i have a 92 prelude si
i just bought it for my son, and changed the oil and everything...
he has driven it for 600 miles and the oil light came on on him today.
i checked the oil and it didnt even register on the dipstick...
the car has absolutely no oil leaks anywhere, but we noticed that at an idle it doesnt smoke, but starting around 3500 rpms it smoke, sometimes a lot, and sometimes hardly any at all....

anyone got any clues on what could be wrong??

thanks,
chad

 

u are definetly burnin oil in the combustion chamber either from the piston rings or thru the valve seals.

 

no nothrings wrong. vtec burns a lot of oil. just make sure you check all your fluids when filling up gas bc the oil in a prelude goes faster than a guy with diareha

 

Yeah, they definitely do like to eat oil, but 5 quarts in 600 miles? That's DEFINITELY not right. Investigate your piston rigns and valves seals.

I think I once read (so don't quote me on this) that Honda's specs for an H22A4 are 1 qt/1000 miles. Not sure what the specs are for your engine though...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shackaholic &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think I once read (so don't quote me on this) that Honda's specs for an H22A4 are 1 qt/1000 miles. Not sure what the specs are for your engine though...</TD></TR></TABLE>

That is correct. Funny side note though, the factory recommended oil change is 7500 Mi. That's even the service light interval.

There is definitely a problem. I was only burning 2qt every thousand miles and I ended up with a new shortblock due to improper ring seal. Not being the first owner of this car, I imagine it was due to improper break in.

 

I don't believe this is an h22 powered car guys. Nonetheless H series motors are notorious for burning quite a bit of oil. However, in your case it sounds excessive. Do a leakdown test and you should be able to find some answers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicSiDriver02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't believe this is an h22 powered car guys. Nonetheless H series motors are notorious for burning quite a bit of oil. However, in your case it sounds excessive. Do a leakdown test and you should be able to find some answers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Good point.

Although that sort've makes it worse, since other motors would burn less oil than an H normally.

 

Re-fill the oil and see if it happens again. It could be that the oil hadn't fully settled when filled (even though it may have appeared to have) and you simply did not initially put enough oil in.

Refilling the oil will eliminate this possiblitity. Otherwise I would suspect your valave stem oil seals have perished..

 

preludes are known too burn oil jus keep your eye on the dip stick

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicSiDriver02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Do a leakdown test and you should be able to find some answers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Agreed a compression and leakdown are prob in order.

What kind of motor is this then?

 

Check your exhaust pipe, I'd say there is a good chance its coming out the back. My 2000 prelude started blowing out the pipe with less than 60k, and my friend's Del Sol has the same problem. I didn't notice until the oil light went on. I took it to a mechanic friend of mine today and we changed the PCV valve, which only cost like 4 bucks and 30 seconds to change. I've got my fingers crossed it works, because if not its he said its probly the head gasket or the valve rings, which I'm told gets pricy to fix. Of course, for you it could be something else, just a thought.

 

does anyone have any experience with "high mileage oils" and this type of situation? will it help/make any difference at all?

 

what would be the best oil for 97-01 preludes... i was recently told maybe 10-40 what do you guys suggest... im me if you can thanks

 

whatever it says in the owners manual or on the oil cap. i think it's 5/30.

 

run 10w30 if you are burning oil... also consider seafoaming your car and changing the oil/spark plugs after the seafoam

 

how will seafoam help with oil burning? yeah it will run cleaner but...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by CivicSiDriver02 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't believe this is an h22 powered car guys. Nonetheless H series motors are notorious for burning quite a bit of oil. However, in your case it sounds excessive. Do a leakdown test and you should be able to find some answers.</TD></TR></TABLE>

My h23 leaked more oil than it burned (lost a quart around every ~2k miles). My h22 burns a quart every 300-400 miles.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by shutupnskate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">run 10w30 if you are burning oil... also consider seafoaming your car and changing the oil/spark plugs after the seafoam </TD></TR></TABLE>

Seafoam is one of those last resort things. Because it takes off all the crap that's accumulated, your seals don't always adjust, and as a result, after seafoam, there's a bigger gap for oil to go through and burn.

 

prob. just a valve job would be in order

 

i've heard that some of these high mileage oils have "seal conditioners" that make seals swell up and do their job better, etc, etc. any opinions?

 

I had a big burning problem (1qt every 300 miles even with 20w50) on my h22a4. Compression/leakdown test showed the pistons to be fine so I did the valve seal job. The oil kept on burning though. Turns out that since the head was sealing better than ever it caused the rings to give out prematurely, so 4 months later I had to rebuild the block with new pistons, rings, bearings, everything. Now all is good. The moral of the story is that if you get to the point where rebuilding is a necesity, rebuild the whole thing just to cover all bases. Also keep in mind that burning oil means that other components such as your EGR valve, cat, o2 sensors have also been affected by all the burnt oil in the exhaust stream.

Peter

 

1qt/1000 miles? JESUS! My last oil change lasted 5000 miles and no way did it burn 5qts. Maybe 1qt at most. I hardly hit vtec though.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94SuperLudeSI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
the car has absolutely no oil leaks anywhere, but we noticed that at an idle it doesnt smoke, but starting around 3500 rpms it smoke, sometimes a lot, and sometimes hardly any at all....

anyone got any clues on what could be wrong??

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well sounds like your valve stem seals...Is it leaking ant oil underneath the car after is sit for a while??? is the oil escaping just out of the exhaust or what? hmmmmm change your PCV valve and see if that helps....For my H22 I use castrol synthetic blend (10-30) more expensive(4 bucks). but from what you saying its you stem seals or rings