We recently purchased a 2009 Accord from my in-laws who bought it new. It has the 2.4 four-cylinder engine, automatic trans and 88k miles on it. Since we just got it, I don't know if it uses oil yet. What do I need to know about the potential oil consumption issues of this car and the service bulletin procedures from Honda? I've been reading online and have talked to different people who have similar cars that consume oil but I can't get to the bottom of it. Does Honda warranty ring and piston replacement only if the car uses oil? Or, do I need to document how much oil it uses, if any, before making a case to Honda? Is there a time or mileage limit where Honda will no longer warranty any work? If it turns out that the car isn't using excessive oil, is there anything I can do to prevent the problem from developing? Reading through service bulletin 11-049, it sounds like new software can be installed; service bulletin 12-087 talks about sticking rings as a result of hard acceleration when the engine is cold and also using fuel with a high count of particles (I'm unsure what the particles are). Thanks in advance for any help and and/or advice.

 

5w40 synthetic oil. Get it fully hot and then drive it like you stole it.

Not only will loading the engine hard prevent oil consumption, it often will correct oil consumption.

I have so many "oil burning" Ks and Js that don't consume any oil. Ranging from 110k to 310k miles and still going strong.

 

I had the repair done when it was under warranty. I took it in and they checked the oil (I don't remember if they did a full oil change). They put a piece of tape on your oil drain plug to ensure you don't tamper with it and then they send you home and tell you to come back in 2 weeks or so. When you return they inspect to see if you have the issue. It took them about 2 weeks to do the repair and they gave me a CRV to drive while I waited.

When I had the issue it was very obvious. the oil light even popped on a few times and the engine got clattery and loud before I realized it was burning oil. There was no smoke from the tail pipe to indicate an issue. At the time I only owned the car for a year and it ran great so my only tip was previously owning clunkers that I had to check the oil when I get gas. I was sad and just rode around with a quart of oil before I learned there was a recall.
I think they warranty up to 125k. I was close to the limit at the time.

 

Sorry for my delayed response, I was out of the office over the Independence Day long weekend. Thank-you both for responding.

Ryan, what is it about the 5W-40 that is special versus, say 5W-30? The Accord was just serviced by the previous owner at the local dealership and part of that work included an oil change. I'm assuming they put 5W-20 in it since that is what the oil filler cap shows to use. Side Note: I have the same engine in my 2002 CR-V and I run 5W-30 and a few guys on this forum...I think you were one of them...steered me to 5W-30 rather than 5W-20 when I got the CR-V. I wasn't sure which to use so I posted it on this forum in the CR-V section.

Roadrunner, you mentioned the warranty might go up to 125k. Do you know if there is a cap on the time and also if it only applies to the original buyer?

 

This is the TSB that covered me.

Link to TSB

It says 8 years from date of purchase or 125k. I am not the original owner so it covers the car not the person.

Here is some text from the link....

American Honda is extending the warranty coverage on the Piston Rings and Pistons for 2008-11 Accord L4 to 8 years
from the original date of purchase or 125,000 miles, whichever comes first.
The warranty extension does not apply to any vehicle that has ever been declared a total loss or sold for salvage by a
financial institution or insurer, or has a branded, or similar tittle under any state’s law. To check for vehicle eligibility,
you must do a VIN status inquiry.
Some vehicles may be affected by S/B 11-049, Product Update: Software Update to Improve Fuel Injector and VTC
Timing. Do an iN VIN status inquiry, and if the product update applies, make sure you update the vehicle before
continuing with this warranty extension.
Additionally, there are three Tech2Tech videos for reference:
• Tips When Working with Fracture Rods
• Using Cylinder Wall Inspection Tool (To be released in January 2019)
• Let's Talk Spring Compressors

 

Assuming that is 8 years from the original date of purchase then any warranty work would have expired around 2017-2018 depending on when it was purchased. True?

 

5w40 because that's the inexpensive full synthetic from Shell. The Rotella T6. Lots of detergents and high pressure lubricants being a diesel oil.

You could run the Mobil 1 5w40 Euro oil but it's double the price.

