Ok I might sound like a newb...oh wait I am a newb so here it is, I have a 98 Honda Prelude which is 100% stock. I bought this car last christmas and I notice that it likes to drink some oil. Here is an example I filled her up 500 miles ago and she has already required 1.5-2qts of oil which I put in tonight. Is this normal? Oh and I forgot the most important part, I drive slower since its my first nice lude and I don't want to kill it yet, I tack at about 3200-3500 each gear. I owned a B16 in a Acura Integra before and I know I beat the **** out of that car 7-8,000RPM daily and it never died or burned oil which was crazy! So do I have a shitty engine or what?

//Thanks

 

how many miles on the motor? could be a variety of things; rings, valve stem seals, oil pan gasket etc...; put cardboard under your car and see if oil is leaking out when it is parked. Next, check the compression numbers

 

Trevor about covered everything.

Just FYI, that is definitely not normal oil consumption.

 

most h22's are about 1qt or so every 3k. What sort of oil do you use--conventional or synthetic? Maybe try a thicker oil as well. Besides checking all of the things mentioned. Valve stem seals is the best thing to do first and of course a compression/leak down test. My car used to burn an insane amount, but that's because my rings never sat well in my rebuild.

 

may be a vacuum leak as ive learned.

check your plugs

 

I have put new plugs and a distributor cap, should I change the plugs I believe they are stock. I do not see any oil leaking around the valve cover, I do not believe there is oil on the ground neither. The car has 100,000 miles on it and soon I will be changing the timing belt which probably is not related. I use 10W30 Mobile One High Millage Full Synthetic. I have always used synthetic in this car since 76,000 when I purchased the car. I do tack around 3500RPM in fifth when I am on the interstate (70-75MPH).

Is there a way I can check to see if the plugs are causing some problems. I am not a crazy expert but how hard is it to change the rings, valve stem seals?

Thanks guys!
//

 

take a look at ur oil pan, is it coated with oil? and check on ur header too, might be dripping off onto ur header and burned off

 

I do remember when changing my oil that the pan had some oil on it. Is the oil pan a pain in the *** to fix? Could this be the problem

//

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by plikit &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">may be a vacuum leak as ive learned.

check your plugs</TD></TR></TABLE>

wtf?

vacuum leak causes oil consumption? ehhh

 

is it ok to switch to synthetic ? will that cause less or more oil comsumption ?

my 5th gen has 180K miles btw.... :/

 

synthetic is thiner so it usualy causes more oil consumption in high millage cars.

 

5th gen ludes are notorious for burning oil, even Honda knows that.. I put in Mobil 1 5w-40 full sythetic and i have minimal burning.

 

I have heard of 5-30W but not 5-40W in a prelude. What would be better for me if I live in North Carolina average of 90 degrees in the summer. I use 10-30W should I go with 5-40W.

-Logan