I've got 2 pics of underneath the valvecover on my 92 Accord. It's got 209000 miles on it, and it burns and leaks some oil, leaks more than it burns. Mine does have some varnish, and on the underside of the valvecover itself is some dirt.
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Several pics from under valve cover, Accord EX
- Thread starter Palut
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Time to switch oil suppliers. Sombody's been switching your Mobil 1 and such with cherry Dr. Pepper.
You know, MMO would probably go great with that, what with the minty aroma...
You know, MMO would probably go great with that, what with the minty aroma...
Palut
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FYI: As varnished as the top end of this engine is, it still has good compression; I tested it a couple of months ago. Factory spec is 178, and all cylinders tested out at 170 +/- 2. One was still at 174!
I still think something bad is going on with this engine. In the last roughly third of its 150k mile life with me, I was doing OCIs as long as 7500 miles with the then-current M1, and my engine looked nothing like this. Even at 10 years and 150k miles, it did not even show the beginnings of varnish -- just silvery, clean, bare metal. Or maybe that prior owner abused it more than originally thought. I know mine was a Civic (different engine, of course), but I've seen plenty of other Hondas that received normal good care and were also whistle clean.
The previous owner must have not changed the oil enough.
I guess I will give my 2cents worth on this engine. I have the LX 2.2 engine in my 97 Honda accord and had noticed the varnish and some small amount of sludge when I purchased it at 113,500 miles. The auto-rx treatment, two runs, removed lots of the varnish and now very little is left. This tells me that auto-rx will remove varnish if there is oil flow in a given area. I tried some on my dipstick to conferm that auto-rx will remove the varnish when rubbed also. My guess on this one is very little oil flow in the valve area. Notice the cams are spotless so do receive lots of flow. My guess is this engine oil was not flowing very well during the 3 auto-rx treatments. Again My guess is very heavy sludge that was removed but still restricting flow. Maybe Frank will comment but I think the treatment instructions are now on the lean side. Originally it was 2 oz per quart of oil plus 2 oz for the filter. Most used 12 oz for 4 quart sumps. Maybe Frank needs to increase the amount of auto-rx required. The other possiblity is a quality problem with auto-rx. I have noticed the formulation has been changed in the last 2 years to make it more consistant that is less gloppy.
Palut
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I did have the valve lash adjusted at 95,000 miles, and again at 130,000. I didn't see under the valve cover, as I had left the car with the mechanic each time, but I did ask him if it looked clean down there. He said it wasn't the cleanest he'd ever seen, but wasn't bad by any means.
I'll be having the timing belt and valve lash done again in the next few weeks, and I'll ask him how it looks compared to last time he saw down there. That should help give me an idea of whether or not there is a problem now, or if this is left over from the previous owner.
I'll be having the timing belt and valve lash done again in the next few weeks, and I'll ask him how it looks compared to last time he saw down there. That should help give me an idea of whether or not there is a problem now, or if this is left over from the previous owner.
While changing the PCV valve to a new OEM one is a good start, you should still verify that the circuit is working and that vacuum is present.
Could be that the hose connected to the PCV valve is clogged or cracked. Pull the hose free of the valve and test it. Make sure you see vacuum, especially when the engine is spinning down from four thousand RPMs or so.
Might also want to start running a three-ounce maintenance dose of ARX with every oil change.
Could be that the hose connected to the PCV valve is clogged or cracked. Pull the hose free of the valve and test it. Make sure you see vacuum, especially when the engine is spinning down from four thousand RPMs or so.
Might also want to start running a three-ounce maintenance dose of ARX with every oil change.
might have to do a solvent flush, if oil passages are partially clogged with junk.
i just looked inside my oil fill hole and it's still decently clean. it could be that i've used havoline and kendall oil since new or that later in life it had m1 and amsoil. though it might be that i'm now using whatever oil is on sale and cheap filters that are keeping it decently clean. OCI's are at 5k usually. i might just start doing them at 3 k for fun (since i have 100 aluminum crush washers).
i just looked inside my oil fill hole and it's still decently clean. it could be that i've used havoline and kendall oil since new or that later in life it had m1 and amsoil. though it might be that i'm now using whatever oil is on sale and cheap filters that are keeping it decently clean. OCI's are at 5k usually. i might just start doing them at 3 k for fun (since i have 100 aluminum crush washers).
I agree with IslaVistaMan. Something ain't right here if you've used Auto-RX twice and Mobil 1 at fairly conservative intervals.
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