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View Full Version : Bad Rings?



danronian
10-27-2003, 06:24 AM
This isnt an accord question but it's a question about an 89 Prelude 2.0Si, so I figured it was close enough. This is a car that is for sale down the road from me, it has 118K, honda serviced, auto. They only want 850 OBO, and since the seller said it is very negotiable i figured I could give him $500. The problem is... the guy said it smoke bad, and that it fouled out the one plug so it only is running on the cylinders. He said he bought it for his son and he drove it for a year until going to college. He said that after his son drove it, that the car just started to burn more and more oil until it fouled out the plug and I guess that is when he parked it. I opened up the hood and the coolant is oil free and cleaner then the newly flushed coolant in my accord, and the tranny fluid doesnt smell overly burnt, but I did notice that the only oil on the dipstick was a drop on the very end below both of the holes. My guess is that the kid ran it low on oil and kept running it like that. The seller said that he took the car to the Honda dealer and they said it only needs a ring job. What I dont understand is how only the rings can be affected by low oil and not the cam or crankshaft bearings? My guess is that at least some of the bearings are scored or scratched. I know that the junkyard near my house has a few preludes of this same style and engine with around 90K on them. Would replacing an engine on this car be that hard? The thing is it was only the rings I think I would buy the car replace the rings and be gone, but how could that be the only thing affected? I do have experience with working on my malibu's engine but that near 30 year old v8 is much different then a DOHC 89' honda engine. Sorry about the long thread but I dont really want to pass this up b/c i have the money in the bank and just got a better job so I could afford it, but at the same time I dont want it to be a waste of $500 and have to sell it after it being all apart.

k-roy
10-27-2003, 07:52 AM
Hmm, it sounds like is needs a teardown and rebuild, or a motor swap just to say on the safe side. If you do that there is no reason why it should not last for years.