How much should it cost to do a valve job and replace seals in the block?

DALLASJACK

MEMBER
1992 HONDA ACCORD
240,000 MILES

My son's 92 Accord leaks from the back center of the engine. It has overheated several times, which has been fixed, but I think the heat has nuked the seals. It leaks oil into the distributor and may be leaking inside the timing belt housing.

What should it cost to fix this? Should it be ok to drive if he keeps oil in it? I would assume he could not do it himself, although he replaced the spark plug compartment seals and the head gasket.

The car has 30 compression in number 1 and 90 in the rest. It runs a little rough for a few seconds after rough start, then smooth. No oil in the tail pipe. No smoke. No oil in the radiator. Oil drips about every 6-7 seconds. Plugs, wires are new. Radiator new. Fuel pump new. AC cold. Tran a little weak but works.

1 Reply

JACOBANDNICKOLAS

MECHANIC
109,740 POSTS

It is really based on what all needs done to the head. You could expect to spend up to 600 for a valve job and seals.

As far as the compression, the cylinder with 30psi isn't running anymore. That is why it is rough. Even if it is firing, it won't produce as much power as the others.

Now for the oil leaks. Please keep in mind, oil does burn. If the engine is hot enough and the leak is bad enough, it can catch fire. So to say it is safe to run like that is hard for me to do. You need to inspect where it is leaking. Make sure it isn't hitting things like the EGR or the exhaust manifolds. That get extremely hot.

One last thought. The fact that you have basically a dead cylinder tells me that you may be getting raw fuel into the catalytic converter. That will eventually damage it too.