Originally Posted by SmokeCRX

Not much of a thinker....lol. Seen and fixed alot of these for this issue. I would pretty much forget doing a leakdown test......pointless for the most part and most poeple dont have the correct tool. If I were to place a bet....you've burnt a hole in one of the exhaust valves on the #3 cyl. due to worn piston rings from high rpm usage. This is very common on Vtec motors that are run hard. I would guess your brother prob didnt baby the car...lol. Only way to correctly fix is to pull the head and oil pan and replace the burnt valve and the piston rings on that cyl. At this point most would say go ahead and do all of the rings and new bearings depending on the mileage of the motor. Its your call. You could just replace the valve...but it WILL happen again...and faster than the first time. So if you go that route its a band-aid on a bullet wound. All depends on how much money (and time) you wanna devote to it. Also, if you're not used to doin this kinda work this is a big job to jump into....Good luck bro.