ok..so i have a ls with just an intake and i call up my buddy with a civic (95) with a single cam 1.5 vtec with just intake and a muffler..so we race and he beats me by like 5 to 6 cars..from a stop and from a roll...prior to the race i saw on my speedometer that two yellow lights were on one said "maint. requi.) and the other said "check"..also i popped my hood and smoke come from like the bottom or middle part of the engine..(but i didnt think it would effect the outcome of the race)..im thinking i need a new head gasket or something and i must be losing a whole lot of compression..i dk..so somebody please help me..i would really apreciate it..if this helps you conclude something the motor has 79000 miles on it and i had just changed my oil  that morning..please help me....thanks  

when your goin down the road check your mirror see if your pourin smoke out the exhaust.. you may also have some bad rings if you are burnin up alot of oil and losin power.. check your oil levels each time you drive to soo if its eatin oil internally.. and yes id get the head gasket replaced too.. do a compression check or leak down test to see what your compression is in each cylinder .. hopefully you just have a blown head gasket and not bad rings too  

I don't understand where you would get this bad problems if the maintenance had been kept up on such a low mileage B18B. First off look at what color smoke you that is coming out. Secondly I'll agree with luderunner pick up a compression tester for around $20-$30 and run a compression test on each cylinder (its pretty simple theres a lot of info about it everywhere which applies to just about all types of cars). If your compression is lower then 135 psi, higher than 199psi, or differs in any two cylinders by over 28psi you definatly have a problem. If you find that you have a problem you may want to have someone perform a leakdown to test to see where you are loosing seal.

Good Luck