I've been searching and reading forums because my 09 V6 Accord was having some surging/bucking while accelerating. It seemed like a VCM issue.

A lot of posts mentioned oil pressure and VCM.

For some reason, before I left for work today, I thought, 'I should check my oil'.

Having a relatively new car, I rarely check it. I rely on the Maintenance Minder as Honda advises and assume that if I'm low on oil, I'll get some sort of warning. I've owned 15+ cars/trucks in my lifetime and usually only checked the oil to guage the color more than the level.

Anyway, I checked my oil and couldn't believe what I saw. The dipstick was dry!

I was stunned. I checked it 2 or 3 times to make sure it wasn't user error.

My Maintenance Minder says 40% left. I took it to the dealer and they showed my last visit being 7,000 ago. So between then and now I lost enough oil to not register on the dipstick.

The dealer told me that the MM system should not be relied upon, and that they now tell people to come in between 20-30%. That still wouldn't have helped me though.

They put me on the oil consumption test plan and sent me on my way.

I'm feeling like I don't want to mess with all of it though. I'll probably be trading this thing in for something else. This was my first Honda and maybe my last.

I don't see a good outcome. I'm guessing it will continue to consume oil, and at 49k miles, it's nearing the end of the powertrain warranty.

I've always had it serviced at the dealer from day 1, so at least I have documentation of it's care.

My driving mix is probably 40% city/60% Highway. I make a 200 mile round trip twice a month or so with the cruise control set for 2+ hours at a time. I say that because I'm probably using VCM a little more than others and possibly getting a "cool" cylinder bank if that's a contributor (I think it might be).

I think I'll pay for a leakdown test soon if the problem continues and see what the dealer is willing to do.

 

I think you and/or the dealer themseves misunderstand what the Maintenance Minder is all about.

The MM tells you when maintenance is due, including oil changes as well as all the other stuff. Honda should NEVER have told you in the first place to "rely on the Maintenance Minder" for oil level. There's not too many cars that actually have an oil LEVEL sensor at all.

I'm pretty sure the owners manual tells you to check the oil level on the dipstick, and says that the MM cannot substitute FOR THAT CHECK.

Telling people to come in for service at 20% or more is equally silly. First of all, in your case 40% means 7,000 miles on the oil. That's about 6,500 miles TOO LATE for the simple task of looking at your oil dipstick. Checking your oil is never supposed to be on such a long schedule. The dealer never should have told you that you don't have to check the dipstick.

All you needed to do was add some oil, way back when you first (should have) seen it. That's no reason to CHANGE the oil early. Not because of oil INVENTORY. Checking the oil is your responsibility as the car owner.

 

A few comments:

• The only manufacturer that I know for a fact includes an Oil Level indicator in their late model cars is BMW (there may be a few others), that said, as far as I know, Honda has NEVER included oil level indicators in any of their cars.
• Failure to check your oil is in fact user error; that goes for any make or model which doesn't include an Oil Level monitor (such as BMW's system, which by the way I dislike immensely as it eliminates the dip-stick from the engine).
• As Jim correctly stated, the Maintenance Minder (or Monitor) is ONLY to indicate when the oil should be changed and other services performed; it has nothing to do with the oil level.
• The need to check your oil on a periodic basis and the function of the Maintenance Minder is most likely outlined in very clear terms in your Owner's Manual.
• FWIW, most manufacturers, Honda included, use a 1,000 mile per quart of oil consumed metric to determine what is considered "Excessive oil consumption"; it sounds like you're not anywhere near that.

 

My Saabs have oil-level sensors, so I suspect a few GM cars might have it also. Still, it seems to be a minority.

 

Ben_a, welcome to the new Honda! Rather than continuing to make a reliable product that their customers can depend on, Honda has clearly changed their philosophy by putting out vehicles that are less than dependable. The next car that I get may end up with an ‘H’ on the grille, but it will probably stand for Hyundai if that’s the direction I choose to go. After the work performed by the Norm Reeves Honda of Cerritos, my car seems to burn significantly less if no oil at all. The dealership did an amazing job and I appreciate all of the work performed.

