Hey guys. I have a 97 Prelude base. When I check the oil after the car has been sitting for a while, the oil reads right between the low and high marks. But if I check the oil after I've been driving.....it reads well below the low mark. Is this normal with these engines?? Thanks

 

I assume that you mean the car sits overnight and you check it cold-it is just fine. You should not check it hot or just after shutting down since there is still alot draining back into the pan.

 

Best time to check it is about 30mins after a good drive , so all the oil will drain back down , so you can get a acurate read.

 

I had the same problem, then I realized 15 minutes after turning the motor off wasn't enough time for it to settle back down to the pan.

Wait about 45 or so minutes, then check it. When mine is right between the marks, sometimes it won't even register except for some splash up the sides.

 

Thanks guys. That's what I was thinking. But I just wanted to make sure. I deffinitaly don't want to run this engine low on oil. It does burn about a quart every few weeks though. And I have no idea why.

 

It is normal for for our cars to burn oil and the more you hit vtec the faster you will burn oil, I use about a litre every 3k miles, that's with hitting vtec occasionaly to regularly and most of my mileage at cruising speeds.

 

actually.......I never take my car over 4000 rpm's. I haven't looked at the timing belt yet so I don't want to push my engine. I shift at 3000 all the time. Besides, the lude is just my daily driver. The Probe is my "fun" car.