I own a 1997 Honda CRV with 343,000 miles on it, far and away the best car I have ever owned. Still getting 25mpg highway (100,000 miles ago it was 27 mpg). Am starting to get a puff of blue smoke from the tailpipe when I start up again after being stopped at a traffic light, or after the car idles for a few minutes in traffic. Otherwise, no blue smoke and perfect performance. This happens only when the car is warm, never on starting cold. I use 5W-20 oil changed every 3K miles. Using perhaps a quart of oil now every 1000 miles. A higher grade (30W) oil was suggested to me, or Alemite CD2 additive, or a new (genuine Honda) PCV valve. Even when there is a momentary puff of blue smoke, performance is perfect. Any ideas??? I just want to keep the car on the road for one more year until the new 2012 CRVs are available...

 

One comment, I am in Massachusetts so want to be sure IF someone suggests a higher (30W) weight oil the car will still start easily in winter...

 

sounds like a combination of high miles and pcv. put in a new pcv and see what happens. probably needs piston rings at this point though. recomended oil weight is 5w30 so you should be running that reguardless

 

The specified oil viscosity for all '97-01 CR-Vs was 5W-30. Honda didn't specify 5W-20 for the CR-V until 2002.

5W-30 is not going to prevent your car from starting on a cold morning.

The car is burning oil, most likely because the oil control rings are seized to the pistons. This is where the blue smoke is coming from. Since you're only consuming about a quart every 1000 miles, it's not a problem as long as you continue topping off the oil on a regular basis and do not run the engine low on oil. Just keep driving it.

 

Id personally pull the motor and rering it and new gaskets they she'll be good to go for another 300k+

 

this gets my vote.

 

even burning oil you should get another year out of it. if it doesnt feel sluggish then i wouldnt do anything. def switch to 5-w30 cause thats what is the manual. my buddy ran his 1st gen integra for 2 years and had to put a quart in every week. approx 300-600 miles. you can always do a jdm motor for like $750 from hmotorsonline.com or you can get a junkyard motor for about $500. goodluck! its good to see a honda last that long and not be hacked up! or just discarded.

 

I don't see any point to re-ringing a 340,000-mile engine that is only burning 1 quart of 5W-20 every 1000 miles and otherwise running fine. It's not worth the money or effort, and you potentially open up a can of worms when you go tearing into it.

Just keep driving it.

 

Cosigned.

 

The smoke after idling is most likely your intake valve stem seals leaking...
The 1 qt every 1k miles is most likely your oil control rings sticking...
These are fairly common on higher mileage engines. Repairing either of these will be fairly expensive due to the amount of labor.
What kind of oil are you using? Im assuming non-synthetic since you change it every 3k miles. Either way, thats very impressive mileage!