Okay, so I have a '07 Accord 4-cyl. I usually watch the engine oil life indicator, and when it gets from about 10-20% oil life, I change the oil. This usually happens every 5k miles or so. I usually run it on synthetic, except on my last oil change, I decided to go with a blend instead. Last night, I pull into my driveway after a short drive, and the oil light came on, engine was low on oil. Luckily, I keep an extra quart of Mobil 1 Syn 5w-20 with me, so I filled it. Then when I started the car in the morning, the oil life light came on saying I have 15% left on the oil life.

This is the second time I had to add a quart of oil to my car and it kind of worries me. Don't get me wrong, I don't pamper the car by any means, it sees the redline often, but that is the reason I run it on synthetic. The car now has 72k miles.

Should I switch back to synthetic? Maybe the oil life indicator is for "normal" driving? I thought it took driving style into consideration?

 

It takes driving style into consideration by keeping track of how many times you start, what RPM, now many total revolutions, etc...

It has no way of knowing what kind of oil you use. It doesn't actually physically measure anything about the oil.

 

Wow, so if I drove "normal" I could possible get 7,500 miles between oil changes...

I have never heard of a Honda engine this young burning oil. It makes no sense why the engine would be low on oil after only about 6k miles.

 

Yeah, your driving style should make a big difference. Best oil-life would be a vacation road trip - constant 70mph interstate for 500 miles without stopping. Your oil-life calculation might go to 10k or more. But we can't all drive like that all the time.

I agree about the oil usage. My 2003 Accord (same engine & trans) didn't use any oil like that. I was doing 7,000-mile oil changes without needing to add anything. Sold that car at about 63k miles, but we know the people & they haven't complained about anything.

 

142,000 miles on original engine & tranny. Doesn't burn or leak any fluids!

 

The guy at the Quacker State told be that it is b/c the car is used to running on full sun, and I switched to a blend. Anyway, I put full syn in this time, hopefully, this will not happen again. I also had the guy clean out the engine as well, all this crap came out the exhaust, it was kind of nasty. Hopefully, the engine will run better now, we'll see.

 

Don't ever listen to someone who's trying to upsell you anything! That's complete BS!

 

Going back and forth between synthetic and semi is fine you should not see a drastic difference in burning anything. I'm no mechanic but when dealers tell you cars just "naturally" burn oil it's fine I thinks that's BS. The only cars I have known to burn oil regularly are maybe turbos. And stop red-lining all the time, your engine will love you for it.

 

Don't forget the rotary engine

The engine is out of warranty, so I'm screwed regardless. I'm not going to pay to try and find out why the engine is burning oil. I'm just going to accept it for what it is, I was just wondering if anybody here had the same problem, and it does not appear to be the case. I highly doubt there is a leak, b/c I would have seen some type of oil on my driveway or at work where I park for long periods of time.

In terms of "red-lining," this is the reason I bought a Honda, b/c I was under the impression it could take my abuse...only to find out these cars and engines are designed for the family person who doesn't go above 4k rpm and maybe red-line's only every 6 months (if they let their teenager borrow their car).

Probably keep this as a daily driver and get something fun to drive in a couple of years.

 

Don't forget the Sentra Spec V as well (Notorious Oil Hog).

Make no mistake, Honda will take all the abuse you can throw at it! You just have to remember that ANY car will only treat you as good as you treat it! PREVENTIVE maintenance is the key!!