undecided about repairing or replacing engine
 

I have a 92 accord lx which has given me a very hard time. When I bought the car, it was smoking from the tail pipe. Huge cloud of white smoke. I thought it was just a typical head gasket problem. I made a compression test and the numbers were 130 cyl #1... 135 #2...150 #3...150#4. I went ahead and ordered a gasket kit from ebay. replaced HG,valve seals etc.. Started the car and again, huge cloud of smoke. I didn't take the head to a machine shop because they wanted to charge me $85, so I went to my local pull-a-part and bought another head for $60. put everything back, started the car and again, the cloud of smoke... I honestly don't know what could be wrong.

The previews owner (an old man probably in his 80s) told me he had driven the car like this for a very long time, and never overheated. Is it possible he damaged the piston rings by doing this? I can't decide on whether replaced the engine or repair it. any suggestions :confused:

I would go with repairing it. You will need to rebore.

When you did the repair, did you rebore the top part of the piston shaft?

You might also consider just buying a used motor from a bone yard.

Check car-part.com for used motors from junkyards nearby to get an idea of the cost. If the yard will do a compression or a leak-down test (better test IMO), replacing the motor would be cheaper than a rebuild.

No I didn't rebore the top part. To be honest, I've never knew about this step.

I've been considering this option too. thanks for the response.

Thanks for the info! I would definitely look into that.

my accord 1990 second car has similar problem of smoking for a long time now, now oil is coming out from the tailpipe, i was told i should to change the piston ring that will solve the problem of smoking. I think you should repair it than to get another engine replacement that will be expensive thanks

Here in the United States a used but good condition replacement engine is typically far less expensive compared to rebuilding an engine.