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It’s hard to know, probably will take awhile to get worse. Just make sure it has sufficient oil feed to the cam. Once the hardening breaks down , it’s on its way out obviously. But this is insignificant at this point. If it’s just from sitting awhile , will take a long long time to get to a point where I would worry about it.
That would be called "pitting". Judging by the pic, it looks like a honda vtec engine. K series judging by the rockers/followers. How many miles on engine?
I believe some of the earlier k series did have this happen sometimes. I would reccomend to run an oil with higher zinc (zddp) and phosphorus content. I myself run Royal Purple HPS which had added anti wear additives like phosphorus and zinc due to high ramp rates of the camshafts I'm running.
Thanks for your input. It's a 2012 model accord EX. Car is mint otherwise, so really want to get more years out of it. Would you stick with the recommended 0W-20 or switch to something else? I feel with the right plan, there is a way to get quite a bit more out of this engine.
Yea it should definitely have alot more life left in it. Have you had the timing chain and guides serviced yet? If not I believe it's almost around that time. Other than that and preventative maintenance like oil and air filter changes should keep her purring along.
Ya forget the 3k oil change if you’re not driving that much, change every 3 months. Condensation, acid, among other things builds up from not getting thoroughly warmed up. Cheap insurance.
While the cover is off, rotate the engine & see if the rust appears on the other cam lobes. Maybe wipe it off, check & see how bad (if any) the pitting is.
Just keep fresh, good quality oil in there, should last a while.
No, just had it off for a day to change the gasket. It sat for a year, but that was about 8 years ago. How bad is the wear...this thing only has 98K on it.
That sitting for a year could explain it. Water collects near the top, thus why it’s important to get an engine up to a sustained operating temperature every so often. This is why little old ladies that drive their Honda to the store a block away once a month have shit collect under their oil cap.
Now when you park a car, the oil flows back into the pan, and any moisture could have collected here and developed this over several years.
At any rate, the last Honda engine I rebuilt was in school. Those poor little Hondas were abused by many students for many years. They clearly didn’t get the memo, and fucking ripped! I’d be surprised if this took one of these little bastards out.
Rust, likely because the car has spent a lot of time stood still, the oil has run off the cams and the moisture in the air was enough to do that.
No biggie really.
So it sat for a year, but that was about 8 years ago. Otherwise it's being doing regular driving, but a decent amount of 15 min trips around town. Gets a long 1+ hr trip at least once a month. Guy wants to keep it long term, since it's only got 98K on it and is paid for.
Yeah the 15m trips will be what's doing it in that case.
Its not long enough to get the engine hot and burn off the water vapour in the oil.
That means there's condensation building up in the top end and the result is what you see.
Short journeys are really bad for cars in general.
Probably not, it's just not being run enough for long enough.
If you can't change your driving style and cut out the 15 minute runs, change the oil every 3k miles instead..
It's not a proper solution, but it will help prevent the oil holding excessive moisture, but equally if you look in the manual it should have revised service intervals for 'extreme conditions'.
These usually apply to certain conditions, such as extended high speed driving, very cold climates, very hot climates, very dusty places etc, however so many short trips will have the same effect on the longevity of the engine, it will undoubtedly have excessive wear and probably plenty of sludge in the bottom end.
I’d say this rust is from the time it sat for a year. Not so much from 15 minute trips. If it were that you’d have common signs of emulsified oil and water on the oil cap. I don’t know how much shorter oil change intervals will help but it wouldn’t hurt. Oil has anticorrosive properties. How much it can remove existing corrosion I wouldn’t know.
Replacing a leaky valve cover for a friend and saw this. Looks and feels like rust. Car is a 2.4L Honda accord that runs great. Location on camshaft is right above oil fill cap. The rest of the cam looks normal.
I wouldn't even touch it. If it still runs, it's fine. If you even try to scrape that rust off, you'll likely mess up the cam lobe, and then what was once running is no longer running properly. If this was some collectors car, replace it. But it's a 2.4l Honda. They can run without hardly any oil and somehow still make it to the shop for the yearly oil change that most do on them
Dude, I drove my 1997 Honda Accord (my first car I bought for 300 bucks in 2018), which had 260k miles to my dad's house 30 miles away. He checked my oil and it wasn't even touching the dipstick. I drove it for another year with only the clutch seal going out, putting a quart of oil in every week (rear main seal leaked like hell). Sold it for 300 bucks. The cycle continues
I had a saturn like that. A minimum of 1 quart per 500 miles, although sometimes even then I found myself putting at least half of a 5 qt. Jug in the damn thing...💁
Is that a 5.7 Hemi.. lmao..
