Im new on Honda-Tech and I have a question. I drive a 2000 Prelude with H22a4 with just bolt on's right now CAI, apexi catback exhaust, headers and test pipe. My car is burning oil I can tell because it blows out blue smoke and i smell my engine burning the oil sometime. It doesnt burn it bad, but i want to fix the problem before it gets worse. It now has a little over 160,000miles still running good. I just changed my oil 2 weeks ago. Could someone give me some possible reasons why my cars burning oil?

 

vtec cars burn oil. my h22 burns about half a quart every 2500 miles. you will especially see the smoke in vtec crossover. if you are smelling it then you probably have a leaky gasket somewhere. check the vc gasket, cam seals, distributor o ring and oil pan gasket to start.

 

some oil burnoff in h22's is common, but blue smoke is NOT. the particles normally seen during vtec crossover (hydrocarbons) are grey because it's unburned fuel, not oil. my guess on your smoke issue would be bad rings, but it's just that, a guess. how long have you had the car and do you know what the history was like?

 

The car had 2 previous owners, but it was very well maintained. I know is going to blow grey smoke, which i wouldnt be really concerned about being that i have a test pipe. But i was told that it was blowing blue smoke by one person. but the exhaust looked grey to me. maybe everything is ok like i thought, just some bad info from other people. I will check the gaskets, just to be sure of no leaks. Appreciate all the advice.

 

after measuring up 3 different h22 blocks with a fair amount of mileage on them I have noticed that the thrust sides of the cylinder walls wear a considerable amount more than the others. i would like to say that this is the cause for it in all cases but that would not be going out on a limb.

 

Severely out of round? Were they closed-deck or open?

 

Are you running 10W-30?

 

I've been using Q horsepower 5W-30 full synthetic, with a k/n filter for every oil change since i had my car.

 

blue smoke at 160k at crossover is common. also what would lead you to believe that its rings? coudnt it also be valve seals?

 

ok. i was told by a friend that the rings could be reason for the blue smoke too.

 

my **** just hit 198 and no oil burning ftw! lol

 

try running a non-synthetic or more viscous oil and see if it solves your problem. Piston rings wear over time.

 

then a simple compression test would show if it were the rings.