Best way to "recondition" ok engine with high ks?

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#1318800 7-Jun-2015 18:22

It will be clouded by Hondas drawing "boy racers" ... so that (driven hard like maniacs) in itself could cause Hondas to break.

However I remember buying a bargain Honda Fit. Tested it ... fine. Drive out of the yard ... and after 20 mins of driving discovered the clutch start up plate of the CVT is busted.

That was my 3rd Honda to break.
- Honda City 1981 - rust :( no fault of Honda, terminal cancer
- Honda Civic 1989 - torrential oil leak - not worth the value of car to fix
- Honda Fit 2004 - CVT failure - not worth value of car to fix

blakamin

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#1318822 7-Jun-2015 19:02

Like most have said, cambelt if it's got one... oil change, trans fluid, plugs, air oil trans petrol filters etc...
Don't switch from mineral to synthetic oil or vice versa... It can possibly cause leaks/oil consumption. Just use whatever it's been using.
Don't "flush" anything, just replace some fluids (you can flush your brake fluid). Some autos hate being "flushed", but a filter and fluid change is fine.
For any decent engine built since 1990, 160k is barely run in.

Unless it's blowing smoke, using coolant, oil etc, it should do another 300k no worries.

ubergeeknz

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#1318853 7-Jun-2015 20:02

mudguard:
ubergeeknz:
160 thou is nothing for a somewhat well maintained (or even poorly maintained, unless it's a Honda) Japanese engine. Many go to 270,000 and beyond without needing anything more than servicing/repairs as needed.\

Any Honda's in particular?

Don't have much experience with newer hondas, but have seen a few suffer if the oil hasn't been changed regularly enough. Seems they're built to tight tolerances and don't cope so well with wear and tear.

Jase2985

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#1319034 8-Jun-2015 06:27

ubergeeknz:
Don't have much experience with newer hondas, but have seen a few suffer if the oil hasn't been changed regularly enough. Seems they're built to tight tolerances and don't cope so well with wear and tear.

but you could change the oil every 10,000km and use cheap as chips Mobil 1 and a repco filter ($40 combo from repco) and it would be sweet as

Newer ones are pretty much the same.

The oil honda use in most of the new motors is 0w20 or 0w25 and is fully synthetic

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#1319134 8-Jun-2015 09:45

My 96 Honda Civic has just gone over 193k on the odometer and I suspect it will march happily towards 250k
What is going are the seals - noticed yesterday that both the drivers door and the left headlight seals have broken

And I still haven't done anything about the leak into my boot - with the heavy rain in Dunedin last week, I had a swimming pool to clean out in the weekend

xpd

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#1319147 8-Jun-2015 09:52

97 VTiR Prelude my mother owned was almost on 250k and still running perfectly..... mechanic who she had regularly service it, said it was one of the best maintained Preludes he had come across and said he didnt see any reason why it wouldnt hit 400k with decent servicing.

Loved driving that car, and Im not a Honda fan.....

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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#1319171 8-Jun-2015 10:09

xpd: 97 VTiR Prelude my mother owned was almost on 250k and still running perfectly..... mechanic who she had regularly service it, said it was one of the best maintained Preludes he had come across and said he didnt see any reason why it wouldnt hit 400k with decent servicing.

Loved driving that car, and Im not a Honda fan.....

Had an 84 Prelude in 1991, 45k, ran and ran and ran. most troublefree car I've owned. I's always heard that Honda was a click about the other jappers, and it is, or at least was, the most valued import in the US, anecdotal though, just comments from those I have known when over there. Many Americans have a low regard for their own cars, quality and reliability wise.

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#1319202 8-Jun-2015 10:38

blakamin: Like most have said, cambelt if it's got one... oil change, trans fluid, plugs, air oil trans petrol filters etc...
Don't switch from mineral to synthetic oil or vice versa... It can possibly cause leaks/oil consumption. Just use whatever it's been using.
Don't "flush" anything, just replace some fluids (you can flush your brake fluid). Some autos hate being "flushed", but a filter and fluid change is fine.
For any decent engine built since 1990, 160k is barely run in.

Unless it's blowing smoke, using coolant, oil etc, it should do another 300k no worries.

