True, valve stem seals won't give low compression, but the oil is going somewhere (he's adding 2 qts/2K miles). The oil control rings are below the 2 upper compression rings, but if oil is passing by them, then the rings aren't doing their job. If adding oil to the compression test raises compression, then the oil is going somewhere like out the exhaust. I've spent too much time over the years on other models, but have learned that oil can come from the heads (valve stems and guides), or from worn rings. Compression testing by adding oil lets you know which side needs work.

 

Ummm, you lost me.

 

Well lets try this another way. You do a dry compression test first. Get some numbers. Then add some oil to the top end and do a wet test. Now you compare the 2 numbers to see which cylinder(s) are low, and which ones raise with the oil. Those that don't come up with the oil are leaking past the rings.
There's also the adding compressed air to the spark plug hole and doing a "leak down" test. That helps check the compression rings and lets you know if the valves are seating tight. In reality you want to do both tests.

But I do have to wonder if this is 1 of those excessive oil consumption V6 engines that were recalled (reading the archives helps find stuff like that), or if this engine was 1 of those before the recall.

 

I don't understand what the wet/dry compression test versus the leak-down-test (always a better metric for analysis anyway) has to do with worn valve guide seals and crudded up oil rings. Neither of those tests will identify either of those two conditions.

 

I come from the Air Cooled VW world (28 years under my belt), where we see oil consumption issues from worn guides (made of bronze), rings (high mileage), and from too much fuel washing oil off the cylinders creating excessive wear. We use both wet and dry compression tests, along with doing a leak down test that are used to determine the health of the engine. We also have problems related to engine builders removing the thermostat, which doesn't allow the engine to get to operating temperature. This causes high wear on engine parts, like anything from rings not seating properly, to excess ring or cylinder wear, to heads coming loose. But you still keep finding engines without them, because the builders believe they cause problems, not realizing the engineers put them in there for a reason.

I also come from the GM world, where valve stem leaks lead to high oil consumption (normal), and doing a compression test is a standard engine tuning/diagnosis tool.
I'm still learning about Hondas, and really don't have much experience with them yet.
Maybe you might know why the OP has high oil consumption, and a way to test/check for it that I don't know.

 

Nope, don't know why the OP has high oil consumption; that said, I've never seen a liquid cooled engine, GM or otherwise, which exhibited poor compression due to worn valve guides or seals. The only way for the valves to cause leakage would be from a burned valve seat and/or valve face; that said, it is at least theoretically possible for a worn guide to indirectly cause leakage in that if the valve alignment was so poor the valve seat/face eroded away.

The above said, I suppose the same could be true for an indirect relationship between oil rings and compression in that if the oil rings are so cruded up the score the cylinder walls which in turn means the compression rings cannot make a complete seal.

The thing is, if the valve guides and/or oil rings are so worn as to cause damage to the seats or cylinder walls, the engine would be laying down a blue fog of oil smoke whenever it was running.

 

A buddy of mine has a mid 90's Chevy truck that has worn stem seals. The oil travels past the seal lip, and enters the guide, then passes down to the valve head. This causes "gunk"to try and build a layer between the valve and the seat leading to poor oil control.
I've got a 99 S-10 in my backyard that had been overheated. All of the rings were stuck to the pistons and the engine had next to nothing for compression. I rebuilt it, so I know the rings weren't seating.

But after reading "the archives" here, it seems the V6 had it's share of oil problems, hence the multiple recalls. But, I think the OP's car/engine are before the recalls. I don't know if he can get any help from Honda or not. I'm thinking he's beyond the age limit (mileage might be ok), which means he's on hos own. I don't know anything about the Honda V6 to be of much help, just what I've run into on other makes.

 

I think you're going to have to look again; the OP's 3.0 liter J30 is well known for being a very robust engine with virtually zero oil issues. FWIW, mine has nearly 190,000 miles on the clock and it still goes the full 7,500 mile OCI while consuming less than a half quart of oil.