TopGunSi

I have a 99 Civic Si with 74000 miles. I use Mobile 1 5w-30. I have been burning about 1+ quart every 1000 miles, so I took the car into the Honda dealership and they did a leak-down test and a compression test. All the tests came back within spec.

The service manager talked to a honda field engineer, and now I have to take my car in for an oil level reading every 500 miles for the next 3000 miles. If it surpasses their quota for oil consumption, Honda will offer a tear down of the motor (under warranty--honda certified 7 years/100K miles powertrain) in order to find the problem. Then the field engineer will come in and inspect the motor and see what needs to be fixed. From there they can determine what is covered under warranty.

All the internals are stock and I only have bolt-ons, so the service manager said nothing voids the warranty.

I'll let you know what the verdict is in about 3000 miles.

Has anybody else had this experience before? If so, what was your experience?

dwnthehatch

iTrader: (1)

I would try switching oils first. Dohc vtec honda motors are notorious for burning Mobil 1.

TopGunSi

Well the dealer put in regular grade oil this time. So only time will tell. The Mobile 1 didn't use to burn up that quick, so I'm thinking it's something more than just the oil itself, especially at 1qt/1000 miles.

hondadriver

yeah i have a similiar problem with my JDM 2nd gen b16a. I did a compression test and a leak down test, and they both came out fine. But I noticed that when i drive NORMAL (non vtec) then the oil level stays the same or ALITTLE, ALITTLE less. But when get on it and drive stupid, then I notice that it goes down some. Last time I checked I added 1/2 a quart at 1000 miles, and I use royal puple. I know that my engine is a JDM and you can't tell the mileage, but It had absolutly no sludge at all and under the valve cover eveything looked almost like new. What i mean is all the metal was lightly tanned. Becasue I remeber looking at my friends JDM 1st gen b16a the whole valve train was DARK BROWN. And I remeber when I bought my 98 lx the valve train was lightly tanned too. When it looks lightly tanned to me it just looks like the oil was changed often and the motor doesn't have much mileage on it. So I'm pretty sure I have a healthy engine. If your in vtec constantly then that could be your problem.

SirRevvs

I have a USDM 98 GSR engine in my 94 EJ1. I use Mobil 1 5W-30 just as you do and I have the same problem. As long as I'm nice to the car (4800 rpm and lower) the oil level stays just about perfect. BUt as soon as I start revving the engine to high RPM's (VTEC'n it y0!) then I too burn roughly about a quart every 1500 miles.

I think that MObil 1 is such a thin oil that maybe at higher RPM's it slips past the rings and burns up? NE way I don't think its anything unusual from the posts in this thread.

JDM99Hatch

Doesnt matter compression and leakdown dont always fine the problem, i promise you that your rings are fried. When you do an oil change is the oil black? and after you do a change check the color of the oil after 1 day. if its black your rings are gone.

logikalfury

i have a 94 ej2 with stock d15b7, 196,5xx miles, i burn about 2 quarts almost every two weeks. its fine up to about 5k rpm, then once its above 5k, all hell breaks loose, looks like a ******* fire starts in my exhaust....smoke galore...ive been told it smells lovely. but on subject, ive noticed most honda motors burn oil rather quickly, a friend of mine works at an oil change place, and says he sees a lot of honda vehicles come in within short periods of time that need an oil change.

good luck and hopefully they find a result in 3k miles.

Bond

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by logikalfury &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i have a 94 ej2 with stock d15b7, 196,5xx miles, i burn about 2 quarts almost every two weeks. its fine up to about 5k rpm, then once its above 5k, all hell breaks loose, looks like a ******* fire starts in my exhaust....smoke galore...ive been told it smells lovely. but on subject, ive noticed most honda motors burn oil rather quickly, a friend of mine works at an oil change place, and says he sees a lot of honda vehicles come in within short periods of time that need an oil change.

good luck and hopefully they find a result in 3k miles.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Holy ****! Take it easy on that poor little D. Your car has almost 200 xxxmiles on it (it's burning oil due to such high milage) and you rev a stock D15B7 above 5k! Damn! I have the same engine with only 102 xxxKm and I won't go over 3,500rpm. I honestly don't think a D15B7 can even handle going over 5k without blowing up. Seriously, anybody's stock D15 would burn oil if rev'ed over 5k.

