Hey guys,

Losing oil and I'm running out of ideas on where it is going.

97 civic HX with 177,xxx/

Started losing a significant amount of oil between oil changes in the last 15-20k.

Things I've checked out:

No plume of smoke when the car first fires up
No loss in power, fuel economy, etc
Coolant is clean
Oil comes out dirty, but just oil. Nothing in it
Nothing around the dizzy, vtec solenoid or the valve cover
No drips under the car
Checked all I could under the hood, could not find pooled oil anywhere

The one item I'm waiting to do:

Just replaced the PCV valve, while changing it, I noticed a bead of oil all the way around the oil pan seam where the gasket is. New theory is when the car is rolling and the oil gets hot, it beads out and flies off in the wind. By the time I park, there might be a drop of two not stuck with grime there, but the rest has blown away. Anyone ever heard of this? I went ahead and ordered the oil pan gasket to replace during the next oil change since there is a bead of oil all the way around.

Any other ideas?

Thanks,

 

If you're not leaking it then you're burning it. Those are the only two things that it could be. Replace the gasket when it gets here and check for leaks afterwards.

 

If he is burning it would it be noticeable through smell or coming out of exhaust?

 

I didn't say he was burning it. I said that there were only two things it could be.

 

Maybe if it's burning it slow enough, you wouldn't see a huge cloud of smoke. How long does it take to lose a quart?

 

Sounds like a leak in the head.

 

sounds like someone put the oil pan on and tightened it too tight. this compresses the gasket and causes a leak..

another leak location is vtec soloniod area..

look around the engine for leaks and try to find where the oil is coming from.

 

A what? Never seen it.

 

If I'm just driving in the city, about a month (maybe 1000 miles).

Lost about a quart on a recent drive to pick up the in laws from Ontario (~6.5 hour round trip going 75, no traffic).

Forgot to add: did a compression test. Compression was a little high (~180 in all four cylinders), but was stable.

 

I combed the entire block and head with a flash light, no oil, no gunk from oil mixing with dust/grime, etc. I'll comb it over again during the week.

This makes sense since there is a bead of oil all the way around the seam of the oil pan.

 

Did you do wet and dry compression?

 

Only dry was done. The compression was a little high, but high on all cylinders and very close together thus I didn't do the wet. From what I've read, you do wet when the variation necessitates you do so.

 

You can get higher than normal from carbon build up on the piston tops. Nothing to worry about really.

Ive always been told to do dry then wet because variation between the wet and dry numbers there can tell you if rings are bad. But with 180 on all 4 Id think youre good. But good compression numbers dont necessarily mean that your oil rings are good.

Im going to guess youre burning it if its not leaking anywhere. You really wouldnt see a lot of smoke from burning a quart in a thousand miles. Idk what color your car is but have you ever noticed any sooty buildup around the tail pipe or on the bumper?

Have you checked for oil behind the timing cover? Could be coming from the cam seal.

 

Ah yea, that's definitely more than normal. Replace the oil pan gasket and go from there. Your compression numbers sound fine. If your'e concerned about a leaky head gasket, do an actual leakdown test... that'll tell you for sure.

I'm losing more oil than normal nowadays too, but not as much as you. Maybe a quart every 7500 miles (regular oil change interval)... I know where mine is going though. Well, sorta. It's either the oil pan gasket or the crank seal. I'll be replacing both here in a couple months anyway, so I'm not too concerned with it at the moment.

 

Nope, I'll check that later this week (cousin has all my tools, will do it when I do the oil pan gasket)

Thanks,

Very small sooty build up around the bumper at the tail pipe, but it's tiny, nothing out of the ordinary.

 

Check the undercarraige to see if it's coated in oil. I had a slow leak and didn't notice it for a while as the oil never made it to the ground.

 

It's probably the oil pan gasket, and the fact that you are burning some while driving. The Cat gets really hot and might be burning it as to where you don't see it out of the exhaust while driving.

It seems minimal, but if you have a leak, and the slight oil burning it will probably only get worse.

 

This.

I never had oil pooling under the car, but I had some wicked grime buildup around the pan and on the undercarriage.

Turns out nearly every gasket I had was leaking as well lol

 

Sounds like it is the oil pan gasket like u n every1 else is saying. +1 for the peeps that suggested to check the undercarriage for oil. Also, you might wanna check to see if your spark plugs are drenched in oil. I've seen a few cars with this whose owners didn't notice any blue smoke coming from their exhaust.

 

^^

Plugs came out dry when I did the compression test.

 

Changing the pan gasket isn't too bad if you let the car sit for a day. You'll need, jack stands, exhaust pipe gaskets, WD-40, a torque wrench (inch pound), torque specs (helms manual), acetone and rags/paper towels, razor blades or gasket scraper (for the gasket residue not to gouge the aluminum), a nice clean flat regular screwdriver for the tight spots and some Honda bond (to be applied per helms manual) too.

Be careful cleaning the pan interior/baffle, it has razor edges and will spill blood. Check your oil pickup screen for debris/silicone chunks with a flashlight while you have it open.

 

I have a 97 hx as well that goes through some oil. I just changed out the timing belt for the 2nd time and I also replaced the oil pump, oil pickup, oil pan gasket, and the cam seal. My pan was leaking on the driver's side so you couldn't really tell if it was actually the front main or the pan gasket so I went ahead and replaced them both. Before I was going through a quart about 1000-1200 miles, I did try mobil 1 high mileage at the end and got me until 1500 miles before it was a quart low. Next I am thinking valve stem seals, distributor 0-ring, vtec solenoid, and using some gasket sealer on the valve cover since I forgot to do that when I put it all back together.

So after all the work which did seem to help it seems that now I need to add a quart every 2k miles or so. I think next change I will try castrol high mileage in 10w30 and if it does good I will use the same stuff but in 5w30 for the winter.

 

hey guys,

Just wanted to say thanks.

I swapped out the PCV valve and found the factory one was still on (used an autozone $2 PCV value). The oil pan gasket was back ordered so I bought it and it took a few days to get here.

~1000k in on the new PCV valve and it looks like oil loss went way down (or it stopped all together). Gonna change the oil next week and then watch it, but hopefully that was it. If need be, we'll get the new oil pan gasket on.


Thanks again,