I have an '88 Accord, AT, and a carburetor. I have been burning/losing 2 quarts of oil every 300 miles! I've been looking at the forum's questions and wondering if the PCV valve could be the culprit. There is a tube that goes out from the valve cover gasket to the air filter housing and when I take the rubber hose off it is sucking air into the valve cover. I'm not sure if this is right. I always thought the valve cover should be pushing air out instead of pulling air in. This is not the same hose that holds the PCV valve as this is an older HONDA and is not fuel injected. The PCV valve is on the intake and looks like an upside down U shaped fitting. I am only driving 300 miles a week and losing 2 quarts of oil. It does not seem to be leaking anywhere under the vehicle as it is dry. No oil from the valve cover gasket. I don't see smoke coming out of the exhaust except the usual for a 23 year old car. It does not smoke going down the road. Early this spring I had a valve job done on the engine with new rings for the cylinders. I honed the cylinder walls before putting in new rings. When I pull the plugs, they have a white buildup on them. Maybe too lean fuel? Also can you tell me exactly what to look for and how to do a leakdown test? I consider myself to be a pretty good backyard mechanic and can do about anything.

 

Have you pulled/replaced the PCV yet? My 89 LX once "lost" the insides of the valve, leaving a tube....almost the same thing happened. Had me stumped for a while, then I pulled the PCV and looked at it...I still haven't found the insides, could be in the pan, could have come out in an oil change and I just missed it.

There are tools that can be retend to do a leakdown test, have you done a simple compression test yet?

 

The hose from air intake to valve cover should have suction. It is the path for air into the crankcase, as PCV system pulls air through PCV into throttle body downstream of throttle plate. Make sure the PCV is clean and PCV hose is clear.

Suggest checking compressions. Low compression w/ high blowby can cause engine vacuum level to go positive, resulting in oil vapor being pulled from crankcase into intake through what is normally crankcase air intake (item you questioned).

Suggest checking idle vacuum level. It should be 18-21 inches Hg. If much lower, this also indicates poor engine performance or intake valve leakage. Check a good video on youtube by realfixesrealfast on use of vacuum gauge to diagnose engine condition/fault.

good luck

 

Back in the good old days this was good to have on hand.

 

Hey old friend......

I've been trying to hold down the fort on the 3rd gens but most of what I know I learned from you.....nice to see you around again.

 

Poorman212 if you are talking about learning from me I am flattered! I don't want to presume anything, maybe you were talking about someone else.
So far here's what I did today. I pulled the PCV valve and it was toast! It was just like you described from your '89 LXi. I could see completely thru it. The spring was still inside but no other parts. No way for it to work as a check valve. I bought a new one from Carquest and installed it. After I installed the new PCV I noticed the sucking from the valve cover stopped completely. I'll be real happy to see if this make a big difference in my oil consumption. Next I pulled all the plugs and did a compression test. Dry and wet. Dry results Cyls.#1-180 #2-170 #3-150 #4-180 Wet with oil sprayed in each cylinder. #1-190 #2-210 #3-210 #4-200. Definitely some rings leaking. But still this isn't horrible compression. I have not done the vacuum tests. Where is the best place to hook up the vacuum gauge? I have one of them too, but must admit don't use it much. I'll look up that website TexasHonda suggested. Hondadude that picture looks like it could be worth a thousand words. It looks as if it will really help a guy to narrow down his troubleshooting. I'll post more next week when I fill up again to see how much oil is lost on the next 300 miles. Thanks so far for all the replies.

 

I'm going to bet you are good to go....my issue was on the 89 LX (carb, just like you). I know confusing but I've owned and still have a few 3rd gens (86 DX, 87 LX, 88 LXi, 89 LX, 89 LXi- all with manual and auto trans)

My friend hondadude is the "teacher" on these 3rd gen's (86-89). I've done my share but those things I've never had to do, my understanding came from him.

Willing to bet, drive the car before doing any tests, keeping an eye on the oil level, you are good to go.

 

Thanks for everyone's responses. I wanted to leave a follow-up for this thread even if I'm the only one who benefits from the information. I can't stand it when people get help and never explain what happened or how they fixed it.
I changed the PCV valve and no more suction into the valve cover instantly. I then drove the car for more than 400 miles and checked the oil and it looks like I've not lost any oil at all! This was the problem! To think I've driven this car for 8 months or more with this problem and did not know the PCV valve could do such damage.
Now I'm gonna address the vacuum testing with HONDADUDE's chart he sent. I seem to have a bad miss in the engine. At times I think it's the auto tranny and at times I think it might be the axles (both CVs are clicking when turning). But it feels like a bad miss in the engine. The faster I go down the highway the less you feel it. It's real prominent at about 40-45 mph then smoothes out at 65 mph. Testing will tell. How do I mark this thread as fixed so anyone glancing at the forum will know it's fixed? Thanks again.

 

Thanks for important followup.

I'm not aware of any settings for "fix achieved". We do set aside some posts into the DIY forum that provide answers to very common problems. This post may fit that category, and the fix is universally applicable (even to non-accords). I vote to add to DIY section.

Regards

 

A miss at ~45 mph and an auto trans...hummm. Please humor a very old man......pull the air cleaner, if you still have the factory hoses, follow #7 where it connects to the base of the carb, back side between the carb and the firewall.....give it a "pull"...it might look like it is connected. but pulling on it will show a burn,,,,,,