Smoke bomb Accuras

I've seen quite a few Accuras (older models) that appear to burn oil
quite badly. Was this some sort of design problem, or do the used ones
just attract the sort of owners who just drive them into the ground
without maintenance?

Another observation: Just this morning, I got stuck behind one that was
putting out some pretty thick blue clouds. After following it through a
few stops and finally watching it accelerate down an on-ramp, something
struck me as odd. The quantity of smoke doesn't seem to depend on the
vehicle's speed or throttle setting. It was always the same amount of
smoke. What sort of failure might cause this kind of consumption?

--
Paul Hovnanian
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On Mon, 15 Aug 2005, Paul Hovnanian P.E. wrote:

> I've seen quite a few Accuras (older models) that appear to burn oil
> quite badly. Was this some sort of design problem, or do the used ones
> just attract the sort of owners who just drive them into the ground
> without maintenance?

Impossible. Optical illusion. Hallucination. Hondas are perfect and stay
that way forever.

> Another observation: Just this morning, I got stuck behind one that was
> putting out some pretty thick blue clouds. After following it through a
> few stops and finally watching it accelerate down an on-ramp, something
> struck me as odd. The quantity of smoke doesn't seem to depend on the
> vehicle's speed or throttle setting. It was always the same amount of
> smoke. What sort of failure might cause this kind of consumption?

An oil leak onto a hot exhaust component.

American cars are the best. 2005 Pontiac Sunfire, 2005 Ford Thunderbird,
2006 GM Hydrogene Hydra

Paul Hovnanian P.E. wrote:

> I've seen quite a few Accuras (older models) that appear to burn oil
> quite badly. Was this some sort of design problem, or do the used ones
> just attract the sort of owners who just drive them into the ground
> without maintenance?
>
> Another observation: Just this morning, I got stuck behind one that was
> putting out some pretty thick blue clouds. After following it through a
> few stops and finally watching it accelerate down an on-ramp, something
> struck me as odd. The quantity of smoke doesn't seem to depend on the
> vehicle's speed or throttle setting. It was always the same amount of
> smoke. What sort of failure might cause this kind of consumption?
>


"Constant" smoking, or smoking that appears much worse right after
extended idling is usually related to exaust valve stem seal leakage.
The Mitsubishi v6s used in Chrysler minivans are classic (although
extreme) examples, because their valve stem seals would drop right out
of the aluminum head.

As for why you see smoking Acuras more than other brands- are you SURE
you do? Or have you just gotten sensitized after noticing a few? I
"notice" tons of smoking Mitsubishis, but I admittedly trigger on them
because I know what junk that V6 was.

I'm sure all the Consumer Reports aficianados will pounce on me, but I
have always felt and STILL feel that Japanese cars are essentially
disposable vehicles. They're engineered to perform QUITE well and VERY
reliably for order-of 150,000 miles, but after that all bets are off.
They're just not built for long endurance. Light weight parts, lots of
aluminum alloys, limited casting thicknesses, no excess material for
machining- everything about them just screams "one use only."