I have a 98 Protege LX, 5 speed, with 135,000 miles on it. I just had a blown head gasket fixed (exhaust in cooling system) and now I am burning oil. It doesn't smoke a lot, but you can see it when excellerating. My guess would be a bad piston ring. My question is any ideas on how long I can keep drive it (if I keep the oil full). With the money I spent to have the head gasket replaced, I don't want to just quit driving it. But I don't want to spend the big bucks to have the engine replaced/rebuilt. My gas mileage hasn't noticeably changed. Can I drive it indefinately or will it probably crap out in the next few hundred miles?

 

If you keep the oil "changed" and w/a fresh filter, and keep the level full inbetween you can drive it till it blows.Why not?
BTW: The word is accelerate.

 

yep, technically, you are just lubricating the top end of the motor if you are burning oil. if the compression gets too far apart across the cylinders, you can have some problems keeping it running, but you won't cause damage any faster by driving it than you would just parking it.sounds like you could have warped the head when the head gasket got blown. did you have some machine work done on the head? i always recommend milling the head when you blow a head gasket.

 

Take back to the shop that did the head gasket. The probably have to remill the head. Either that or they did not do it in the first place.

 

True!
If you had someone else do it and it sounds like you did, in most parts of the country at least, they are required to warranty their work for a minimum of 30 days.