 

I planned on switching it over to Amsoil Signature Series when it comes due for an oil change. If it wasn't for the potential oil consumption issue I'd probably just use Amsoil Signature Series 5W-30 like I do in my 2002 CR-V. Your thoughts?

 

Sure?

No experience with amsoil stuff. Too expensive for me.

 

What is the root cause of the oil consumption issue? One of the bulletins mentioned oil control rings rotating in the cylinder bore but other Accord owners have told me low tension rings were used. Also, if my car isn't using excessive oil now should I leave it alone or is it just a matter of time before it starts using oil? In other words, are all 2009's affected or just a select VIN group?

 

My understanding is the latter. The low tension rings were intended to improve fuel economy but in actuality didn't seal and oil slipped by the rings and burned off.

 

Low tension rings need cylinder pressure to seal. If they are puttered around at low load and low rpm they never seal.

The Acura 3.7 was horrible for this because they were all owned by silver hairs that just puttered to the grocery store and back.

 

Moving forward, if the car does not use an excessive amount of oil, can I consider it "fine" (ie assume the rings have all seated properly) and move on with life not worrying that the problem will develop later?

 

Probably. Just load it hard on the regular.

 

Got it, I'll be sure to hammer on it occasionally. : )

I'll report back once I get some mileage on the car and see if it consumes any oil.

On a side note, looking over some maintenance history that I have on the car, it appears that it did get the computer reflashing per bulletin 11-049 (see attached pdf).

 

Update: I checked the oil level over the weekend and discovered it was 3/4 quart low and the car has been driven about 1800 miles since the oil was last changed. To me this seems high and is telling me that I probably have the issues as described by the service bulletin. What do you guys think?

 

Honda won't consider it until oil consumption exceeds 1 quart per 1000 miles. Anything less is just "normal".

 

Ryan, getting back to the detergents you mentioned earlier, have you ever tried doing a chemical treatment to remove deposits from the oil control rings? I'm thinking of products like GM Top Engine Cleaner or Sea Foam top engine cleaner where you use put the product into the cylinder to give the pistons, rings and cylinder bores a literal bath.

 

No personal experience with those.

I do have a K24 in an Element that has 260k ish miles on it when I bought it. The engine oil smelled strongly of harsh chemicals. I suspect they ran a crankcase solvent through the engine. One of those run it for 30 minutes with the cleaners and then change the oil.

I did a head gasket on that one and the head was impossibly clean for the miles. Impressively that engine doesn't burn a drop of oil. But those engines in the Element are always under heavy load pushing that brick through the air.

Did the solvent help with oil consumption? No idea!

I do know that going to the diesel oil has stopped oil burning on other engines in my fleet that were consuming oil.

 

Once the engines in your fleet stopped consuming oil did you switch to another oil or stay with the Rotella? Would the engines that stopped using oil start using oil again if you stopped using the Rotella? I'm trying to determine if the Rotella fixed the root problem by removing the deposits so the oil rings were able to seal properly or did it just mask the problem due to it's chemistry? Either way it appears that you reduced oil consumption...which is definitely encouraging to hear...I'm just asking to learn more from your personal experience.

 

Stayed with the T6. There is no compelling reason to run anything else and it's one less oil for me to stock.

 

How many miles do you go between changes when using the T6? And, earlier you mentioned using 5W-40 but I live in Michigan where it can get very cold in the winter so would you recommend I use 5W-30 instead or is there something about the 5W-40 that has more "medicinal purposes" (for lack of a better term) in solving the oil consumption problem that would make you say use the 5W-40 versus 5W-30?

 

The second number is the hot weight. For cold starts the first number is the important one.

5w40 was/is the only weight for the T6 diesel oil. Has been for at least 2 decades. I am getting old AF.

I am running 5k intervals on the cars. 1-3k on the bikes depending on oil capacity. Yes, it's MA rated oil too! Wild I know. Actually got started on T6 because of the 2 wheeled contraptions.

 

I hear ya brother, we're all getting older. 👴

I'm going to use that 5W-40 T6 on the next oil change. 👍 Does it take some time to start taking effect or do you think I'll see results soon after the oil change?

 

Update: I wiped my finger in the tail pipe yesterday and it came out black...covered with black soot. Did the same to my Toyota Sienna and a friend's F-150 and they were both clean.