ICEMAN666

As an owner of an older Prelude (with 310K on the odometer), I understand your resistance to scrap it. The blue smoke is definitely oil burning. Having had that issue, it your problem is most likely related to any one or a combination of the following: rings/seals/header.

As for the decision to scrap or not to scrap, I would not compare the repair cost to the FMV of the vehicle. Because that is a no brainer, and does not represent an apples to apples comparison.

You should really be focusing on the repair cost of the problem and suspected upcoming problems (amortized over the period you plan on retaining the car) versus the cost to replace the car with another car (used or new) over the same period.

For me, every time I do this analysis, I end up deciding to keep my Prelude with the understanding that (for a beater/daily driver) its a better option that buying someone else's headaches (the devil you know versus the devil you don't).

That said, the sentimental value of my Prelude is high. That coupled with the joy of not having a car payment is priceless. Well, maybe not priceless since my automatic transmission is starting to go. . .

Good Luck!