Alright, so I've had my accord for almost 8 months now and I have always noticed a little something going on with the oil consumption. I had to swap out the oil pan due to the last place that did the oil change cranking on the pan plug too hard but other than that, there are no noticeable signs of over consumption except for on the dipstick. There is no smoke out of the tail at any point when it's running, unless there is a small small trace while I'm driving and can't see it. But other than that I swapped the plugs out last week and they smelled a little bit like oil but not terrible. It's be almost 2 months since I have changed the oil last (can't remember the mileage but I average about 200 miles per week) so I am really about half way to where I typically change my oil and I have had to add about 1.5qts to it over time.

I have heard that accords are typical good at burning oil but I'm just wondering if anyone else is having issues with a similar motor.. I am looking at possibly doing a motor swap at some point, but it won't be anytime in the immediate future (next year maybe). The odometer currently shows 173k but going into the winter I don't want to keep running thicker oil in it..

Anyone else seen this or a cause of it?

 

V6 or I4 engine?

What do your spark plugs look like? Are they black and wet or tan with a slight smell of oil?

Do you see any grey smoke out of the tail pipe at start up? Do you see any smoke when you have the engine under load or engine braking?

Reason I ask is because there are really only two spots the oil actually gets burnt by the engines combustion. That is through the valve seals and the piston rings.

If it smokes at start up that is an indication that the valve guide seals might be worn. if it smokes under load or engine braking that is a good indication that it is something with the piston rings, cylinder walls or the pistons.

173k is early for these engines burning oil. Unless the engine has been sitting or run hard and put away wet a few times.

 

I go through 1 qt very 1000 miles on my 99 4 cylinder. There is a slight leak on the oil pan, but not 1qt leak.

 

That's quite a bit of oil you use every 1,000 miles. My 95 Accord goes through probably 1.25 qts in between oil changes. A number I can live with. I run 5-30 Valvoline high mileage oil through out the year.

 

Do a compression and leak down test. This will tell you if you have issues. Also if you are getting blowby it will be sucked back into your intake mani via the pcv valve. Mine does this and the hose becomes very soft because of oil. ( I need to do a rebuild anyways)

 

I4

spark plugs were a little black.. not coated in carbon or anything but looked like they've been in there awhile... VERY slight smell of oil on them though..

I see absolutely no smoke out of the tail pipe at any points.. start up, under load, braking.. I've even had people behind me driving and said they have never seen anything.. I have even taken a paper towel and held it at the nozzle of the exhaust and not a spot of oil... I had downpipe off where it goes 4-1 when I changed the pan and the inside of it showed no signs of anything being caked on..

I have no idea where it's going.. when I changed the plugs I put a light down the spark plug tube and it looks like there's some junk on the head of the piston but it is also a 13 year old car and I do not exactly how well it has been taken care of prior to me purchasing it but I do figure that it's burning it somewhere.. I don't know where it's going though.. I figure it's probably a combination of valve seals or maybe just piston rings alone because the oil kind of stinks so I figure I am getting a bit of blow-by but I can't quite put my finger on the smell of the oil because it doesn't smell straight up like gas..

This last oil change I was using 10w-40 but coming into the winter I may knock it back down to 5w-20.

Ideally I want to put into an H22 of some sort and just kill the problem all together but I don't have the dough for that right now.. Just wondering if there was an easy fix to milk some more miles out of the motor.

 

To a degree, its not worth the money to fix certain problems

 

Sounds like you covered all the bases but another area you might want to check is the O-ring on the distributor where it goes into the head. At least check to see if the area is oily/greasy.

Mine leaked a little, which I knew about, but it didn't seem like much and nothing ever hit the ground. However when driving it on the highway for extended periods I would go through 1 quart per 200-250 miles. .

Later on I had my distributor off one time to do something else an notice how flat and crappy looking the Oring was, I replaced it and had much less oil consumption afterwards. Now I can go about 1,300 miles till I have to add any - oil pan leaks due to crappy factory silicone sealant instead of a gasket.

Just a thought. The Orings are cheap.

 

man this f23 engine is tough.. mine have 320 000 kilos on it, and i put a 1L per 2 weeks in it cause its burning soooo fast, the oil rings are going out and even if its often running with low / no oil at all, still start up every morning loll so dont mind about that, this car wont blow up in your face

 

Thanks, I will look there.. I have not looked down the left side of the motor in detail, but I have not seen anything that stands out.. I need to pop off the distributor cap anyway and take a look at it so I will glance at all the seals and anything that goes into the head and see if there's any excess residue..

other than that sounds like it varies from person to person, probably depending on your driving style and what you drive on (highway vs city).. thanks for the input guys