Honda Prelude 1999
110,000 Miles

My car burn oil, and noticeable during start. On the bumper, there are black soot everywhere around the exhaus area. I even tried the NO SMOKE additive for the engine oil, doesn't help much there! It take only 2-3 days of normal driving 30-40 miles to notice the soot ont he bumper again after a CLEAN wash!

I did a few test.
1. start it up cold - > notice burning oil, black smoke and some gray
2. after 1 min I ask a friend to rev it in neutral up to 5000-6000 rpm -> i place a white cloth behind exhaust, I can see it catches lots of the soots, black spots
3. after 5-6 misn the car has warmed up - > Rev the car again, I don't notice the Soots anymore ( maybe it burns completely with the engine running at high temp...)

My engine has 110k miles on it, no maint done so far. Planning to get timming belt and pulley belts. While at it i want to get this "burning oil" problem fixed since the machinic gonna open up the engine at work on the belt. I've been advised that the "seal" is bad, ring is bad, "worn gasket"...

How criticle is this oil burning problem? any potential break down if not fixed?
How much work/money am I looking at worse and at best?

Thanks in advance for any advice : ]

 

i would suggest a rebuild... Blow by can cause that. Check the motors compression as well

 

your black soot on the bumper is because you need to replace your O2 sensor, I think it is the primary that you need to replace. The burning oil happens on all h22's, how much do you actually burn? Make sure you check your oil every time you get gas. If you are low on oil, and you VTEC, there is a good chance that the engine is done for. Most H22's burn 1-2 qts every 3k or so. Make sure you get the maintenance done, you should be doing timing belt and what not at around 90k man. Maintenance is a key thing to do to keep the longevity of a car.

 

its actually every 70 for the timing belt for the H

 

Thanks for the replies guys

I will monitor the oil burning to determine if it is only burning during start up, or it is actually burning also during mormal driving.
I will tak eout the O2 sensor behind the header and inspect it tomorrow. ther is no Engne Check Light , so i dont suspect this is the problem
I will take my car to machenic for the belts and also his opinion on the engine problems.

Here is an image of the soots for your enjoyment :S

 

My car use to have excessive black smoke on my rear bumper, but after I changed my O2 sensor, it got a lot better.

 

im going to put in a new 02 sensor also. but buy it on ebay discount prices are INSANE!!! 113 bucks for an 02 sensor online price O.E.M 56 bucks. my cars back bumper also gets some black gunk lets see if the 02 sensor changing helps sorry to bug in also but is there any other sensors that have to do with the exhuast?