honda accord burning oil/leaking

[xluben 10+ year member]

i have a 99 honda accord I4 2.3L with a manual transmission.

everytime i fill up my gas tank (300-400 miles) i have to put about 1 quart of oil in!

i don't get enough leaking to puddle under my car, but last time my car was in the shop the mechanic said it could be leaking a bit around the headgasket. also, if i accelerate hard (5-6k+ rmps) i can see some black smoke out of the tailpipe, but none under normal driving (and i don't accelerate like that very often).

is this something i should be concerned with, or should i just keep adding oil?

is there anything i can do (cheaply) to try and help?

i don't think i have the money to get the headgasket changed at the moment. i have tried going from 5w-30 to 10w-30, but it didn't help. i will be going back to 5w-30 for the next oil change (winter).

thanks!

also, can anyone recommend me to any good honda tech sites?

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[90accordman 5,000+ posts]

id take care of it now rather then wait, its at the beginning stages now of blowing the head gasket, if it blows it can cost you a whole lot more

 

[937DYTBOI 5,000+ posts]

yea mines burns oil also, i guess its known for that

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

what kind of price should i be looking at to get that done?

is there anything (cheaper) that i could try first?

 

[90accordman 5,000+ posts]

what kind of price should i be looking at to get that done?
is there anything (cheaper) that i could try first?

no theres nothing cheaper to try first, it is gonna be 500-1000 to get fixed the parts only like 40 bucks at most youll be paying for labor unless you know how to do it

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

no theres nothing cheaper to try first, it is gonna be 500-1000 to get fixed the parts only like 40 bucks at most youll be paying for labor unless you know how to do it

that's what i thought. unfortunately i don't have an extra grand lying around and i don't know how to do it myself.

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

Black smoke isnt oil FYI. Black smoke is caused by an overly rich fuel/air mixture or incomplete combustion of the fuel. In either case, try to look in the motor bay for anyleaking outside the car. Does the exhaust smell any different? Usually when it BURNS oil its a blueish smoke and it smells really foul. I think the problem is not in the headgasket, but maybe the valve cover gasket or something similar.

 

[IrTehL33T@DBeez 10+ year member]

Black smoke isnt oil FYI. Black smoke is caused by an overly rich fuel/air mixture or incomplete combustion of the fuel. In either case, try to look in the motor bay for anyleaking outside the car. Does the exhaust smell any different? Usually when it BURNS oil its a blueish smoke and it smells really foul. I think the problem is not in the headgasket, but maybe the valve cover gasket or something similar.

he's right about the black smoke. a blown head gasket, or beginning stages of a problematic head gasket would be more likely to cause consumption/burning of coolant or oil. burning oil will be blue smoke, whereas coolant will be white smoke and has a particular 'sweet' smell. i havent dont a head gasket on that motor before, but inline 4's are general easy, particularly the single cam varities. just the other day my friend and i did a head gasket on his eagle talon (4g63 turbo, which is an inline four dohc) and it took maybe 2 hours for the teardown, installation of arp hardware, new gasket, then reinstallation. add about a half hour onto that because we had a bit of a hassle with the timing belt. i dont know if you're a mechanically inclined person or have friends that are, but its not a very intense job and its something that a shop would charge a pretty hefty sum to complete. to get an idea of savings... my friends mls head gasket (multi-layer, high perf.) was under 100 bucks, a stock type gasket might run you 50 bucks, you can really save some cash doing it yourself

 

[xluben 10+ year member]

i definitely wouldn't be able to do it myself. i have very little experience working with cars, but maybe i can find someone that'll do it for cheap, because there's no way i have to money to dish out up to a grand for a shop to do it.

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

I wouldnt say its the headgasket. If you cant smell smoke in the exhaust, its not BURNING oil. It may be leaking from elsewhere.

 

[joebangaa 10+ year member]

Get over it... it's already 8 years old or so... Nissan's venerable VQ35DE is known to burn oil (including mine //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif )

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

i have a 99 honda accord I4 2.3L with a manual transmission.
everytime i fill up my gas tank (300-400 miles) i have to put about 1 quart of oil in!

i don't get enough leaking to puddle under my car, but last time my car was in the shop the mechanic said it could be leaking a bit around the headgasket. also, if i accelerate hard (5-6k+ rmps) i can see some black smoke out of the tailpipe, but none under normal driving (and i don't accelerate like that very often).

is this something i should be concerned with, or should i just keep adding oil?

is there anything i can do (cheaply) to try and help?

i don't think i have the money to get the headgasket changed at the moment. i have tried going from 5w-30 to 10w-30, but it didn't help. i will be going back to 5w-30 for the next oil change (winter).

thanks!

also, can anyone recommend me to any good honda tech sites?

I would suggest the first thing you need to do is find a different shop. If anyone calling themselves a mechanic by trade diagnosed an oil leak to likely be a leaky/weak head gasket then they need to find alternate employment ASAP. I'm mechanically challenged to say the least and even I know better than that.

he's right about the black smoke. a blown head gasket, or beginning stages of a problematic head gasket would be more likely to cause consumption/burning of coolant or oil. burning oil will be blue smoke, whereas coolant will be white smoke and has a particular 'sweet' smell. i havent dont a head gasket on that motor before, but inline 4's are general easy, particularly the single cam varities. just the other day my friend and i did a head gasket on his eagle talon (4g63 turbo, which is an inline four dohc) and it took maybe 2 hours for the teardown, installation of arp hardware, new gasket, then reinstallation. add about a half hour onto that because we had a bit of a hassle with the timing belt. i dont know if you're a mechanically inclined person or have friends that are, but its not a very intense job and its something that a shop would charge a pretty hefty sum to complete. to get an idea of savings... my friends mls head gasket (multi-layer, high perf.) was under 100 bucks, a stock type gasket might run you 50 bucks, you can really save some cash doing it yourself

I'm glad someone with a clue chimed in on this thread //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[AJ²06 5,000+ posts]

he's right about the black smoke. a blown head gasket, or beginning stages of a problematic head gasket would be more likely to cause consumption/burning of coolant or oil. burning oil will be blue smoke, whereas coolant will be white smoke and has a particular 'sweet' smell. i havent dont a head gasket on that motor before, but inline 4's are general easy, particularly the single cam varities. just the other day my friend and i did a head gasket on his eagle talon (4g63 turbo, which is an inline four dohc) and it took maybe 2 hours for the teardown, installation of arp hardware, new gasket, then reinstallation. add about a half hour onto that because we had a bit of a hassle with the timing belt. i dont know if you're a mechanically inclined person or have friends that are, but its not a very intense job and its something that a shop would charge a pretty hefty sum to complete. to get an idea of savings... my friends mls head gasket (multi-layer, high perf.) was under 100 bucks, a stock type gasket might run you 50 bucks, you can really save some cash doing it yourself

Nice... my 11 almost 12 yr old accord is still running strong. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Except, I do ahve that "sweet" smell once in a while.... but i dont burn anything... I barely have any oil leaks.

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

My car ran great for a 17 year old car... except for the worn out timing chain. That killed it.

 

[86yota 10+ year member]

http://www.honda-tech.com