On 1/28 @ 9:47pm, Rob Lewis wrote:
"Aren't most Honda motors made of aluminum? Could it be that they are so
flimsy, they are easier to warp?"
According to today's discussion of
the subject with my mechanic, your
guess is "spot on", Rob.
Yep...according to my mechanic, this
is exactly the reason. In their quest for
efficiency and CAFE fuel numbers, the
Japanese have made their fair share of
errors (Frank is gonna love this!). Building
"lighter" engines appears to be one
of them, this problem not being limited
to just their Hondas.
My mechanic confirms that simply re-
placing a head gasket and re-torquing
the head to spec. can indeed unseat
the piston rings. And this problem does
not show up immediately, but over time
and/or miles, normally coming to light
well out of the warranty period covering
this work.
He states that on such "known" engines
that he will not even perform the work,
explains the reasons why to the customer,
and advises to simply trade the engine
in on a complete rebuild.
According to him, the last five years also
has seen prematurely worn valve guides
and sludging problems with light weight
Japanese aluminum engines, inclusive
of those that power their trucks.
Matter of fact, he just had a Toyota
truck in ("6") which shows very acceptable
compression/leak down figures having been brought in due to excessive
oil
consumption/exhaust smoke (blue).
Tommy replaced the valve seals and this
seems to have done the trick but only time
will tell. Interesting point is that it took
him most of the afternoon cycling water
through the cooling system to clean out
the filth. The engine has less than 50K
on it and while he uses synthetic oil,
follows the recommended maint. sched.
Tom thinks the real problem here is
really excessive blowby due to weak
engine construction despite good "static"
compression/leakdown numbers, but
only time and use will tell. This is not
the first time my mechanic has seen
this in recent Japanese all aluminum
engines, BTW.
Cap'n. Bob (Ret'd)
'60 Frog
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