[Shop-talk] New engine for a Honda?

[Ronnie Day]

Something sounds off. That said we’re facing a similar situation with our
‘98 F150 which has the 4.6 Triton V8. It started consuming coolant several
months ago. No leaks anywhere, diagnosed as a blown head gasket in one of
the cylinders. If I was younger and had a decent place to do a top end
rebuild, I’d probably tackle it myself, but neither is the case, so…!

The shop I use quoted us $8500 to install a remanned long block, from
Jasper I think. We will probably have that done in the next month or so.
Both Jasper and ATK have solid reputations, with 100K/3 year warranties.
We’ll have a one year warranty on the installation. If anyone has checked
used truck prices (or used vehicles, period) recently, they’re outrageous!

The independent Honda shop in DFW we used for years recommends ATK. Doing a
ring job on Hondas is iffy since the blocks are aluminum. Used Honda prices
are as crazy as truck prices! It’s a tough call, but in your case, and
ours, putting that much money in a known solid vehicle is definitely worth
serious consideration, IMO.

HTH,
Ron

On Thu, Nov 20, 2025 at 10:51 AM Jim Juhas <james.f.juhas at snet.net> wrote:

> With that much oil loss, a compression test itself would be revealing. The
> various diagnostic tests that I saw suggested are all good paths to take as
> well. Although unlikely I would also look at the coolant for signs of oil.
> But given the sudden occurrence I would expect a broken part, e.g., ring,
> piston, gasket. If I were doing an engine rebuild, with doing the labor
> myself, I would expect a cost of 3000 to 4000 in machine work and parts
> based on my recent experiences with race engines for my MGA. But there are
> lots of these cars so used engines might be available.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Nov 20, 2025, at 6:54 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. _______________________________________________
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Shop-talk at autox.team.net
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation  $12.96
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk
> http://autox.team.net/archive
>
> Unsubscribe/Manage:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/james.f.juhas@snet.net
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> Shop-talk at autox.team.net
> Donate: http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation  $12.96
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk
> http://autox.team.net/archive
>
> Unsubscribe/Manage:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/shop-talk/ronnie.day@gmail.com
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/shop-talk/attachments/20251120/a662e408/attachment.htm>