Hi, have a 95 Accord 2.2 liter VTEC with 290,000 miles. Please don't flame me for the mention of oil or whatever for oil threads, think this is a legitimate question.Just got back from a 1200 mile round trip vacation might as well say it was 70 M.P.H the whole way. It was from Cincinnati, Ohio to Washington DC there were some long and steep hills but don't travel a whole lot so have no way to judge how hilly it was.

I just changed the oil and filter today and not sure if it was my imagination or not but it sure seemed the filter weighed more than normal. The filter probably only had 1,000 miles on it before the trip. I run oil 10,000 miles with a filter change at 5,000 miles. Want to get as much out of this car as possible. Could the weight be carbon and if that is the case does that mean anything in terms of longevity of motor? Think it burned about a half a quart to a quart of oil on trip. Might be a silly question but want to keep it as long as possible and have a few other trips in mind would like to take my car. What do you think, heavy oil filter high speed long trip does it mean anything? Normally it will burn 2 to 2.5 quarts of oil in 10,000 miles.

Thank you for your time.

 

I don't know how to answer the oil filter weight. I'd recommend weighing a new filter and weigh the filters after you remove them and let the oil drain out.

You have a high mileage engine and you are losing a decent amount of oil. I'd suggest trying to figure out if you are leaking oil or burning oil. A cylinder burning oil will leave a white crust on the center electrode, insulator, and side electrode. Pull your spark plugs to see if there is evidence of oil burning.

For oil leaks, you may want to wipe off any oil and grime off the engine. Get it as clean as possible without taking a hose to the engine. Spray something like athlete's foot powder on the clean surface. Drive the car an inspect periodically to see if you can see staining on the block to locate an oil leak.

 

Yes, it burns oil have seen the white crust you spoke about on spark plugs. Am fairly confident there are no oil leaks. Guess am wanting a crystal ball to see how long this car will last. Would you be concerned about the amount of oil burned?

 

If you're interested in your engine's condition, I'm a fan of occasionally having an oil sample analyzed. These days, modern oils & etc, the black color of used oil doesn't mean much. Analysis will tell you if it still has the right viscosity & if there's stuff in there like silicon or aluminum or fuel or antifreeze.

One zero-cost way of checking sludge building up in your oil; next time you change oil, take a wire or something & make it into a thin loop. Stick it into the drain hole and sweep it around inside the oil pan. You're looking for muddy crap laying on the bottom of the pan. Worst case, chunks of stuff laying in there. If you're more motivated, you can take off the valve cover & look around up there.

10k miles on a 95 Honda seems like a pretty long oil-change interval. I don't want to start a war about oil brands, but what oil do you use? No matter how "good" the oil is, there can be reasons to change it that are more related to picking up impurities.

The amount of oil burned isn't going to shock anyone. I think most car companies don't consider it unusual loss until it exceeds something like a quart per 1000 miles. What's more concerning is allowing the oil level to drop low without you knowing it. Doesn't sound like you're one of those people who never check their oil...

 

Have had oil analysis done and results nothing to be concerned about. One of the reasons the change interval is so long each time had analysis done kept reading the same thing lots of life left in this oil. Figure with 290,000 miles change the filter at 5,000 miles and new oil at 10,000 miles should be fine. Use Mobil 1 oil 5w30 EP. Hope nobody minds but one interesting article that was read stated new oil is loaded with detergents that actually cause more wear than old motor oil. Is that true to some degree I think maybe. Check levels once a week at fill-up.

Oil burning, that is what I hoped would tell me when to get a newer car but the more that is read and talked about there is no 100% way to tell if the motor is going to last 1,000 miles or 100,000 miles.

 

My wife's car burns almost a quart in 2000 miles, but we're also using conventional oil in it (High Mileage formulation). We keep an eye on it, as it's got 235K miles on it. So if you burned 1/2 quart in 1200 miles, then you're doing about the same as us. It's when it burns a full quart in 1K miles that you need to start thinking about doing something. You could do a compression test to determine if 1 or more cylinders is down compared to the others. And a leak down test will tell you condition of the valve seats and rings (to help determine where the oil is coming from that's being burnt).

As for whether or not it'll go 1000 or 10,000 miles is more determined by things like timing belt changes (when was it last done?) more than anything else. I say that as these are interference engines, and a timing belt that breaks does havoc to the inside (anything from damaged pistons to bent valves). Timing belt changes are supposed to every 60K or 6 years.
YMMV.

 

Normally 2 to 2.5 quarts are lost in 10,000 miles. There is a speed point where it starts burning more oil and believe it is about 65 M.P.H and above. Plus, 70 M.P.H and the Alleghenies mountains that had to be crossed to get to DC.

 

Back to your original question, I think that if your oil filter had enough carbon to notice a weight difference, then your engine would have serious problems. You could cut open the oil filter and see what is inside.

Your engine is high mileage and showing signs of wear with the oil burning on the spark plugs. At that mileage, I'd suggest just keeping 4 quarts of oi in the trunk and check the oil when you make stops during your road trips.

You may want to do a compression test and maybe test the oil pressure. With 300k miles on the engine, I'd say a used low mileage engine is your best bet when your engine starts having issues.