1996 Honda Civic Oil Usage, Smoke

1996 HONDA CIVIC
138,000 MILES • 4 CYL • FWD • MANUAL
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STEVIEB1
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
i have a 1996 Honda Civic EX, 4 cyl. Car runs great. Problems are that it uses about 1 quart of oil every 300-400 miles. It also smokes white smoke alot. And the back of the white car gets a sooty black by the tailpipe. It has been this way over a year and runs great ,I just put lots of oil in her. Any sugestions?
Apr 5, 2009 at 2:40 AM
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F4I_GUY
  • ✓Experienced Mechanic
  • 3,302 POSTS
You should do a wet and dry compression test. Essentially what this will tell you is if your cylinders/pistons and valves are still in good shape and not allowing the oil to seep past them to be burnt in the combustion process.

Also, if you vehicle smokes initially on start-up you may have a valve seal problem, unfortunately a compression test will not indicate the condition of your valve seals.
Apr 5, 2009 at 11:07 AM
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