Does this seem compression related?
 

Basics: Ok so my car is an 04 6spd with 89k miles.

Problem: The car is hesitant at certain RPM's and even stalls at times while driving. Start up is getting difficult and I get the occasional case of white smoke coming through the exhaust. HEAVY smoke. I even sometimes get the smell of coolant coming trough the A/C and even one time I seen the smoke coming through the A/C.

What it's not:It is not the ignition system because I have upgraded the ignition system with the esmeril upgrade, along with new plugs.

Proposition: I have scheduled an appointment for monday to get a compression test because I believe my motor is toast. Before I take it in is there anything to inspect before I spend the $140 to get the test done?

Should I remove anything when taking it in to make sure they don't give me any bullsh*t; such as RB intake, my exhaust, ignition system? Or is that irrelevant to the compression test?

Thank you for any help.

-Patrick

Anyone?

Have you cleaned the MAF?

Sounds like you've lost the coolant seals on the rotor housings. Appears (according to your description) to be leaking engine coolant internally.
I don't know how your local dealer feels about engine modifications, so I can't answer that one. The only thing I might consider changing is the coil kit back to stock.
I would approach the dealer with an issue of hard starting, loss of power and smoking first. See what they say about that. Before asking for a compression test.
Also check the coolant level in the overflow tank and see if it's low. Also take a look at it with the car running with the cap off. See if the coolant bubbles or is foaming up.
REMEMBER ENGINE COOLANT IS HOT AND CAN BURN YOU! So be careful when doing this check.

The smell through the AC could be a bad heater core.

It could be.
But look at the big picture he's describing Razz. Not just one little piece of the puzzle.

My A/C smells like exhaust. Does that mean I have an exhaust leak? No. It comes in from the fresh air duct when I'm stopped.

Yes, Ive cleaned the MAF and the problem is still there.

Idle is very rough and seems to be getting worse. In each gear at different RPMs the car will bog down for a few seconds then once i get on it hard it will get a bit better.

As far as returning back to the stock coils, that could be difficult to do seeing as the Esmeril kit requires you to cut the stock wiring and solder theirs in place.


When I take a look at the coolant tank I can see foam in there. But ill try taking a look with the car running and the cap off.

If there is an internal coolant leak that qualifies me for a new engine, correct?

Anything else?

If you have foam you've lost a housing seal. And the dealer should cover it under 100,000 mile engine warranty.

Good luck and keep us posted on the outcome.

Only if replacing stuff in the engine would be the equivalent price of a Civic engine....

When I read it, I was pretty sure you have coolant leaking, but do the other things mentioned to be sure that is the case of the problem.

Yeah once the car gets warm and ive been driving for a while there is foam for sure. Lots of it. Should I tell the dealership to check for a coolant leak or should I go ahead with the compression test? I am not 100% sure on what to tell them to have them check out the entire engine.


Also, what should I do about the ignition system because the esmeril kit is already soldered on?

sorry for the mass amounts of questions, just making sure this goes smooth as possible. and thank you greatly for the help.

Can you please keep us posted I think my car is doing almost the same thing, except im not getting foaming from the coolant tank. I'm having a very hard time starting the car and rough idle, warm or cold doesn't matter. I was scared that it might have been something to do with the seals it seems like a lack of compression. Any info on what you find out will be appriciated.

:scratchhe Would there not be visual signs of coolant in the oil (on the dip stick) or oil floating in the coolant reservoir if the rotor seals are leaking?

instead of oil going into the water, the water will most likely keep going into the housing.

So white smoke coming out of the exhaust and coolant level dropping in reservoir ..... :dunno: ?

Well took it to the dealer today, they looked at it for a few hours and want to keep it overnight.

My head on my spark plug wires are going bad? So I guess ill be contacting BHR in regards to getting a new set. Dealer seems to be stuck on the idea of a bad cat but I just had it replace less than 20 miles ago so that's not it. Tomorrow they will check out the new cat along with the "internal coolant leak" which i told them to check out, as well as a compression test. Will let you all know tomorrow what the outcome is.

ok so back from the dealer today and they didnt even look at the engine. Just addressed the problem with the ignition system, saying I need new spark plug wires.

They didnt seem too up tight about my mods. Someone actually asked what upgraded ignition system I had :)

Decided to leave the car there for another day and have them run a compression test which, they shouldve done already but didn't. But yeah I think something is wrong with the engine but they don't want to replace it. Why? Idk. But I think they are trying to get over on my because I am on the younger side. Oh well, we'll see how it goes again tomorrow.

Approaching 90k miles and would really like to use my 100k engine warranty. :(

so now their compression checking machine or whatever is broken and they can not perform the compression check. sick of them. going to try and find another dealer.

Ive been following this thread.
My car has VERY similar symptoms.
I was curious to the outcome ?

lolol, free new engine right before 100k, haha. awesome.

Well if you did lose a coolant seal, the affected rotor's spark plugs will be wet.

Good luck with the dealer.

mine had the same issueuess.. i went back to stock (cat and coils) after installing stock coils most of my lower rpm hesitation went away.. but in the cold mornings white smoke comes out the tail pipes.. and the lower rpm hesitation is present and buckles at low rpms when its cold in the morning (driving normal under 4 K rpms and not flooring it)
also im getting 14 mpg even on the highway and city drving... after 5k rpms my car runs perfectly fine... they just told me to remove those parts and they would continue on their investtigation before they would do a compression test.. im waiting on their call.

i somehow doubt anyone 2004 with over 70,000 miles doesn't have a compression problem... but you also have a coolant seal issue