Recently, my car has been consuming about 1qt of oil for every 500 miles of driving. It has a leak, and leaves a spot maybe 1.5-2" in diameter on the ground most nights - but does NOT leak when cold (ie when I pushed it, cold, into the driveway and left it for several hours no oil got on the ground). In front of a friend, I took it up to redline in 1st and then lifted, and he couldn't see any smoke from the exhaust.

So, am I mostly leaking this oil or is that little enough to be burned without being visible?

edit: oh yeah, this is a 1990 Integra GS with the stock B18A1.

 

i bought a civic a few years back that had a similar problem, never left much of a stain on the driveway but lost oil like crazy every time i drove it. it was a northeast car with a fair amount of rust underneath - turns out a corner of the oilpan had rusted through the size of a pinhead. invisible to the eye, but when the car built up enough pressure while running, a fine mist would spray from the hole.

maybe get her up on stands/ramps, start her up and look underneath for the obvious?

 

Hmm, that's a good idea. I'll have to try that.

It's a CA car and always has been, so no real rust, but it's certainly possible that it has a hole somewhere - it's got plenty of undercarriage damage.