I have an 01 ex accord coupe manual and it has the dreaded porous block. I want to replace my engine but I don’t want to buy another dreaded engine of doom (f23a1 vtec 4 cylinder sohc) does anyone know of an engine I could swap for it without too much difficulty? Maybe the H22?

 

Oh interesting. What the heck is the porous block?!

 

This is my block:

F23a1
3004293

 

Ahh okay bear with me lol so the porous is a bitch not gonna lie. So what happens is during the hardening process on engines, they cook them in a kiln, just like pottery, but the porous is when the center of the engine doesn’t harden completely or fully correct, usually due to the engine not sitting completely flat while it’s cooking. From my understanding, over time (normally around 120,000-150,000 miles), the engine starts to develop teeny tiny holes and it pushes oil into your coolant. 99 percent of the time mechanics diagnose the problem as a head gasket because when you open your radiator cap it’s a nasty brown milkshake looking sludge inside. There are other signs to show a head gasket and it never happens. The only permanent fix is to replace your engine or block. Every single person I’ve come across with this has had their mechanic say head gasket and a month after having it replaced, was doing the exact same thing. I keep mine running well by doing a coolant flush about once a month till I buy this engine I found.

 

Never in life did I hear of honda having casting or curing problems with any engine part, especially a 1990s honda engine. First i'm hearing about F23 issues, given that F22 and F20 are so bulletproof reliable.

I may be wrong, but this sounds very... nissan-esque lol. Reason I say nissan, their QR series of engine literally gets pitted if you use the wrong coolant.

 

That would be nice if it wasn’t real but it totally is lol it’s the models from 98-02. If you look up porous block in this site alone you’ll find a lot of people that have had the problem. Most think it’s a head gasket. I feel terrible for them for not knowing