My girlfriends 99' Type SH (112K miles) has some oil issues. Here are the symptoms:

-Uses about 1 qt every 1k miles
-Oil leakage around valve covers
-Rear of the car (above exhaust can) is COVERED in black soot after only75-100 miles of driving
-There is some oil residue underneath the car around the tranny bellhousing.

What are some popular causes on Vtech Hondas? Valve seals? Bad rings? I'm a domestic guy so I know very little about the Vtech and it's common issues. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

my h22 burns about 1.5 quarts between oil changes.

to fix the leakage around the valve cover just replace the valve cover gasket.
the black soot is carbon build up because the h22'. run rich.
if the valve cover is leaking badly then it could be running down the transmission, if not check the oil pan, if there is a lot or oil around the rim that gasket may also need to be relpaced.

h22 (vtec) will burn oil because it passes the valve seal. not a big deal because they all do it. i havent had any problems with the rings but i have heard they the do go bad.

 

My 97' SH is the same way. I use about a quart every 800-1000 miles and it has been that way since I bought it ~30,000 miles ago. Since I turbo'd it, it's a little bit worse (and so is my mpg)

I think the typical cause is the rings not sealing as well as they should.

 

heres how i found my leak/bad gasket:
-drive the car to a self-serve car wash
-cover up the distributor and intake filter (if she has an intake or breathers) with plastic and zip ties
- car washes usually have a degreaser, use that to clean the engine bay, and spray underneath the car as well
-remove all the plastic and zip ties
-run the engine and wait for some oil to appear and you should see where the bad gasket is 9an extra set of eyes never hurts)
-drive car home and fix it

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I guess it's nice to know it's somewhat normal, but its a bit frustrating to CONSTANTLY have black soot covering the back of the car (it's WHITE which makes it even more noticable).

As far as the oil around the bellhousing/Tranny, I don't think its coming from the Valve cover. I've already Simple Green'd the engine bay in an effort to find the leak. The leak is so slow and gradual that there is no actual oil puddling or dripping...it's more of a slight oil staining or residue that forms. Kind of like a water stain on a ceiling tile...there's no actual water there...but the stain is gradually more visible after a period of time...does that make sense? I was thinking that perhaps she's got a leak around the rear main seal? She just had a new clutch installed about 10 months ago (8K miles), so I'm concerned the leak may have formed after that. But I'll get underneath it again in the next few days and check the oil pan to make certain that's not the culprit.

Thanks for the feedback guys.