tell me something that I might
    be able to do to fix this. Thank you in advance.

    -Rob
     
    Robsonline, Apr 8, 2004
    #1
  2. Robsonline

    mike Guest

    crappy mechanic. shoulda just had a whole rebuilt engine put in at the time.
    id get that car away from him and decide if you want to sink any more money
    into it. $1000 shoulda gotten you a low-mile junkyard motor.
     
    mike, Apr 8, 2004
    #2
  3. Robsonline

    Sean Dinh Guest

    Replacing a PCV valve is like replacing a bolt, simple remove and replace.
    Cost like $10 and 1 minute to replace. A rebuilt head around here is $200.
    You paid way too much for that job. Since the piston hit the head to bend
    that valve, there is a slight chance you could have a bit of piston
    damage. However, it sounds like the mechanic cheated you with the first
    repair, my guess is that he didn't do much in the 2nd time around. Get
    away from that place. Have someone else check that cylinder with a fiber
    optic scope to see where the oil comes from.
     
    Sean Dinh, Apr 10, 2004
    #3
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