Oil Consumption

[BockinBboy]

...its different than your typical oil thread... maybe? 

I have an '03 Honda Accord.  Just turned 160k miles yesterday, nearly all highway miles if that makes a difference... Anyway, she eats oil unlike any other vehicle I have owned.  I have to pour almost 2 full quarts of oil into her before the regular oil change interval of 3k miles everytime, no exaggeration.  She is parked in a garage in the same spot everyday, and parked in the same spot in my garage every night.. Never have seen a drop of oil since I have owned it at 100k miles.

Is this within a normal amount of oil consumption?  I have to buy extra quarts of oil to keep in the trunk, and a 5 quart to keep on the work bench just to keep her topped up every time I fill my gas... which is 2-3 times a week.  I can't complain on anything else with the vehicle, as I have never had any issues (other than replacing tires, brakes, and fluids when recommended).  My mileage is average 32mpgs even.  The Honda dealer just basically told me to deal with since they couldn't find any leaks, and there weren't any other issues...

Comments? Suggestions? Concerns?  I'm open, so long as this doesn't become an Aussie farm thread! 

- Bboy

[jestercinti]

It's either being burned, or mixing with coolant...but you'd know if it mixed with the coolant if the oil was milky/frothy.

Had a 1989 Accord once with 200K+ miles.  Ate oil too, but never really fouled the plugs.  I'd just live with it if it's not leaking everywhere.

[gsJack]

When the modern OHV engines came out starting with the 49 Olds and followed by Chevy, Ford, etc in the early 50's we were told a quart of oil per 1000 miles was normal usage, noticeably greater than previous flat head designs.  Valve seal leakage was the reason for the increased oil usage but the seals have been improved greatly since then.

Our GS500 bikes seem to self convert into 500 cc oil pumps somewhere past 50k miles or so if still used for high speed commute/travel.  That's mostly a matter of worn pistons/rings in the loose fit of an air cooled engine I think.

You might want to check for valve seal leakage if you're really concerned on your 160k mile Accord but I wouldn't be too worried about it if your not bothered by checking the oil every time you get gas and adding a quart as needed.  Changing oil every 3-4k miles our 94 Century V6 took it's first quart of oil at around 100k miles and we used it until 156k miles and replaced it with an Elantra mostly because of appearance not milage.

[weedahoe]

As said before, I would say it is normal for an engine with 160K on it. Thats a lot of miles and a lot of internal wear.

[jestercinti]

My 2002 Mazda protege burns oil.  It has 198,000 or so miles on the clock.  I think it uses a quart every 5000 miles. 

You can always get another car...but then it will be something else like an O2 sensor or a check engine light.

[mustangGT90210]

Leave the car running and start smelling around the engine. My best shot in the dark tells me it's the valve cover, because any oil that comes out there will get burned off immediately. My  truck has a 187k on it and still does good with oil! Coolant on the other hand, it has an appetite for that and I'm not sure why.

[BockinBboy]

Hmm, I have noticed it does smell like burnt oil around the top of the engine... I was checking the oil and figured it was the actual oil that smelled since I thought the engine was consuming it... I'll look/smell a little closer when I get a chance this weekend. 

I almost hope its something like this, because I'm soooo tired of dumping quarts of oil into it... One of these days I'm going to forget or something will come up and it will get too low on oil, and I'll be out a daily driver...  The next car I get will be one that my unborn child will learn to drive, so I'm not quite ready to send this Honda on to a lesser life...

- Bboy

[bombsquad83]

My 05 Murano with 80k burns oil at about the same rate as your accord.  Sadly it's done this since day 1 of buying it used at 60k miles 2 years ago.  It's never gotten worse, so I deal with it.  It was the wife's choice of car so I feel bad telling her we need to get rid of it because it performs ok otherwise and it's really comfy.

Apparently this problem is common on Murano's.  Something about the valve cover passages getting gummed up maybe?  It burns much more on short trips than long.  We drove all the way to Denver and back and it didn't burn much at all.

[Paulcet]

I have had 2 '91 Accords.  The last one had over 200k miles when I sold it.  Burned a little oil, dripped a lot.  Cam shaft seals, crank shaft seals, valve cover gasket.  I'd say that if you don't have drips on the floor it is burning in the cylinders.  Some will burn on the exhaust manifold if the valve cover gasket is leaking -- but not a quart in 1500 miles. 

If it was me, I'd just put oil in it.  You can buy a lot of oil for what a valve guide replacement would cost.  Valve cover gasket might be worth replacing though.  Easy.

[yamahonkawazuki]

My 2002 Mazda protege burns oil.  It has 198,000 or so miles on the clock.  I think it uses a quart every 5000 miles. 

You can always get another car...but then it will be something else like an O2 sensor or a check engine light.

before my crown vic hit the tree, it had almost 300k on it. ( 4.6 sohc) i averaged a quart every 2 weeks. 1 had a tad of a leaky cooler ring. which i fixed. but i drove ALOT averaging 22k per month.

[Kijona]

1996 Geo Prizm (Toyota Corolla 1.6L). Burned/leaked about twice that amount of oil. I put what I had left of my 20w-50 from my KLR650 in it and it stopped, or so it appears.

Not saying that's what you should do but if you really don't care about the car...try putting something absurdly heavy in it.

You could also try lucas.

[BockinBboy]

Okay, so I checked good and hard yesterday... And nothing around the valve cover... In fact, i jacked it up and rolled under it and searched everywhere and came up with nada...
It does look like some oil was spilled on top like someone didnt use a funnel bc there is a little bit of residue on the plastic there and that area around it is probably where the burnt oil smell came from when I was checking the oil level.

Thanks for everyone weighing in on this. I guess I was just wishing it would be something I could fix. But it is what it is, so ill keep the reminder in my phone to check/add oil when I roll up to the pump.

- Bboy

[Kijona]

Okay, so I checked good and hard yesterday... And nothing around the valve cover... In fact, i jacked it up and rolled under it and searched everywhere and came up with nada...
It does look like some oil was spilled on top like someone didnt use a funnel bc there is a little bit of residue on the plastic there and that area around it is probably where the burnt oil smell came from when I was checking the oil level.

Thanks for everyone weighing in on this. I guess I was just wishing it would be something I could fix. But it is what it is, so ill keep the reminder in my phone to check/add oil when I roll up to the pump.

- Bboy

As I said...try a step up in weight (20w-50 is a bit much obviously), and/or add some Lucas. I've heard a lot of people swear by that Lucas stuff.

[bombsquad83]

I tried adding Lucas oil stop leak at one point, and it didn't help.

[Kijona]

I tried adding Lucas oil stop leak at one point, and it didn't help.

Well, it may be more far gone than thought. Though in my KLR I noticed it burned significantly less when I switched to 20w-50 from 10w-40. Your car probably takes 5w-30, you might try switching to 10w-30 or similar.

[bombsquad83]

I tried adding Lucas oil stop leak at one point, and it didn't help.

Well, it may be more far gone than thought. Though in my KLR I noticed it burned significantly less when I switched to 20w-50 from 10w-40. Your car probably takes 5w-30, you might try switching to 10w-30 or similar.

I don't doubt that it would help in some or most cases.  Probably depends on the mechanism causing the consumption.