SirRevvs

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bond &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Holy ****! Take it easy on that poor little D. Your car has almost 200 xxxmiles on it (it's burning oil due to such high milage) and you rev a stock D15B7 above 5k! Damn! I have the same engine with only 102 xxxKm and I won't go over 3,500rpm. I honestly don't think a D15B7 can even handle going over 5k without blowing up. Seriously, anybody's stock D15 would burn oil if rev'ed over 5k.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Chill f00 it's a Honda. Pour some water in that bitch and peel out and stuff.

Bond

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SirRevvs &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Chill f00 it's a Honda. Pour some water in that bitch and peel out and stuff.</TD></TR></TABLE>


Lol...yeah, I was just suprised that it wasn't blown into pieces with him crying over it...j/k.

hondadriver

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM99Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Doesnt matter compression and leakdown dont always fine the problem, i promise you that your rings are fried. When you do an oil change is the oil black? and after you do a change check the color of the oil after 1 day. if its black your rings are gone.</TD></TR></TABLE>


yeah I didn't check the oil a day after for the purpose that you posted above but I check the level a day after the change and I check it about every 2 weeks after that. And for the first 2-3 weeks the oil is still purple in color(royal purple). And when i used to use regular synthetic it was still light brown to where you can kinda see through it. But its kinda hard to tell. becasue my winter car puffs a very, very little oil at start up, but that things never goes past like 3k rpm (auto) all winter and even with that little puff in the begining the oil level stays the exact same, probably 2-3 tea spoons less, all winter long. But then you have this honda b16a and it sees only about 3500-5k every day plus the time when you wanna have fun and go into the 8k range I think some might be burned off. I mean we're not talking about motors with 5-500 miles on it. My friend bought a 2005 cavalier manual tranny and redlines (redline is at 5 or 6k I believe) every time he drives like an idiot I tell him to stop but he doesn't listen and his motor doesn't burn any oil. But with our cars that have some mileage plus some visits to vtec land, we will burn some oil, EVERY CAR does. Hondas are alot better they don't consume as much as domestics. But you can't expect to rebuild your engine everytime to burn alittle bit of oil. Last time I talked to a mechanic in a shop that does swap, turbos etc, i told him I was burnin some oil. He said how much, I said about 1/4-1/2 quart every 1000 miles. He said thats nothing, he said that domestic companys say that "its NORMAL for a car to burn about 1 quart every 1000 miles" He said he doesn;t know exactly what the numbers are for honda. But hes not a honda only lover he likes all cars and works on any kind so hes not just saying it becasue hondas rule!!!! If hes wrong, then he is but i'm just sharing what he said.

Morning Call

its called vtec

when u hit vtec u burn oil...

your proly just riding it pretty hard

oil doesnt last forever, it will always burn

logikalfury

my car burns oil because its still running on the original head gasket and mostly original gaskets everywhere else, im sure they arent in great condition, my valve cover leaks a bit of oil as i can see the buildup on the front of the head as i wipe it away every time i add more oil to my car

not to steal the thread or anything, but my car redlines at 6800rpm's i believe, and i bring it up to that a few times a week in first and second....not as much with first since its a shitstorm in first, but not so bad in second. im kinda waiting for the engine to go so i have an excuse to replace it. in the meantime if it doesnt go, i will be waiting till i hit 200k miles then im gonna take it out and put a new motor in.

4500rpm is a comfortable shift point for 1st gear i believe since my car doesnt have much torque to get me going. its a honda, what can i say....they are tough little engines.

P.S.
no i dont take my car up that high just because i can, i only do it if i am pulling out into traffic and need to accelerate quikly.

FastGsr95

Make sure the oil does nto get low at the honda dealership i work at you see it alot. they could void the warranty if they can tell u were driving on low oil but probably not

DJ_SaNdOz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDM99Hatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Doesnt matter compression and leakdown dont always fine the problem, i promise you that your rings are fried. When you do an oil change is the oil black? and after you do a change check the color of the oil after 1 day. if its black your rings are gone.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Is there any validity to this statement? I have never heard of this method of diagnosing faulty rings before. It seems a little wives tail-ish to me.

Just curious.

nocturnaldragon

I cant verify it 100% but it makes sense, If whatever is getting past the rings it will get into the oil contaminating it rather quickly so.