How is a 7 year old car not worth replacing the engine?? Surprising that a honda motor is dying with only 140k.....then again one of the PT cruisers at my work had the engine fail with about 20k on it. :eek:

The problem with this vintage Honda is the endemic oil consumption. Replacing the engine is no guarantee the problem will be resolved.
If it were my car I'd consider pulling the head dropping the pan and changing the rings.

That honda sounds like a candidate for a tdi swap! :D :D

I going to just keep adding oil every week and consider the oil a secondary fuel source. This is the first Honda Diesel!

It is really sad though because the engine holds 4.5 quarts of oil. In the interval between oil changes (3k miles), I think I add another 4.5 quarts just to keep the level proper.

Surprisingly, it passes the sniff test on the yearly inspection. Go figure.

Thank you all for the advice on why not to get a new engine. I'll hang on to it for a couple more years. At that point, it will be a 10 year old car. I paid $18k for it in 2003. I might get $1000 for it then. The math makes it $1700 per year. Not too bad, what do you think?

If you are going to replace the engine, you don't necessarily have to go with the same engine. Do some investigations into what engines may be swappable - you might be able to find something JDM that doesn't have the oil burning issue that this particular motor has.

It isn't just what this car is worth - it is what it is worth to him. It might only be worth $3K on trade but if you don't have the funds to cover the difference in price on the new car, then it might be worthwhile to take an otherwise good car and extend its life another 100,000 miles with an engine swap.

another good point!

Do you know where the oil burning is coming from? Would a head swap from a donor engine do the trick?

not sure. does 'stuck rings' mean that the rings have shrunk around the piston?

The oil rings are seized in their grooves in the pistons. It is a very common problem with Honda and some other Japanese cars of the period.

How hard would it be to remove the head, drop the pan, remove the pistons/rings and replace them with improved ones? Price on headgasket kit w/bolts, new pistons/rings or whatever the fix is? I'd have the rods swapped, and if the bearings are good, no need to replace them either...

Does it need a timing belt or anything else? May as well pull it if it does, and go from there. That thing cant be too tough to work on, could it?

I'm sure someone's come up with a fix for the stuck oil ring problem. I bet the cylinder walls are ok also. I dont know how easy it would or would not be to do tho, not being able to see the oil pan setup.
I'd ask on a honda forum :)

~Nate

Your going to ruin the cats if you keep doing that. If they don't have emissions in your state you might get away with it. If they do when the CE light comes on your going to have to replace them, or junk it.

Yup, I doubt it would last a year consuming that much oil.

I remember some Honda engines being able to drop the pistons from below... without removing the head.

just a thought.

That's not possible with the crankshaft in the way. Even if it were possible to remove the pistons, getting the rings compressed to fit the piston back in the hole would be impossible.

certainly, the crankshaft comes out... just as you might do when pushing through the head.


it is very possible. Race shops that specialize in ricers do it. I am sure there is an element of experience in there.