So I've got a 98 ITR with about 88K on it, supposedly had new JDM pistons and rings right before I bought it, and it's burning oil. Just took it on a road trip of about 3200 miles and it burned about 5 quarts through the whole trip. Took it to Acura right before I left, had leakdown and compression done, and leakdown was 1% in #1 cyl and around 10% in the other three, compression was also in spec. Any other ideas on where this oil is going?

 

I have the same problem. I just stock up on oil. This topic has been covered many times though. Check out the search button.

 

bwoy... nah lie the vtec dem bun oil, but is it smoking? check the valve seals

 

It's normal for the ITR to burn oil, but a quart every 640 miles is on the high side, for an engine which has just been rebuilt. Unless you're driving way up in the revband all the time, which uses up a lot more oil. If you didn't stay in fifth gear on your long trip, that would do it. Otherwise, there may be something wrong... but you can just keep adding oil, which is probably a lot cheaper than doing anything else (like another rebuild).

 

ever thought maybe its running too rich and the oil has thinned out? try NEW OIL and see if the first few trips burn any


BTW what BRAND oil are you using, thats important too

 

It may be running rich too, running a JDM ECU. Time for an oil change anyway, I'll check that out. I'm using Castrol high mileage 5W30.

 

run a 40 weight oil and see if it slows down the oil consumption. Might even try a 50 weight

 

dangerous, in cold weather these thicker oils don't flow as easily and with the tight bearing clearances i would not do this.

 

what is normal for one of these anyway? mine burns a quart every 1300 miles like clockwork. i do drive fairly aggressive

 

That's fairly normal for a car that's driven fairly aggressively. If you don't spend much time near the top of the revband, a little less consumption, like a quart every 2000 miles, is typical. (Some people say they don't use any oil, but that has not been my experience.)

 

OP's location is AZ so I don't think he has anything to worry about. I've been running 10w-40 in a motor spec'd for 5w-20 for ten years and it has 150,000 miles as of this week. No issues what so ever. Now if he lived up north then I would be a little worried and maybe run a 30 weight max during the winter.

 

are you freakin serious? lol

i use 20w50 TO BEGIN WITH you cant just switch oil grades youll change clearances and so on and be in an even worse mess, i use that grade as my mech knows how i drive, and used it in a replaced engine, but 10w30 is best for a fresh engine just needs changing regularly

but these cars will burn oil no matter what you use, if yu drive dem

 

As noted in the owner's manual and service manual, Honda recommends 5W30 as the preferred viscosity at all temperatures. They say you can also use 10W30 if the temperature doesn't go below 20F, but 5W30 is still preferred.

 

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Using a different oil will not change the clearances in the engine...

I don't know what some of you guys are on about, but 40 and 50 weight oils are just too thick...I've been running 0w30 oils in my JDM ITR engine for over 20k miles and burn an average about 1.5-1.8qts per 2k miles with some pretty aggressive driving thrown in here and there. Oh, and my latest oil analysis (Motul X-lite 0w30 for 9,756 miles) came back stellar enough that I could have run closer to 10,500-11k miles.

Use a proper oil, and the engine will be fine if it is otherwise in good running order.

To the OP, I think your issue isn't directly related to the oil you're using. Maybe valve guides...or, now this might sound silly, possibly an oil leak? I've had a small leak come from the oil filter that I didn't catch for a while because it never dripped off the block...it would always just burn off.

 

io had a 20 valve toyota engine started off with 20w50 changed to 10w30 and the clearances changed it started burning oil etc, oh well... lol

 

So before you changed oil viscosities, you checked the rod journal bearing clearances, crank journal clearances etc.? I think not. If the camshaft/rocker arms changed, that is normal, as they are adjustable.
Clearances, as they relate to engines are the measurements between contacting moving parts. Some of these will change due to wear, regulated by how effective the lubrication between the surfaces is, Some of these clearances are adjustable, and will, during a given time interval, change: i.e. camshaft to rocker arm, which needs to be adjusted about every 10k in an R.
Oil isnt going to change clearances unless you use a real shitty oil which INCREASES bearing clearances over time because they wear excessivly due to lack of lubricating properties. Once again, not to beat a dead horse, but you get what you pay for with oil.
In my experience with Honda motors, which is pretty extensive, if the car is running spec leakdown and compression, and doesnt have an oil leak, often you can fix excessive oil usage simple by changing out valve seals. I am in fact about to do that on my R as it has 124k on the motor. I just bought a set of Supertech Valve seals (30$ Ebay) which I will install without pulling the head using a Manley Spring compressor (60$, thanks Chris) and compressed air to keep the valves shut. I too am using about a quart every 500, which gets kind of expensive with synthetic...
And then I will re-install a catch can to keep any other blow-by out of the intake tract (great for detonation).
The net is my back bumper, cat, wallet(wife), and engine will thank me. for 90$.