My 2003 Accord which I purchased new used about a quart per 1500 miles than at 100,000 suddenly went to 1 quart per 1000. A few weeks later it blew up with the valves hitting the pistons. Honda Dealer said it was very low on oil during the teardown but it was checked and topped off 80 miles before the failure. The check engine light came on during the 6 miles return trip from Home Depot, I stopped at Autozone which is in the same parking lot to find out the code was for the cam timing sensor. I decided to get it home and go to the dealer and get a replacement sensor. It made it about two miles. The oil light never came on, no smoke or warning it just blew up. I found out later that with low oil pressure that can throw the code for the cam sensor. The only warning I had prior to it blowing up was slow cranking, but on one of the real cold days it wouldn’t crank at all at first than started and it had a brand new battery. This was a week or so before the end. Honda says what happened is impossible and found no evidence of an oil leak. They blamed the failure on low oil and with checking it 80 miles before(two days) and the oil light not coming on I would have never thought to check it.

 

WOW!

i come back to find stuff about a 99 that's gulping more oil than mine.. and the 03 that spontaneously exploded.. sheesh..


anyway.. mine has NO symptoms of slow cranking, MINIMAL valve clatter (only loudish on startups.. but goes away as it warms up) and everything else is perfectly fine and dandy actually.. no check engine lights at all except for some misfires from my old plugs.. replaced the plugs, cap, and rotor.. no more engine light..


I just took a trip today.. and put about 250 miles on the car in less than 12 hours.. doing 70 for the majority of the way.. i replaced the PCV valve before the trip.. and i'm about to go check the oil level.. it was full before i left..

I'll keep you all posted on if it's changed any..


~Moddage

 

Okay.. i checked my oil levels and it appears to still be disappearing somewhere.. :/

from the upper hole/mark down to the middle between the two marks after 250 miles of driving.. most of it was at around 2700rpm..

any ideas?

~Moddage

 

I wish I knew where all of my oil went in 80 miles or why the oil light didn't come on.