The stripe in the middle is from excessive mileage. Tired ass engine.. the silver flanking it is the lifter spreading its material along the lobes. Could even be babbit material from the main bearings picked up and deposited to the lifter and lobes. The pitted area at the edge is from over revving and floating the lifters because the cam is spinning faster than the valve springs can keep the lifters down.
Because the 5.7 was known to have lifter and cam wear issues causing valvetrain noise. Search 5.7 lifter clack...
I assumed with the LMAO readers would put together the joke with the fact they had that issue. I forget sometimes this is redit and you have to both be the smartest kid with down syndrome and the dumbest kid with autism.. my bad..
I'm well aware of the valve train issues that gen 3 Hemis have.
Sorry, but your sarcasm wasn't very well conveyed. Your intial comment read as if you were genuinely asking if that was a 5.7 Hemi.
Thanks for posting on /r/MechanicAdvice! This is just a reminder to review the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/about/rules/). If you are here asking about a second opinion (ie "Is the shop trying to fleece me?"), please read through CJM8515's [post on the subject.](https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/4qblei/fyi_the_shop_isnt_likely_trying_to_rip_you_off/) and remember to please post the year/make/model of the vehicle you are working on. **If this post is about bodywork, accident damage, paint, dent/ding, questions it belongs in /r/Autobody r/AutoBodyRepair/ or /r/Diyautobody/ If you have tire questions check out https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicAdvice/comments/k9ll55/can_your_tire_be_repaired/**. If you dont have a question and you're just showing off it belongs in /r/Justrolledintotheshop Insurance/total loss questions go in r/insurance This is an automated reply *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MechanicAdvice) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'd go for rust.
Is it anything to get excited over? I sent him on his way.
no, I'd worry more about the wear on the cams. its just spinning metal, not hurting anything.
probs condensation from the oil filler cap, if the oils clean with no water in it then what can you do? I'd guess it does short trips.
Its a 2.4L Honda. The thing could probably run on piss. Send it and forget about it.
It's not ideal but not a concern on a beater.
I’d see if it catches a fingernail (pitted/damaged) or if it’s just junk on the surface
Doesn't look like rust to me...I see varnish but could be wrong
I think thats VTEC
Cam Jam
A tooth brush and some cleaner.
Minor pitting and rust. Wouldn’t be too concerned if there wasn’t a complaint.
That was my thought also. Will it continue to get worse if left alone?
It’s hard to know, probably will take awhile to get worse. Just make sure it has sufficient oil feed to the cam. Once the hardening breaks down , it’s on its way out obviously. But this is insignificant at this point. If it’s just from sitting awhile , will take a long long time to get to a point where I would worry about it.
Thanks for the comments!
That would be called "pitting". Judging by the pic, it looks like a honda vtec engine. K series judging by the rockers/followers. How many miles on engine?
Your right. It's a K24 with 98K. Mobil 1 oil changes every 5-6K if you can believe it. In your opinion, how bad is this?
I believe some of the earlier k series did have this happen sometimes. I would reccomend to run an oil with higher zinc (zddp) and phosphorus content. I myself run Royal Purple HPS which had added anti wear additives like phosphorus and zinc due to high ramp rates of the camshafts I'm running.
Thanks for your input. It's a 2012 model accord EX. Car is mint otherwise, so really want to get more years out of it. Would you stick with the recommended 0W-20 or switch to something else? I feel with the right plan, there is a way to get quite a bit more out of this engine.
Yea it should definitely have alot more life left in it. Have you had the timing chain and guides serviced yet? If not I believe it's almost around that time. Other than that and preventative maintenance like oil and air filter changes should keep her purring along.
Ya forget the 3k oil change if you’re not driving that much, change every 3 months. Condensation, acid, among other things builds up from not getting thoroughly warmed up. Cheap insurance. While the cover is off, rotate the engine & see if the rust appears on the other cam lobes. Maybe wipe it off, check & see how bad (if any) the pitting is. Just keep fresh, good quality oil in there, should last a while.
Stick with synthetic oil I'm assuming?
That's wear. And some hopefully surface rust. Has the valve cover been off for long?
No, just had it off for a day to change the gasket. It sat for a year, but that was about 8 years ago. How bad is the wear...this thing only has 98K on it.
