Whats up fellas? I just purchased a 97 GSR and the guy i bought it from told me that he has to replace the oil frequently, with just a few drops, because there is a minor crack/leak in the head gasket. Yet, when my dad and i looked there was no visible signs of where oil had leaked with radiator fluid (if that is any indication). I also had another source tell me that i may just need to get the valves adjusted because there is a exhaust and intake valve that have minor tapping/clicking. What do you think i should do?

 

replace the headgasket(or not do anything and wait and see what happens) and get the valves adjusted.....if you need either of these done i can do it if you dont do it yourself.....

 

Oil doesn't necessarily have to leak into the coolant passageways on one of these motors in a head gasket failure, oil can also be drawn into the combustion chaimber, which is more likely on a closed deck engine. Is this? Valve ticking is common on honda engines. A valve adjustment couldnt hurt, and replacing the lifters (hydraulic?) can also help with this.

 

well either one you decide to do will expose the valves, so i would do both so that you dont have to go back and readjust them alter..i dont really thing that you would have to replace your oil if the valves are ticking at least mine didnt lose any oil b/c of it.

 

you dont, thats what valve seals are for, when valve seals go bad is when oil starts to leak in the combustion chamber, oil also gets into the chamber if you have bad rings or blowby from excess crank case pressure and warped/cracked or bad rings.....

 

if i ran a compression test would that tell me if it was the head gasket?

 

get a helms or something similar or just search here or HT and you can get the proper compression #s. that will help you determine if the compression is off or not and in which cylinder..but mostly likely going by what you said its a head gasket.
ours went out in our old dx and the compression #s were fine so dont let that fool you either.
you can also take it to a shop and they have this tester that tests if exhaust gases are in your coolant b/c just looking at it, you wont be able to tell..thats also an indication of your head gasket being blown.

Also if you are loosing oil, you need to find where its going. is it leaking out? is it burning? wheres it going..if its leaking it could be a seal or something that needs to be replaced

 

are you sure its not just the cam seals leaking? honda's are known for that

 

gsr is open

 

yep i just put a brand new one on when i rebuilt my motor and that was like a month ago and the shit is leaking already. STR billet one will be next.