6 months ago, i bought a 2010 Accord EX-L V6 sedan with 94k miles on the clock. The car was originally purchased at that same dealership and the previous owner had all maintenance and repairs done at that dealership. She even went as far as to have the battery and wipers changed at the dealership. The other day I was driving home and the CEL came on. The code thrown was P3400. After googling the code it came up with having to do with the VCM. First step was to check the oil. It was BONE DRY! I put oil in it and erased the code.

I took the car to the dealership and had the oil changed yesterday. I explained to the tech what had happened with the CEL and low oil. He said that Honda says it is normal for our V6’s to burn 1 quart of oil every 1,000 miles. I told him that’s crazy and he agreed but told me to watch the oil consumption and if I burn through more than that, then I should Persue the issue with Honda.

Good news is they inspected the car, of course, and found no leaks. He confirmed that the software update concerning the oil consumption was already performed on my car. The CEL has not come back on since I added the oil and cleared the code. Scary to think that I was so close to seizing the engine. But she still drives perfect (other than the slight shudder going into second gear which the Honda Techs could not feel) and she still sounds beautiful. Lesson learned.

But what are your thoughts on burning a quart of oil every 1,000 miles?