I recently purchased a 99 accord lx with the f23a1 2.3l 4cyl. I am beginning to believe that the the rings are toast and rather than do a rebuild I am considering buying a jdm motor to replace it . My question is , does anyone have any experience with purchasing a jdm motor from an online retailer? I live in Oklahoma and there are not exactly jdms just sitting around in junk yards. If I can spend the same amount on a jdm vs a junkyard usdm with two to three times the mileage, then.......Also are there any special considerations ? I know when you get a jdm subaru engine , alot of the parts dont necessarily swap over.

 

I don't have any online site that I can suggest, because I never bought a JDM engine.

I would check out car-part.com to see what a used 2.3 engine would cost you.

I would also do some diagnostics on your engine before swapping. A compression test and a leak-down test will help determine condition of the engine.

 

here are the compression results ( I am copy pasting my results posted in a previous thread.

I appreciate the reply . I tested because I am getting crazy oil consumption from a car that is running fine. and does not seem to be smoking enough to be burning what seems to be about 2-3 qts of oil per tank of gas. I replaced the pcv valve and cleaned the egr, but still getting insufficient flow error, (I know I need to take off the intake and clean it better and probably replace the egr at this point . my static compression readings with engine at N.O.T. throttle open full 8 second crank and waiting for 60 seconds to see if any pressure was lost are as follows:

cyl 1 @ 190psi no loss
cyl 2 @ 190 psi no loss
cyl 3 @ 185 psi no loss
cyl 4 @ 185 psi no loss.

but when I added 6ml oil for the wet test , it jumped to 235,235,235,225 respectively with no loss at 60secs. the thing that baffles me is the compression from what I can find is what it should be. the car runs great and smooth with the exception of carbon building on cyl 1 spark plug ( new plugs and checked 3 days later.)

 

As far as JDM engines go, don't believe the mileage they say on their website. Notice how on an engine from the early 1990s they list the same mileage as one out of a 2005 or newer(its always 35,000 miles). They have no idea how many miles are on the engine, or if there is anything wrong with it.

I would stick with one from a local junkyard, it will be cheaper and if there is something wrong with it you can bring it right back to where you bought it.

 

I would remove the valve cover and take a look at the top of the valves to see if maybe a valve seal is leaking or damaged.

 

Also OP I think you are confusing a leak down test with a compression test.

A leak down test is where you add air using a compressor to a cylinder and see how long it holds the pressure for.

A compression test is where you measure the compression by turning the motor over and seeing what the peak pressure is in the cylinder.

Your compression tester has a button you press to release the reading, correct? Because of that it cannot be used as a leak down reader.

So I want to make sure I understand you correctly and you understand your motor correctly.

You are burning excessive oil, correct?

Your theory is that the oil control rings are / have failed? (not a bad theory and I think you know more then most people do)

here is the problem with that theory, even if you removed the oil control rings the oil have to make it past the compression rings in order to make it into the cylinder and become burned in the combustion process.

With the normal compression readings you are showing I do not think that is possible.

I think you have 1 of 2 issues (both are easier to deal with)

1 - PCV issue (have you replaced it recently?)

2 - Valve seals (this is where my money would be at)

How much oil are we talking about?
Do you see smoke (blue) from the ewxhaust, if so when? (startup or under load)

 

I dont really see it unless i sit and rev the engine. It is bluish , it smells like burnt oil, and unfortunately we are talking about alot of oil. originally I was thinking about 2-3 quarts per tank of gas (about 400 miles ) but it seems more like 3-4 now that I am paying closer attention. I am going to start keeping exact records of how much I add at what mileage ,next time I fill up. while I am thinking about it , I have noticed the seals are 16 bucks for an entire set . but i dont want to pull the head and or cam to replace them myself . it looks like I should be able to just remove the rocker arm assemblly.

 

wow that is a lot of oil!

I have never seen a motor burn that much oil without having bad rings.

So with that info I would recommend a motor swap.

It cannot be valve seals with that much oil consumption.

I wonder what happened to your motor, if you do swap your motor perhaps you can tear down your old one just to find out what the cause really was,

Sorry buddy but just sounds like some bad luck.

 

the thing that baffles me though , is that it runs so good and gets 27.5 mpg mixed driving. runs smooth and quiet , not much smoke unless like I sit and rev it up and down. I would hate to not at least try the valve seals for 16 bucks if I can do it easily just removing the rocker arm assembly and not having to take out the cam or remove the head . I have an air compressor that should be able to keep up ,( I will test it first) .

 

You can buy a tool for under $10 at oreillys (maybe other places too). It is just a hose with an end that threads into the spark plug tubes. The other end attaches to the air compressor. You need to get the cylinder you are repairing to TDC when doing this.

I think you can use your adapter for your compression tester if you remove the schrader valve from the one end.

You can use this to do a leakdown test. Just good ericthecarguy leak down test to watch a good YouTube video on what I am talking about.