I have a 2002 Accord SE with approx 90K (miles) 192k (KM) and am going through approx 1 litre of oil every 800-100km (400-500 miles). Am I looking at redoing the Rings? I was quoted about 1500.00 to do this but is it worth the trouble?

 

How do you know its the rings? As opposed to valve stem seals. Or blocked PCV valve, or ???

 

^x2

 

I Don't for sure, it is what the Mechanic suggested was wrong.

 

Ask the mechanic why he thinks that. What tests did he do? Thats a lot of $$ for a hunch.

For all we know, he may have alreadydone a compression check & verified the rings ARE bad.

 

No tests were done, he was only giving a guess at the issue based on his opinion... even the dealership suggested as much and said it may not even be worth the work and I am better of looking for a used engine... both are a bit more costly then I want to go right now.

 

Id start with the cheap & easy stuff, if just to rule it out.

Replace the PCV valve =cheap little plastic elbow on valve cover. You can replace that yourself. Remove big rubber intake hose & look for oil. That would be an indication of a clogged PCV valve.

Then maybe have him actually do a compression check. If the compression pressure is low, squirt a bit of oil into each sparkplug hole. If compression improves substantially, ONLY THEN can he really say the rings are bad.

 

If you have a VTEC they consume oil. If the rings are causing the oil loss you will have blowby and with that all you have to do is look at the bottom of the air cleaner box. No oil no blowby. A compression test will only show you if the compression rings are sealing not the oil control rings. I have a 2003 Accord EX. It consumes oil and is a VTEC. If your valve seals are bad you will have some smoke at start up and oil deposits on your spark plugs. Your amount of oil consumption is hard to imagine without an oil leak. My Accord loses a quart per 1500 to 2000 miles.

 

I did have an oil leak from the distributor but that was repaired and there was never any oil on the driveway or on the Garage floor. I agree that it is using a lot of oil but if it is a leak it is not apparent. I am going to try to replace the PVC valve to see if that helps at all. Also, I don;t know if it means anything or not but last month I was talking with my Father in-law about the problem and he suggested Whynns tune up (oil treatment), I figured I would give it a try. Someone also suggested to add it while the car is idling... but when I opened the oil cap I noticed 'puffs' of air coming out... and not being the most technical around engines I did not know if this was normal or not. In the end I turned the engine off and added the treatment.

 

I dont agree that VTEC has to use oil. Ive had a 95 Integra, 98 Accord, & 03 Accord. All VTEC (03 is i-VTEC) and none of them use more than 1/2 quart per 5000 miles.

The puffs of air are sort of normal,but shouldnot betoo strong. Air is pushed both in & out as the pistons move. The outward puffs are much easier to feel than the inward sucking, so it just feels like its all blowing out.

When you remove the PCV valve from the valve cover, shake it. Theres a little spring-loaded plunger inside that is SUPPOSED to rattle around. If its clogged up with sludge, it wont rattle, & that might explain the whole problem.