Help! 98 Accord "lurching" right at 4000 RPMs

Sino said:

I've got a '99 5 speed as well and it's been chugging oil almost since new. Previous owner let the oil go down pretty low a few times which is when the real damage can happen. Machine shop I've talked to for overhaul says it's common in our cars for the piston rings to only seal up better once they're nice and warm. So you might get a bit of smoke out of the tail on a cold start but then it's fine. Honda never takes responsibility for this issue, and it's supposedly still happening in newer cars.

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Wow- good to know at least someone else has the same issue. And that is exactly what happens with mine- get a bit of smoke out the tailpipe on cold startups then its fine. Love to know where all that oil is going. I did take another look around the valve cover and noticed some oil residue along the back side of the cover (between it and the injection manifold.) Wonder if I simply need a new head cover gasket...? But I don't think that explains losing 4 qts of oil over 3000 miles...

good way to track down oil leak is to put card board under your car over night, or jack up the car look for oil see if you can track it that way. still if not clean up all the oil if any and leave it over night, might see where its coming from better. worse scenario is that you might be burning oil.

Yeah, again, check for oil leaks.

If you have no leaks, you burn it.
But I can still direct identifying and fixing that 90% of the time.

xci.ed6 said:

Yeah, again, check for oil leaks.

If you have no leaks, you burn it.
But I can still direct identifying and fixing that 90% of the time.

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If I'm indeed burning it due to worn rings could I just do a compression test

yup, it will tell you whats up.

Expect to see oem +/- 10%

Also do a 'wet' test.

I'm still running over stock, btw, at 250k...

OK, wow- getting some weird readings here-
drove the car around for about 20 minutes, let engine warm up to operating temp. Did a compression test with all plugs removed, every cylinder showed about 170-175psi! According to my service manual the proper compression is about 135psi! I am either getting false readings or my engine has miraculous cylinder pressure.
I will also say, in thinking about this, awhile back I had the head cover off, and when I put it back on I did not replace the gasket, nor did I use any of the sealant in the corners of the semicircular section of the cover as the manual says to.
Unfortunately this site will not let me load pics for some reason (I have compressed my photos to the required size but it still says they exceed my limit) but I was going to show that when I pulled the spark plugs the tops of the threads are blackened, but the electrodes themselves look fine to me- these were bought new about 3-4 months ago.) Also I have noticed oily residue along the entire backside of the head cover, I noticed this as I was looking around the engine. (Related to the head cover gasket perhaps?)
Any thoughts are appreciated--thanks

I'd call black plugs normal (ish)

Better than OEM is probly a hot test, and good compression rings, carbon

burning oil then looks at -the other- rings.

Run seafoam, need to clean the lower ring set.

I run seafoam in the gas, 1 can per fill, ~3 cans for results. 1 can in oil is questionable, but helpful (I hear). Tryin to 'soak' the lowers to 'drain' the contaminates.

Top things look fine, bore looks fine.

thanks xci I will try the seafoam-
I will also probably just go ahead and replace the head cover gasket and tube seals while I'm at it, and use the sealant properly- it's not too expensive, and can't hurt. (I've read from other posts on this board that not using the sealant will definitely cause oil leaks.)

EDIT: The "sealant" is not actually sealant, it's actually liquid gasket called "Hondabond."

Never tried Hondabond, even working as a Honda tech.

New Honda stuff is gray, that's what we used, also...

It's the same as Permatex Ultra Gray, which is cheaper...



follow OEM instructions, little bit at each corner for the cam thing, need none at flat bits.

I don't think the permatex stuff is quite the same- hondabond cures at different temps/ humidity and the curing process is not as fast which allows it to adhere better. I went ahead and bought some today from the honda dealer, the proper stuff comes in a red and black tube not grey:



You were a Honda tech? And you never used Hondabond? That's kind of surprising as all the service manuals call for it on head cover gaskets and especially transmission bell housing since they don't use gaskets at all there.