theLemur

Every 2000-3000 miles after an oil change my oil seems to run low, and I don't see a leak or see oil burning smoke. The low oil light doesnt come on. When I hold out a gear longer (its a 5 speed) it hesitates and loses power slightly, although it will ultimately rev to the redline. Someone told me that the valve timing requires oil to function properly, and if the oil is low it will through it off. Is this true? The car has 160k miles on it, and is the 2.4 4cyl.

Thanks!

theLemur

Any ideas?

Crashmaster

There are a few issues with your post. It's difficult to understand a performance problem related to 2 or 3K after an oil change? Doesn't make sense. Then you stated that your vehicle has 160,000 miles on it and your taking it to the redline?

A few questions, I would have to ask are:
1) What oil are you using and how often are you changing it?
2) Are you the original owner of the vehicle or did you purchase it used?
3) Has the vehicle been maintained regularly, tune ups, etc.?
4) How often do you take the engine to the redline?

The oil must be going somewhere. If it is not leaking it, it must be burning it. How does the back of the exhaust look? Is it sooty inside the exhaust? Burning that much oil could have adverse affects on the oxygen sensors. It would also have helped to give us full model and year of your vehicle.

94vtecmn

And to add to that ^, the VTEC engagement is oil pressure related. So if you are low on oil, it will act like it doesn't want to rev to redline depending on how low you are. And going into the VTEC rpm range a lot, from my experience, is an oil eater. That is because there are oil squirters in the lower end of the motor, that spray oil up under the pistons during high rpm revs, to lubricate everything properly, and the motor does use some oil when that happens. Just my experience.