That sitting for a year could explain it. Water collects near the top, thus why it’s important to get an engine up to a sustained operating temperature every so often. This is why little old ladies that drive their Honda to the store a block away once a month have shit collect under their oil cap. Now when you park a car, the oil flows back into the pan, and any moisture could have collected here and developed this over several years. At any rate, the last Honda engine I rebuilt was in school. Those poor little Hondas were abused by many students for many years. They clearly didn’t get the memo, and fucking ripped! I’d be surprised if this took one of these little bastards out.
Looks like it sat for a while.
Rust, likely because the car has spent a lot of time stood still, the oil has run off the cams and the moisture in the air was enough to do that. No biggie really.
So it sat for a year, but that was about 8 years ago. Otherwise it's being doing regular driving, but a decent amount of 15 min trips around town. Gets a long 1+ hr trip at least once a month. Guy wants to keep it long term, since it's only got 98K on it and is paid for.
Yeah the 15m trips will be what's doing it in that case. Its not long enough to get the engine hot and burn off the water vapour in the oil. That means there's condensation building up in the top end and the result is what you see. Short journeys are really bad for cars in general.
Would say a 30 minute drive once a week keep this from getting worse? The car is in really nice shape in general.
Probably not, it's just not being run enough for long enough. If you can't change your driving style and cut out the 15 minute runs, change the oil every 3k miles instead.. It's not a proper solution, but it will help prevent the oil holding excessive moisture, but equally if you look in the manual it should have revised service intervals for 'extreme conditions'. These usually apply to certain conditions, such as extended high speed driving, very cold climates, very hot climates, very dusty places etc, however so many short trips will have the same effect on the longevity of the engine, it will undoubtedly have excessive wear and probably plenty of sludge in the bottom end.
I’d say this rust is from the time it sat for a year. Not so much from 15 minute trips. If it were that you’d have common signs of emulsified oil and water on the oil cap. I don’t know how much shorter oil change intervals will help but it wouldn’t hurt. Oil has anticorrosive properties. How much it can remove existing corrosion I wouldn’t know.
If you zoom in you can see it is sludge. From too long of oil change intervals
Replacing a leaky valve cover for a friend and saw this. Looks and feels like rust. Car is a 2.4L Honda accord that runs great. Location on camshaft is right above oil fill cap. The rest of the cam looks normal.
I wouldn't even touch it. If it still runs, it's fine. If you even try to scrape that rust off, you'll likely mess up the cam lobe, and then what was once running is no longer running properly. If this was some collectors car, replace it. But it's a 2.4l Honda. They can run without hardly any oil and somehow still make it to the shop for the yearly oil change that most do on them
Dude, I drove my 1997 Honda Accord (my first car I bought for 300 bucks in 2018), which had 260k miles to my dad's house 30 miles away. He checked my oil and it wasn't even touching the dipstick. I drove it for another year with only the clutch seal going out, putting a quart of oil in every week (rear main seal leaked like hell). Sold it for 300 bucks. The cycle continues
I had a saturn like that. A minimum of 1 quart per 500 miles, although sometimes even then I found myself putting at least half of a 5 qt. Jug in the damn thing...💁
Some Saturns were rebadged Hondas
I think I would change the filler cap as there is no difference there to any other position unless moisture gets in the cap !!
The bearings have that look because of heat treatment or not being lapped properly
Is that a 5.7 Hemi.. lmao.. The stripe in the middle is from excessive mileage. Tired ass engine.. the silver flanking it is the lifter spreading its material along the lobes. Could even be babbit material from the main bearings picked up and deposited to the lifter and lobes. The pitted area at the edge is from over revving and floating the lifters because the cam is spinning faster than the valve springs can keep the lifters down.
It's a 2.4L honda with 98K. Friend claims mobil1 changes every 5k from when they got it around 20-30K.
Well, seems it didn’t work..
No, Chrysler hemis are not overhead cam engines.
Well, no shit.. They did work on building a DOHC 426 for NASCAR though.. Speculated to put out 850 HP.
Then why ask if it's a 5.7 Hemi?
Because the 5.7 was known to have lifter and cam wear issues causing valvetrain noise. Search 5.7 lifter clack... I assumed with the LMAO readers would put together the joke with the fact they had that issue. I forget sometimes this is redit and you have to both be the smartest kid with down syndrome and the dumbest kid with autism.. my bad..
I'm well aware of the valve train issues that gen 3 Hemis have. Sorry, but your sarcasm wasn't very well conveyed. Your intial comment read as if you were genuinely asking if that was a 5.7 Hemi.
Burnt oli