Slam168

my 2001 prelude has 60k on it and for every 1000km it burns over 1 liter of oil so i went back to honda for my warranty to see what they could to do for me, they told me that prelude's tend to burn oil because they are high performance cars. Now they want me to try their 10W30 Honda oil because it reduces oil burn by 30%
what should i do in a case like this and what are your guys opinion on this? thanx for reply

satan_srv

it's a high performance car and does burn oil, but it sure as hell wasn't designed that way..it's shitty piston rings..

Some people have gotten new shortblocks from honda under warranty because of oil consumption.

5w30 will not make a difference between 10w30...it still has the same weight at operating temp. have you switched to synthetic?

sgrrrr

i find it pure bs.... its just thier way of covering thier asses... i have a 92 prelude with 130k miles.. never once had the rings replaced.. and it doesnt use not one drop of oil.. and i abuse her....... do what you can to try and get them to fix it.

LudeyKrus

Synthetic will only make it worse......

Yes, Preludes tend to burn oil, but not that much. Take it back and make them fix it; the only cars I know of that are designed to eat oil are RX7's.

Nikoli

how would synthetic make it worse?

LudeyKrus

It is thinner and more slippery; and it tends to get down into places a normal thick dino oil will not.

Synthetic is a great oil, but try searching through the forums a bit; plenty of people have complained about synthetic eating more oil than normal dino oil.

Nikoli

aaahhh... good to know

i wish i had an engine to burn oil

Slam168

ya the guys at honda said thats what they do they can replace it with a short block but they aren't about to do that my question is what is a shortblock? and what does it do the guy and honda said it would only make it worse.

satan_srv

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slam168 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ya the guys at honda said thats what they do they can replace it with a short block but they aren't about to do that my question is what is a shortblock? and what does it do the guy and honda said it would only make it worse.</TD></TR></TABLE>

shortblock = block only, no head.

it won't make it worse as long as you break in the new shortblock properly.

Start documenting your actual oil loss...get honda to document it.

TheGSRGuy

Some VTEC engines eat oil. My GS-R doesn't, but I know some people who have it consume about 1/2 L between oil changes.

Mario.

I've heard all 5th gens are notorious for burning oil, I see posts like this on PreludePower all the time.

TheGSRGuy

Switch to synthetic, it would probably reduce this burnoff.

gerhard

There is NO WAY your Honda should be buring 1l for every 1000km??

That's GOT to be more than the service limit.

Call Honda Care directly and tell them that of the problem and that you are getting the run around from the dealer!!

gerhard

That is correct... 5G's tend to burn oil.

I'm fairly certain that my car's rings are fine... I've got compression of:

4 - 235
3 - 225
2 - 230
1 - 225

What I suspect is that the valve seals in cylinder 4 are not good.

My car has always puffed a little puff of blue smoke when starting car when it's really cold out (less that 30F).

...and I'm the first owner... So that tells me that it's got a manufacturing defect of some sort. I'm thinking Valve seals....

There are a few things that you can try... the highmilage oils especially. Also, any 0w40 / 10w40 / 15w40 motor oils...just make sure they are synthetic!!

Also, check to see that your PCV valve does not have an issue, and that you do not have a leaky cam seal.

lOOkatme

if you guys are burning oil...I wouldn't switch to synthetic. Dino motor oil burns, and burns cleaner. if you throw in a synthetic oil, you may not have a clean burn and leave soot all over the place. Usually the best oil to run is dino oil.

gerhard

That's funny... I've been told by the folks at Ford that Synthetic burns much cleaner overall.

Now, as to which one burns more readily... that really depends on the oil.

A lot of the Group III basestock oils flash at 430F, and the Group IV/V combo oils generally flash at about 430-460F.

However, it's a real toss up as the values are all over the place depending on the manufacturer.

What IS true (what I'm actually certain of) is that heavier weight oils will not flash (burn) as much as thinner oils.

So, if you switch over to synthetic and use a 15w40 oil (such as AMSOIL)... then you'll burn less oil because it's a little thicker and because it burns less easily than any petroleum based lubricant.

Never run 50w oil in your Prelude. 40w is fine because the Prelude is spec'ed for it in Europe and the engine is basically the same in USA/CAN.

For a comprehensive look at this, go to: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com

TheGSRGuy

Synthetic doesn't burn off. Okay, it does, but significantly slower than conventional motor oil.

Try switching, and if that doesn't fix it, talk to Honda's Customer Service.

gerhard

I'd spend more time going after the Honda dealer...

gerhard

Well, I can't believe I'm responding to a post I participated in almost 11 years ago. ...but it came up while I was searching for something else.

FWIW:

I eventually had to replace the engine on my Prelude (man, that was three cars ago now...).

When I disassembled the engine, removing the short block from the head, I found the two of the cylinders had VERY mild scoring on one size. (You could see it, but you couldn't feel it with you finger, or even a fingernail.

The head and valve seals were fine. There is speculation the using non-super grade fuel may have helped this along.

The engine was burning about 1QT every 2000k miles.

The H22A4 was just a problem child, and Honda didn't want to deal with the issue on a car they sold almost none of.

In comparison, they'd never get away with it on an Accord, which they sell a ridiculous number of.

Looking back at it, I will never by a low production number car again... Unless it's a Porche or NSX, etc. (e.g. Non daily driver)

snobordboy

Came in expecting to lock this for an 11 year bump lol.

For most of us, I think a bit of oil consumption for the performance has just become acceptable, especially as the H22 seems to burn more oil in higher rpm use. My stock H22 never seemed bad, and my built engine only burned oil once I gapped the rings higher than I wanted to on a rebuild. It actually seemed to be pushing oil into crankcase vapor more than anything else, I had to empty the catchcan pretty frequently.

djadam144

my 1999 Prelude sh with 280000++ burns 1qt every 5 tanks of gas

xci_ed6

skipped most posts, so take at will...

they are supposed to burn oil. ~.5qt per 3k miles. look at any piston engine. pistons slide on oil. hence: oil rings.

can't ID pistons or valve stem seals vs oil rings, you dont know if it comes from top or bottom, but:

check compression to check bores
run a few tanks of gas with 'Sea Foam'
it will clean oil rings, which are usually a problem caused by infrequent oil changes

Scottwax

My son has a 2000 Prelude, burns about a quart between 3000 mile oil changes. When he was moving to Seattle while I was heading to Phoenix, we drove out together and about 200 miles west of the Dallas area, he completely loses 4th gear in his 4AT. We ended up driving the next 800 miles with his car in 3rd gear at about 4000-4200 rpm (60-65 mph) and he used maybe a half quart and still got 27-28 mpg-while my V6 Accord got 34-35 mpg at those speeds.

We were expecting much more oil consumption and worse mileage under those conditions in his car so not using much oil and exceeding the EPA mileage was a pleasant surprise. Most of his oil issues I think are the valve guides, usually a quick puff of blue when he starts the car. No visible smoke when I was behind his car for 800 miles, nor could I smell that tell tale oil burning odor. And his car had 152k miles on it then.

pablude

I have had 2 Preludes, 86 Si and 01 Base.
86 didn't burn a drop even with 286k
01 burned a quart between oil changes since day one. Mobil 1 Synthetic or Castrol conventional didn't matter.

VTEC motors burn oil, If you see blue smoke from your exhaust or your plugs are fouled this is something to be worried about. otherwise this is normal.