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Really, I'd post this in "Under The Hood" but that is just for under S2000 hoods.
My daily driver is a '93 Prelude VTEC with under 55,000 miles. I've owned it since October, 1992 and it does everything I want.
For about the past year it has been burning oil on interstate driving. Around town I hardly ever have to add oil, but when I cruise Montana and Wyoming highways at 75 mph or more, it can burn a quart every tank of gas (300 miles). I've had compression checks done and they came out relatively okay 150 for two cylinders and 135 for two cylinders. I've had "oil ring freeing goop" put in the engine by my local Honda dealer but that didn't help.
It must be either valve guides or oil rings. Right? Is there another source?
What to do?
(1) Ignore it? Everything else is fine with the car. I detect no performance problems and I like the car.
(2) Trade the car? There's nothing that lights my fire as far as a daily driver. I'd love the V6 six speed Honda Accord EX Coupe except I hate the styling. None of the colors looks that terrific to me either. It looks "bulbous" to me. There's no current Prelude. I'd consider an Acura but there's no Acura dealer in Wyoming or Montana. RSX-S? CL-S?
(3) Have Valley Motor Honda rebuild the engine and fix the valve guides or the rings? It seems like that would cost a couple thousand dollars? Am I in the ball park? Is it worth it?
(4) Replace the engine with a JDM spec engine? Seems like too much effort when I have an S2000 for fun.
The car is great otherwise. The body is near perfect. Never a significant accident. I have winter and summer wheels/tires, a trailer hitch for my 4 wheeler, wiring for ham radio radios. Okay the seat is getting a little old in terms of lumbar support, but otherwise I love it.
Either get used to it, or rebuild the engine. The rebuild would costed me about $1200 at a local tuner shop. No less than 20,000 miles later, my baby was burning oil again (at a lower rate than before, though).
H22 and H23 are notoriously known for drinking oil. If you enjoy the car, keep it, just keep adding oil as needed. The $1200 I spent on a rebuild could have bought alot of oil to feed the engine.
BTW, my engine then later died at 76K miles and a new JDM engine was installed. It never passed emissions after that and I sold it...one of the saddests days of my life.
The compression is very low in your engine. The variation between the cylinders is also another indication something is wrong. This is the reason you are burning oil. You need to do more diagnostics to find out what's causing such a low compression.
You might have to rebuilt the engine. I'm suprised that this low mileage engine has such a low compression. Mine has 142k miles and runs very strong, burns only slightly more than a quart oil every 3k miles.
Same problem...I have a 1991 Toyota Celica GT, my neighbors does this too, but it burns oil on startup. If engine is warm, no oil smoke comes out. What should I do?
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Christople
[B]Same problem...I have a 1991 Toyota Celica GT, my neighbors does this too, but it burns oil on startup. If engine is warm, no oil smoke comes out.
Yeah I think it is the valve seals.... how much do you think it will cost to fix. The local toyota dealership is the biggest ripoff. They estimated 2000 bucks to fix and 1000 for my moonroof motor replacement. I wanna sell my car because of this and get like an Integra. Not sure what to do, nothing really is wrong with car... just looking for newer one... I want 325i 1993-5 4 or 2 door...or an 94 + Integra...need new car for college...any suggestions... I have 6-7 k to spend....
My '96 GSR comsumes oil. It doesn't do it at a constant rate either. Sometimes a quart in 600 miles, sometimes in 2000 miles. Depends on my "revs" I guess.
My car has 150,000 miles on it and runs like a champ. I hope to put another 100,000 miles on it.
I just keep a case of oil in the trunk and check the oil every other gas stop.
sounds like you're getting ring blowby in high gear, check your PCV valve and hose just in case, but it's likely to be rings. if it doesnt burn around town or on startup it's likely not the valveguides, and if your headgasket was blown you'd most likely have coolant in your oil or vice versa, check your coolant levels just in case and have them check your oil on the next change.
how bad does it eat it? i'm suprised its burning oil already, hopefully its just something like the PCV not helping the rings seal, but if its a small amount you could just toss a quart in every once in a while.
11-19-2002, 05:15 AM