^^^
This

Before you do anything though have a close look at things, check to Oil Filler cap, is there any emulsions there? a creamy sludge? if so the water jackets maybe leaking into the oils or the engine is running too cold
Examine the radiator coolant, is there any sign of oil in the water, this could indicate head gasket issues etc. Before changing fluids also add some upper cylinder lube to your fuel and give the car a good run especially up
a hill, you may get the odd "burp" from the engine and a bit of smoke as carbon and other bits of engine cholesterol is burnt of and chucked out.

Examine all belts.

It could also be advantageous to have things like the head re torqued, the Manifolds re torqued.

After doing all this get the engine retuned etc.

Aredwood

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#1319238 8-Jun-2015 11:13

Change the coolant. Everyone forgets this but on modern cars it is just as important as changing the engine oil. You could get away with it on engines that were all cast iron and steel. But on newer engines that have aluminium parts. Proper coolant is essential. By the time it goes rusty and starts overheating the head gasket has failed and often the engine is a write off.

sep11guy

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#1319299 8-Jun-2015 11:55

my previous car, a 98 caldina had about 269kms on the clock when i sold it, and it ran ran and ran . If i had zero maintenance cost ( rego and service and insurance ) i would have just kept it for running around but thats not possible in real life.

It has taken a fair share of beating but never misses a beat if you keep it well maintained etc.

So just a normal 10k service from dealer / reputable MTA mech shud be good to go.

heylinb4nz

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#1319415 8-Jun-2015 14:26

PROMA MBL8 and an oil change

plus other aformentioned items (coolant, air filter, spark plugs etc)

I ran MBL8 religiously for 10 years and over 100,000 kms in a 1990 MR2 GT, $40 bottle does 3 oil changes. That motor had 210,000 kms on it and was putting down 205 rwkw before a numpty mechanical firm over boosted it and blew it up on the dyno.

wasabi2k

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#1319423 8-Jun-2015 14:41

sep11guy: my previous car, a 98 caldina had about 269kms on the clock when i sold it, and it ran ran and ran . If i had zero maintenance cost ( rego and service and insurance ) i would have just kept it for running around but thats not possible in real life.

It has taken a fair share of beating but never misses a beat if you keep it well maintained etc.

So just a normal 10k service from dealer / reputable MTA mech shud be good to go.

My 2000 Toyota Caldina GT-T is currently at the garage - went in for a service.

Up till now has been very cheap to maintain - service every 6 months. Unfortunately the garage discovered massive cracks in the manifold (which is apparently common with turbo caldinas) - so I am looking at a 3k repair bill (amongst a bunch of other things).

But that is 3k on a 15 year old car with 280,000kms on it that will probably get me well through 300,000. Plus it's a turbo.

If you don't thrash them modern japanese cars in general last forever, just service them.

jaymz

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#1319461 8-Jun-2015 15:14

I too agree with the comments advising you avoid any "engine flush treatments". I know first hand they can be a double edged sword, especially with coolant systems. I had a friend who ran a coolant flush through his car and it developed a coolant leak afterwards in the radiator. Seems that some of the corrosion in the system was preventing the smaller pinhole leaks.

I have always kept to a fairly strict maintenance routine with all my cars and I haven't had a problem. My 1996 Holden Commodore is approaching the 240,000km mark (but is off the road now as i am replacing the V6 with a V8) but the engine still works perfectly fine.

Last year we purchased a 1993 Pajero with 66,000kms on the clock, first thing i did was change all the fluids and filters and greased all the points underneath. As far as a "flush" all i do is:

1. Dump out the old oil
2. Change the oil filter(s)
3. Pour in some cheap oil (warehouse etc) at the same viscosity
4. Take it for a run around the block to get it up to temp again
5. Dump out the oil again
5a. (Optional) repeat steps 3-5 again if the original oil is really bad
6. Change the filter
7. Fill with premium oil again.

I have never liked the idea of an additive that breaks down oil sludge, how can you ever be certain that you have removed all traces of the additive before you add the fresh oil in??

If you are really keen though, you can always lift the rocker covers (easier if you have a V6 or V8 RWD) and carefully clean up there, and if you are really keen proceed on to cleaning the valley as well. That is something that can be done while the engine is still in the car.

Batman

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#1319518 8-Jun-2015 16:22

Thanks again guys

Batman

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#1319697 8-Jun-2015 20:30

question: someone said tune up the engine. in a modern engine there's not much to tune is there? also, if (not sure yes/no) it is difficult to access the spark plugs, is there any harm in not replacing them

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