unless you are rolling in money, spending $3500 on a car you are getting rid of next year is silly. If it is running ok, just top off the oil until it blows up. Put the $3500 towards the down payment of something newer and more reliable.
whatever you do- get a second opinion before spending that much money on this old of a car.
Given everything you say, I’d donate this car to my local NPR station’s car recycling program. Installing a used engine is another possibility, but that involves some hassles OP probably doesn’t want to have to deal with.
OK, head cover gaskets not head gaskets. My bad.
At any rate a ten year old car with a bad engine will have a very low value.
Two quarts of oil in 5 months, I wouldn’t consider repairing or replacing the engine. My Dodge has consumed a quart of oil every 1000 miles for the last 9 years. Is that a bad engine?
So engine is just fine. No problem. Drive on. Customer is mistaken.
Didn’t someone state to check the oil routinely and add as needed?
There seems to be some disagreement here about how serious the engine problem actually is. Newer cars in general tend to burn more oil than cars of yesteryear. My 30 year old Corolla for example still uses less than 1 quart in 5000 miles. But many newer cars use one quart in 1000 miles. The manufactures say that’s “normal”. Oil use at that rate requires the oil level be checked & topped off at least every 1000 miles. If that’s the problem, repairing oil leaks at the valve covers, while it might have been needed, it didn’t have much chance of addressing the high oil usage issue. Valve cover leaks are usually just annoying, but don’t contribute much to the engine’s total oil usage.
OP, is the only reason for the shop suggesting to replace the pistons b/c you are complaining about the car’s oil usage rate? If so, what is the precise oil usage rate you are experiencing, in quarts of oil per 1000 miles?
Also, in some cases higher than normal oil usage can be caused by the piston’s ring gaps aligning. They aren’t supposed to do that, and there are usually ways to prevent it from happening, but that requires access to the pistons. It doesn’t however necessarily require replacing the pistons.
Since you are planning to get rid of the car anyways, it doesn’t make sense to do major engine repairs at this point, unless absolutely necessary. This means if the car no longer runs, or if it smokes so much that it won’t pass an emissions test. If it runs fine, but just uses a lot of oil, then I would simply check the oil level and top it off each time you stop for fuel.
And the $8-9k figure for this 11-year old car with 125,000 miles is just plain dreaming. People might pay crazy stupid money for a used truck with high miles and mechanical problems, but they aren’t paying those kind of prices for a used car–even in perfect condition (which yours is not).
I don’t know where you are, but here in the Greater Seattle area, there are 3 2010 Honda Accord Crosstour’s listed on carfax
1 - 125K Miles | $11,995
2 - 139K Miles | $10,995
3 - 103K Miles | $12,999
We have not seen this vehicle to access the condition, buyers are going to buy the vehicle based on appearance. Nobody is going to road test the car for 2000 miles to see if it needs a quart of oil.
The name plate will draw buyers fueled with false beliefs in the durability of the vehicle and the odd ball model will attract those looking for something special.
It appears this vehicle has “variable cylinder management”, which most likely contributes to the oil burning. I believe this is Honda’s cylinder deactivation (certain cylinders do not fire under light loads in order to save fuel). Swicegirl, you mentioned getting a Chevy. GM has “active fuel management”, GM’s version of cylinder deactivation. They had a lot of oil burning issues as well. So…I’m not sure what you should get next time! Even some Toyota engines are known to consume oil. All makes have their flaws.
I’m with a couple of the others with the idea of possibly running it as it is, depending on how much oil it’s actually using per 1k miles. My only concern with that is all of the plug replacements. If it’s burning so much oil that it’s fouling the plugs, you’ll have a hard time just driving it as it is and topping it off with oil. You might discuss it with the dealer and see if they know how much oil it’s actually burning, and if the oil burning is causing driveability issues (fouling the plugs) or if it’s just a matter of having to keep adding oil. I have a feeling it’s burning enough oil to foul the plugs. If so, I feel for you.
Does Honda offer any oil burning warranty with the piston replacement? I think I’d get them to quote a remanufactured engine and compare the price of that to the piston replacement. It’s a tough spot to be in. What I decided to do would be based on those 2 quotes, how much oil it was burning, and the condition of the rest of the vehicle.
Do you think the oil burning is the cause of all the plug replacements? Changing plugs on a Honda V6 routinely would be a pain…
Math correction: Car is burning about 1qt of oil per month/1k miles. Four quarts of oil were added at just under 4 mos/4k mi since the last service at Honda in May. After talking through prices (13k for a new engine LOL) with Honda we agreed the best path forward is to drive around and track oil usage for the rest of the year and into 2022 Q1. This data will determine if the engine needs a full diagnosis likely to include new camshaft, pistons, and oil at every 3k, or if this car is done and will have continuous spark plug issues, etc. I am certain it is the latter, however it gives time to finish the home buying process. Then the question will be does this jalopy junk cover the cost of a nice bottle of wine. Thanks for all the comments!
Check the oil often, and start saving. If you ran the motor 4 qts. low it ain’t long for this world.
One would hope that if the engine is going to be pulled and disassembled that it would be fully rebuilt, and not just reassembled with new pistons and rings and the minimum amount of replacement parts which the dealer can get away with using. If the engine is properly rebuilt, the oil consumption and spark plug fouling issues should be permanently solved, and the fact that it was run low on oil in the past should not matter.
you might consider using “Restore” with every oil change:
pretty much every car parts store or wallmart/target would have it on their shelves
it will not “cure” the engine, but will likely get the oil burn down to the point where you would need to add some oil once every few weeks and it will get some more life you need until you want to sell that car
While higher than any of my cars, 1 qt/1000 miles isn’t bad enough to warrant engine work or replacement on a vehicle you’re soon replacing. Put a case of oil in the trunk, check it often, and I’d try Restore.
Why would you rep;ace 15 spark plugs on a V6? When I pull them out, if any need replacing, I replace all of them.
I tried that product with my friend’s oil burning Toyota, and it reduced the oil consumption from 1 qt every 250 miles to 1 qt every 300 miles. Ergo, not a significant enough difference for him to keep the vehicle.
But… it’s worth a try. Maybe the OP will have better luck.
I’d research why the oil burning happens with Honda’s variable displacement system. You might find some useful info on the web. Something within that system is causing the engine to burn oil and it may not necessarily be piston replacement time. Stuck rings freed up with Seafoam? I dunno. But I’d bet there is some info out there where others have been through the same thing. I’d just want to know what exactly is wrong with the pistons that causes the oil burning to take place.