I WAS LOOKING FOR SOME ADVICE I HAVE BEEN SAVING FOR OVER A YEAR TO GET A 2001 PRELUDE AND NOW THAT I AM READY I HAVE BEEN RESEARCHING THEM. FROM WHAT I HAVE FOUND THEY BURN A LOT OF OIL- SOMTHING ABOUT THE VALVE SEALS. IS THIS TRUE? ALSO WOULD YOU RECOMMEND GETTING THE BASE MODEL OR SH- I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THE ATTS (LIMITED SLIP OR WHETEVER THE ABBREVIATION IS) BUT I HERE THE BASE IS BETTER ESP. TO TUNE. THANKS FOR THE HELP.
P.S. I KNOW THE BASE IS LIGHTER BUT STILL

 

First, take off the caps lock.

Second, H22's use oil. No big deal. I honestly feel any true performance car will have some quirk here or there... this is the H22's.

Thirdly, the SH (ATTS) is great for road racing and autox, if you want to go fast in a straight line, then get the base and add a Quiafe. ATTS isn't just limited slip, it's an active limited slip, if you will. It helps pull the car through a corner and has been known to greatly reduce a "push" that many people complain about with a fwd car.

 

Thanks for the reply. You dont have to have such an attitude though. I actually new what ATTS was i just wasnt sure of the abbreviation, and I wanted whoever was reading to know what i was talking about. However thanks for the info. But what i was talking about as far as burning oil was that some of these burn almost a quart every 1000 miles.

 

well, that might be a bit of an overstatement, depending how you use your vetc. If I drive nice (2000 lude w/ 61,000 mi, aem cai) I wont burn but 1 qt MAYBE in 3000 miles, although when I drive like I love to, I will burn or consume for the proper term about 1 qt. every 1500 miles. It's really not a big deal compared to insurance rates

 

What i was saying was that the H22's burn oil because of the valve seals. Not just b/c of getting on the vtec which is normal to burn some oil. I actually have read that they had problems with the valve seals on a couple of different web sites. I also read that a lot have problems with the rings b/c of in proper break in.

 

I'd say get a 4th-Gen Prelude, youll pay less money, and have a lighter and IMO better looking car.

And Thats a lot of oil being burnt!
I would guess that happens because bad-break- methods when new. i say this because my 1992 JDM prelude SiVTEC's engine doesn't burn anywhere near that much oil. I have high straight compression numbers though, 260psi on all 4 so the rings are definitly in good shape, but then again the car's only got 33k miles on the clock so far.

But the reason why these engines burn more oil than regular cars is because when the cams have been on low-lift; inside the valve stem the oil is on the valve but the valve stem literally stops the oil getting past the valve into the combustion chamber. When VTEC engages and the valve is pused deeper into the engine when it is on high cam so a small film of oil on the valve will get past the valve stems seal with the extra lift given from the camshafts' Centre lobe.

So if the car is burning way excessive ammount of oil then I'd guess the rings weren't sealing properly so the fine film of oil on that gets left on the cylinder walls that gets past the oil scraper ring gets burnt.

Though its normal to have a little flash of smoke when VTEC engages.

 

yeah a lot of air my h23a n/a car used more oil than my jdm swapped h22a --
just depends how the car was treated and how many miles the engine has on it
my h23a had 135,000 miles on it before it retired and the
jdm swapped h22a had like 39,000 miles on it I think the cars are taken care of better in the japan market less miles etc.
yeah imo the 4th gen is the best prelude ever made --- i have drove the 5th generation and they remind me of a 1991 I use to own but to each there own ......

 

I heard that the dealerships practically hold the customers hand (analogy) during the dreak-in periods, thats what my friend who imports JDM cars said. Don't know for sure though but they definitly do somthing right.
Although IMO the designer who drew up the 5G's bodyshell killed off the Prelude.