I love my car and I would do a lot to keep it on the road. 2006 Element. It's had a minor oil leak (or is burning oil) for a while now but I guess I let it go too long between topping it off/changing the oil (or the leak got worse). Was driving it the other day and it felt like the clutch was slipping on acceleration (it's a manual), so I got it towed. Had the clutch replaced in August 2024 so I thought it might be an installation issue/warranty fix. Turns out it was something else: the oil was very low and that messed up other things. I haven't actually gotten a chance to speak with the service tech yet so I don't know exactly where I stand. Is it possible that with new oil it will just be okay to drive again (as long as I keep the oil full)? Or is it guaranteed that there's permanent damage and the car isn't driveable until the timing chain, etc. has been repaired? What do you think I should do? 1. Pay out the nose for the Honda service center to repair as per their suggestion 2. Take it to a 3rd party repair shop where it might be cheaper, have them also address the leak.


Thanks for your advice!

 

Was it actually low on oil? Was the oil light on? I think these have an oil light anyway.

 

The oil light wasn't on but the engine light was throwing a code P1009 which is to do with the timing. I get seasonal codes living in Chicago when it gets too hot/too cold that are historically from the air exhaust sensors (one sensor is OEM one is aftermarket, I didn't know any better at the time to do both). But I trust that the oil was low and I've read that low oil can stretch/break the belt on these cars.

 

Extended oil change intervals is what stretches the timing chains on these.

I would want to make sure the rest of the engine is healthy and not burning oil before spending the money on a timing chain replacement. These are also known to have defective cam lobes that are found when doing a timing chain or valve adjustment.

 

P1009 isn't the typical code for stretched time chain.

P1009 might be related to low oil pressure or plugged up VTC screens. Again from poor maintenance.