The issue that I have is with the Honda Corporation (Honda Care/American Honda) and their patronizing dismissive attitude towards my issue. Over a 2 ½ year period I wrote letters, sent emails and made phone calls only to be told that my vehicle’s behavior is normal. Meanwhile, it took one random Honda Technician on some website to tell me specifically what test I needed performed to determine the cause of my oil consumption issue.

I would expect that Honda would communicate with their dealerships to proactively perform the Leak Down Test for any customer that complains about the oil consumption issue. Clearly it’s a common problem for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Accords.

You don’t need a computer engineering degree to Google search “Honda Accord Oil Consumption” to see that we’re not alone. It’s been a while since I’ve done a search on the issue and sadly I see that the 2011 and 2012 Honda Accords also have a number of complaints pertaining to excessive oil consumption.

I have no idea what went wrong with the company’s philosophy, but somewhere along the way they stopped caring about putting out reliable products.

I wish you the best of luck with the Leak Down Test. I hope that Honda discovers the problem and takes ownership of it.

No offense to anyone who responds Ben’s post or this one. I’m sure you’re all very knowledgeable when it comes to your vehicles, but there is a problem with the Honda Accord and excessive oil consumption.

Even if Ben was checking the oil regularly, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that he would’ve still needed to add oil on intervals at less than a thousand miles to keep the oil level entirely full. If having to add up to a quart of oil every thousand miles is ‘normal’ for a Honda Accord, why doesn’t Honda use that as part of their sales pitch? Let the consumer decide if they want this hassle upfront. But I imagine any consumer that agrees to this burden is probably not in the market for a family sedan, but more so a high performance sports car that you would expect this type of behavior.

 

I agree with the posts that I should check my oil.... And I do infrequently.

BUT (had to add that)

I've owned 15+ cars in my lifetime and NONE have burned through quarts and quarts of oil between service stops.

I've owned Fords with 7500k service intervals and a Jetta that was 10K (IIRC). So I've gone a long time between changes without oil loss. I rely on the manufacturer recommended intervals since they engineered and built the thing (and warrant for defects). I trust them over the grease monkey at the service counter.

I've never pulled the dipstick to have it come up dry. At worst I've seen the oil at the halfway indicator close to needing a change. Maybe I've just been lucky?

My M.O. is that I buy new or low mileage and usually trade off before 75k miles, so I don't stick around to find out what happens to a car after that point. Maybe they burn oil, I don't know. I don't want to know.

I think my conservative driving style has been detrimental to this car. I average 26 MPG on a tank of gas (I keep track at fill-ups). That means I'm keeping the back cylinder bank cool a lot of the time. I'm not a hyper-miler, but i'm not a leadfoot either.

From what I can piece together from the web, deactivated cylinders = cooler temps. Cooler temps are not always good when oil and friction is involved.

I'd be curious to read this technical paper on the subject, but i'm not willing to pay for it:
http://papers.sae.org/2010-01-1098

 

I'd say you've been lucky; consuming a quart of oil every three or four thousand miles is totally normal.

 

I don't know, the last several cars I've owned haven't used that much. Nowhere close to a quart per 1,000 miles. Occasionally I'll have to add a but but normally during a 7500mile OCI it drops far less than the difference between min & max on the dipstick. But I'm usually kinda **** about break-in procedure.

It's probably more accurate to say that a quart per 1,000 miles is the point where Honda will admit it's unacceptable.

 

I had started noticing oil consumption (4 cyl) and also had a cold start rattle"

Took the car to the dealer and the vtc actuator has been changed. They saw no oil leaks and suggest the bad vtc actuator could be contributing to oil consumption.

Has anyone seen oil burning go away or get better once the vtc actuator has been changed?

 

I deleted that last two posts in this thread. Lets not got there folks....OK. Thank you. If you want to take the conversation to the Off Topic section and keep it CLEAN, then have at it.