njaccord

First off let me introduce myself. My name is Jode and I have always been an American car guy.......I've owned plenty of Jeep CJ's, American pickup's etc..............I never even considerd an import until I met my wife (18 years ago) . She had always loved Honda's and we bought a new 1989 (in '92) Prelude she had for years.

Well working on the Prelude and later Civic's and two accords, really changed my mind about honda's. I realized they were well thought out, high quality vehicles. No wasted space, not unnesesary gizmo's just well engineered vehicles.

We sold our'95 prelude at 225,00 miles and it still ran likee a champ but upgraded to our current 2000 accord because of more room for our soon arrving second child. ( maybe that was a mistake) (The car not the kid! )

That brings us to my latest and most puzzling issue. She currently owns a 2000 accord lx Sedan with the 4 cylinder motor. We have owned it since new. It has 127,000 miles. All service( including timing belts) have always been done promptly.

About 3 moths ago I began to notice oil in the radiator over flow tank. My first thought was a cracked tranny cooler. So I replaced the Radiator, lines and flushed the system clean.

No dice. After about a week of drving I realized that it was in fact engine oil, not tranny fliud in the radiator. I immeadiatly start thinking it's a bad head gasket. (Funny though, no coolant in the oil) I lost about a half a quart per 500 miles driving.

Having two little kids and a new business, I had to farm this job out to a trusted local mechanic. He pulled the head and said the gasket looked fine. So he thought a cracked block or head was the culprit. and we had heard of some issues wih honda blocks of this vintage.

He recommended sending it to a specialty shop to get a rebuilt motor. Hesitantly I aggreed/ 2 weeks and $4500 later I got the car back. After another 500 miles ....the newly flushed radiator is again filled with about 8 oz of engine oil, with a corresponding loss indicated on the dipstick. What gives? The block and head look new.as do all the valve train components i can see.

The engine has a great warranty, but I am wondering it it is even the issue?

( As far as i know another long block was used, not my original one...........) Maybe the new head-block seal is compromised?

Is there anywhere else on this vehicle where oil and coolant can comingle? Intake? Oil pump or cooler etc..........I didn't think there is , but am really frustrated to the problem and can't keep throwing $ at it blindly..........

I am going back to the shop tommorw but am at a loss of where to start!? any thoughts would be appreciatted, Thanks ,Jode

cjo_28

Hi, Jode. Dude, that's a long post, but at least you know how to use paragraphs.

The short answer is she needs a new engine. The block is porous near the oil passage from the oil filter to the cylinder head.

If you want to test it, you will need to remove the cylinder head, plug the oil ports and apply air pressure. You will see the air bubbles.

Good guess on the transmission cooler, by the way. But on Hondas, the coolant will usually go the other way, into the transmission. Not sure why this is, but every cracked tranny cooler I've seen has done this.

cjo_28

LOL. Guess I skipped over the part about replacing the engine. See what happens with long posts?

Maybe it's just residue? That oil from the old engine is in the heater core, all rubber hoses, etc. Technically they should have replaced all rubber components in the cooling system due to oil contamination.

If that's not it, you have to take a look at that rebuilt engine.

njaccord

Thanks, Yea , I was thinking the samw about the heater core etc................i've taken about 8 oz out of the overflow bottle in 500 miles since the rebuid ..seems like alot for residue. I'll let you guys know what i find out today...thanks! Jode

GhostAccord

Have you tired pressurizing the coolant system and looking for where it bleeds green? Reverse the flow of oil and it should show you where the crack/leak is.

njaccord

No I haven't..it's at the shop now.....waiting to hear from my mechanic. I'll mention your suggestion.


Around here "bleeding Green" is a term of endearment for Philly Eagles Fans.........LOL!

njaccord

update...mechanic thinks it's residual oil in the system.......wants us to drive it for another week......we'll see...............8 oz just seems like alot of residual..........

Prluna21

hey... i had that same problem with my 02 accord se.... I had oil inside my radiator and radiator fluid in the oil... sucks... i swap a junkyard engine like two mongths ago... i did like 3 radiator flushes and i still have a little oil on the coolent...

dtapia

hmm im still wondering if they just rebuilt your old motor and by mistake over looked a small fracture under the cam shaft ? had the same problem on a 97 accord lx and the shop that performed the rebuild over looked a very small hair line crack in the head after searching stumbled of a hair line crack. although not a real common thing but does happen. could be casting flaws and over time the leak decided to show its ugly face .

njaccord

I got the car back yesterday.........he flushed the radiator and refilled........after a few miles seems like a new oil still accumulating in top of radiator.

My mechanic though wants to see how it will do in a weeks time, I'm set to take it back friday.

Dtapia.......I thought the same thing, but he assured me it was a different , already rebuilt, head and block that were installed...........

We'll see at the end of the week........

cjo_28

Maybe you're just extremely unlucky and got a rebuild with a porous block. If wasn't a common problem, but I've seen a half dozen or so leak from the same spot and Honda's Techline knows about the problem; they told me where to look.

njaccord

Well went back to the mechanic today........left the car for an hour and he did a cursory flush of the cooling system. More oil about 5 oz.................kinda fed up at this point, but still being cool headed.

I talked to one fella that mentioned the posibility of a cracked oil cooler . He said that it should be on the block, under the oil filter. I looked at this area and it seems like the filter just mouts to a protrusion on the block. Does anyone know for certain whether the 2000 4cylinder motor has a built in oil cooler? If so I think it is definatley worth checking.

Also any good idea's as to ho to try to flush more oil out of the system.......boil tank , regular store bought radiator flush?

cjo_28

There's not a oil cooler on that engine. The guy is thinking of the older Accord engines.

njaccord

Thanks........!

YeuEmMaiMai

I was not aware that the F23 engines has porous blocks, I thoguht it was only the J series motors? learn something new every day.....lol

KhmerX

Hey Man,

I got the same problem on my 2001 Accord. I brought it into Honda service for oil change in April. They found oil in the radiator and reservoir. I paid $175.12 for them to diagnose the problem. They said that the Head Mechanic looked as best as they good and came up with 4 possible solutions.

Here they are from cheapest to expensive at Honda Dealership:

1) Replace radiator and flush heater core and replace all hoses about $475 (Says that it might fix.)
2) Replace head gasket about $1850 (Says that it is more likely this but no guarantees.)
3) Replace engine with used $3800 (This should fix it because it's a different engine.)
4) Let's look at trading in vehicle so I can sell you a new or used car.

This is what I was told after 3 hours of waiting and after reading that you got a new engine I'm thinking anyone that has this issue is completely fukked.

rkmonty

Well. Many years later. My 2001 Honda Accord EX that has 208K miles has sprung an oil leak into the coolant reservoir and coolant is leaking into the oil. Noticed it when changing the oil. From what I can tell from these posts is sell the car for parts. this is crazy cause my previous 2001 Honda Accord has 290K with no issues.