Finally, a thread I can possibly help with. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif FIRST of all, never take any vehicle to a mechanic; find a certified automotive technician! There is a diff. In short, VERY little is purely mechanical these days. The mentiond vehicle is what we call an On Board Diagnostics version 2 (OBD2) vehicle, and I can promise you the EPA placed a ton of electronics into this accord.
As for Hondas, I've dealt with nothing but them from the 88 model accords and preludes on up to around the 2001 models. If there's one thing I can promise you, it's that after many many miles, valve guide seals will start to leak. If you have a previously missabused engine, excessive piston ring wear can lead to some premature oil loss as well. As for the smoke concern, one of the previous posters were correct about the colors of smoke; blue is typically your oil burning. White would be antifreeze and the black is usually caused from burning very rich (too much gas). It sounds to me, from a professional stand point, that you have a few possible concerns.
As for the oil leak, if it's not externally leaking then that's what we call oil consumption. There aren't too many places oil can go except through the engine or on the ground (obviously), and there are some FAR CHEAPER alternatives than trying to get silly and swap a head gasket. Anytime I get an oil loss/consumption concern, I will install a bottle of dye (a few ounces) in the oil (simply poor it in rather), and run the vehicle for a few min. In the 60's black lights became very popular, and just like back then, black lights can still turn dye neat colors. If you get in a dark enough area and take a black light to your car's engine, and assuming you have an external leak, you'll locate it pretty quickly with a florecent looking purple or green liquid (dyed engine oil, any viscosity).
Positive Crankcase Ventalation valves (PCV Valves) are probably never ever changed out enough on vehicles; I recomend them every 15k miles. This is a VERY common method of entry for oil into the engine!! If you've ever pulled an air cleaner/filter from the throttle body and seen all the black junk on the throttle plate, then you can now be assured that you're looking at oil. Oil does not combust in the engine, and causes problems. When those PCV Valves stick open, the rushing air past their outlet (designed only to exhale bad fumes from the crank case into the engine, not oil), then the extra rushing air past this valve will **** oil or anything else through it and into the engine itself. If it sticks closed, the inlet for the frest air (pre throttle body) into the valve cover/crank case provides the suction to pull the oil out and inject it into the engine. My recomendation is to replace the sub $5 PCV Valve and to take a can of B12 chemtool and hose down the throttle body and to open it and hose it down inside as well. Most likely the oil is there regardless of this being the concern or not with the oil consumption. $20 or less and about 10 to 15 min. in labor can save a lot of heart aches and pains at a repair facility.
Sea Foam is something I use all the time in problematic vehicles because it'll clean out all that oil from inside the engine itself and not to mention decarbonize the combustion chamgers and valves some. It's about $5 at any Oreilly Auto Parts store or Autozone; white can full of liquid. I do not recomend putting it in your oil though. This may clean out the engine some, but if you have any grooves in the cyl. walls where the pistons travel, then you risk opening those up and loosing compression (not something you want to risk with an unknown record of the vehicles maintenace records from the past). Plus, any modifiers to the oil will cause the viscosity properties to break up and change; not a common practice I recomend. If you use this product, use it through the large vacuume hose going to the brake booster with the engine runing and SLOWLY poor it in. If not done slowly, you can vapor lock the engine! If you actually do this, please be in a well ventalated area as you'll cause smoke like you never thought possible. hehe it'll be there for a while till everything is cleaned out (I do this about every 30k miles or so).
Now to the main point, and the end of my post. If you're burning black smoke, it's most likely a running rich concern, not oil. Rich = too much gas, not enough air. Your oxygen sensors pick up on the 4 gasses out of the combustion chamer and will either recomend more fuel or less fuel to keep from having the concern that you're experiancing. MOST of the time, if you're experiancing black smoke (even in the upper RPM'S only), you should have a check engine light either on, or sitting there with a pending trouble code in memory waiting to trigger the light itself to come on. If you don't see this amber (yellow) light on, then do a bulb check. Simply turn the key on (engine off) and make sure that the Check Engine Light illuminates. Just because the light doesn't come on doesn't mean there isn't a trouble code in there denoting a fault.
The EPA is very strict about what can and can not set a check engine light off. There must be 2000 trouble codes out there for all OBD2 vehicles (mandatory on 1996 to current models), and those code numbers help people like me find the cause of problems like this. I know I'm not there to look at your car, but I think you have 2 concerns rather than one. Try changing spark plugs as they control the burn of your spent fuel. Anything ignition related is cheaper than changing a head gasket!! Cans of cleaner are great like the 2 above (Seafoam is great in the gas tank BTW), and the few min. of labor inserting those is also cheaper than a head gasket. The #1 cause to any loss of air, too much fuel (running rich) concern would be a restricted air filter; check it! That item, as you may have guessed, is also cheaper than replacing a stupid expensive head gasket. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Retiming the engine when you pull a head (your's is a V6 and has 2 heads) is cause for great skill and shouldn't be attempted by just anyone. In closing, don't be afraid to try the more simple items rather than to automatically assume it's something stupid crazy expensive. If you need any further assistance, or have any Q's and I'm not on this site (and I'm not all that often), feel free to IM me on AIM at sugar2mtb (screen name); I'll be more than glad to help. Best of luck!
Ps. SORRY FOR THE LONG POST!!!
Dustin
Just give me a few min. and I'll look that up for ya and post it back here.
