[Shop-talk] New engine for a Honda?

[Douglas Shook]

Hi Moose,

I would think that if it were burning that much oil there would be
significant blue smoke out the tailpipe, but perhaps the
catalytic converter is doing its job and fully oxidizing the oil.

But if it is not leaking or blowing it out, it almost has to be getting
into the combustion chamber and burning it (e.g.,getting into the intake
through a crack or a leaking gasket, or getting past the rings, or through
the crankcase ventilation system, etc.).

Usually the oil scraper rings slowly wear down and oil consumption
increases incrementally over time. It sounds like this increased oil
consumption started suddenly which may not indicate ring wear. It could be
a broken ring or a chipped piston, etc.

I might pull the plugs, take a compression check of each cylinder, look at
the plugs to see if they are oily, etc. If you have a borescope (they
are about $20 now for use with your phone or laptop) and take a look into
each cylinder with the piston at the bottom of the stroke to see if there
are any scrapes, signs of damage, odd wear, etc.

I think the key would be to try to figure out where the oil is going first
before deciding on what to do. These engines are probably good for another
100K miles under normal circumstances, but due to labor costs, rebuilding
the engine may cost more than the value of the car unless you do it
yourself.

If the bore is worn, it probably makes more sense to grab a good junkyard
engine and do the swap, but it would be a shame to do so if the oil
consumption is caused by a bad head gasket or something simple to fix with
the engine still in the car.

On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 3:59 AM Moose <eric at megageek.com> wrote:

> I forgot the most important part,  engine has about 154,000 miles.
>
> Moose
>
>
>
> My SO has a daily driver of a  2000 Honda Accord EX with a 2.3L I4 F OHV
> engine.  She loves this car, and it's in REALLY great shape. She has had
> the car for a little over 3 years and she changes the oil every 3000 miles
> faithfully.   The only problem, about a month or so ago the SR5 and check
> engine light came on.  I got the codes and it was coming on the evap leak.
> As I was looking for into it, it seemed to be a problem to diagnose (need
> smoke generator, computers to turn on an off relays) and my time has been
> split with lots of other projects.  So I made an appointment with my local
> trusted mechanic.  Note, recently we also got her another car, so she
> switches between them and this isn't a daily, but semi-daily driver.
>
> Then 2 days ago, the oil light comes on.  She checks the oil, the stick is
> dry! She puts some oil in (it takes 3 qts to come up to full.) Then drives
> home.  I check it the next morning.  A qt low.  So we take it out for a
> short ride.  No blue smoke under load, no white smoke.  Very faint smell of
> burning oil.  No leaks anywhere.   I did an oil change in March, and she
> hasn't put 3000 miles on it yet.
>
> For a last hope, I check the intake hoping to find oil in it and maybe
> it's just an erg valve.  No oil. 8>( So, car is burning oil.  I do some
> research and find that some Hondas had issues with rings.
>
> OK, a ring job is more than likely more than the car is worth, but here is
> the rub.  The car is in great shape, and she LOVES the car.  So I'd be
> willing to put money into it, even if it was more than it was worth as she
> would want to keep this one for a long time.
>
> My questions are...
>
> Is there anything else I can check?  (Note, I don't think I'll see a
> problem with compression testing as the oil can still 'seal up' the
> cylinders, right?)
> Could this be related to the codes? (I don't believe so, but I'm not that
> well versed on Hondas.)
>
> Would a ring job be better than a re-manufactured engine?
>
> Has anyone ever put a re-manufactured engine in a Honda?  I did one in my
> Jeep decades ago and it went well.
>
> Thanks. _______________________________________________
>
>
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