I know this has been asked a thousand times here but my situation is a little different than most. I have a '00 prelude base model stock (except cheap e-bay intake) and I use about a quart of oil every week. I never run the car hard and about 95% of what I drive is highway at 60mph. I also have black soot on the back of the car which does not seem like oil, more like dust. I figured the car must be running rich (even though I get 32mpg)
Also, I never notice smoke or drips. Any help?? (BTW I have searched this topic)

 

how many miles do you drive in a week? what kind of oil do you use? how many miles does the car have?

some burning is normal, but too much usually means the oil control piston rings are weak...

 

hahaha i put 2 quarts in per tank of gas, every 10 days approximately...


mine doesn't leak, but it smokes when i step on it, so for me its probably the valve guides. you'd think the plugs would be oil-fouled.. but they're fine...

theres only 2 ways for oil to escape and thats by leaking or out the exhaust.
check your plugs and see what they look like. that MAY give you an idea.

i've given up. good luck to you.

 

I drive about 80 miles per day. The car has 108000 miles and I use 5w-30 mobil1 synthetic. I know honda reccomneds 5w-30, but can I use 10w-30 so the viscosity is a little higher? Thanks for the help.

 

After a recent trip to Honda last week Ive decided to switch from 5w-30 oil to 10w-30. Its thicker but better designed for high reving engines. (H22)

Im using 5w-30 right now and burn minimal Oil.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ahansen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I drive about 80 miles per day. The car has 108000 miles and I use 5w-30 mobil1 synthetic. I know honda reccomneds 5w-30, but can I use 10w-30 so the viscosity is a little higher? Thanks for the help.</TD></TR></TABLE>

All 10W30 is good for is making cold starts worse on your engine. It's not thicker than 5W30 at anything like operating temps. If you want to try something thicker you could try a relatively thick 30 weight oil like "German" Castrol 0W30 (as opposed to M1 5W30 which is a thinner 30 weight) or a 40 weight of something. I have found that thicker does equal less burning.

 

as stupid as the answer sounds i just fixed my oil consumption problem. i was adding oil every 2 days, about a quart a week maybe more. well i went to advanced auto parts and paid $3 for a new PCV valve and no more burning oil. ive driven about 100 miles since i changed out the PCV and the oil level has yet to drop. most noticably when i woul hit WOT i could see black smoke coming from the exhaust. only at WOT though. now, nothing. its worth spending the $3 to check out if that will help

 

Would a 0W-30 or 40 weight due any long term damage to my engine? I know that my manual says 5W-30, but I guess thats just suggested. I guess I'm oil weight retarded, sorry. At least if the engine does crap out I can get a H22A for pretty cheap. THis is my 5th prelude (3rd w/ the H22) and I've had the soot on all of them. My 1st H22 car shot a flame out the pipe when I hit 2nd. I think I will try a new PCV valve. I bought the car about 2 months ago and the owner bought a G35 so the Prelude sat for about a year and a half w/ minimal driving. I know he did'nt run the **** out of it because it still has the stock clutch and it grabs a mean second. Anyways, thanks for the help.

 

I changed the PCV valve ,which was bad, & I have not noticed any more oil consumption recently. Hopefully this fiexd the problem. Thanks for the advice,
Andy H.

 

If the pcv does not fix it then do a compression and or leakdown test to reveal the actual problem.