Hi,

I ran the search for Excessive Oil Consumption and nothing matching my problem came up.

My Accord is a 2002 /SE model which I bought 2nd hand 2.5 years ago. Since then it's run very well and not required anything other than the usual maintenance, which I did religeously. About 6 weeks ago the Check Engine lamp came on and Honda of Canada (Richmond Honda) diagmosed it as ... ahem ... low oil. I hadn't been checking it because I thoughtthe car was as tight as a drum and could easily survive the 3000 miles between checks.

The car was serviced - about 5 weeks ago now and they said to check the oil again in a month. I checked and it was down 2 LITRES again!!

Beyond putting my snout to the exhaust pipe and sniffing for burning oil and looking for drips under the car I don't know what else to check. Has anyone heard of a problem like this where the car isn't burning or leaking it from the usual places?

Cheers

Rod

 

How well was it taken care of prior to your ownership? Was it a lease vehicle? Can you get service records from the dealer or previous owner? If the oil wasnt changed for a long period of time, bad things can happen to seals and the like.

 

What weight oil do you use? Mine burns a little using 5w-XX (maybe a quart per month). I switched to 10w-30 about three weeks ago and it hasn't used a drop.

 

are you using synthetic or dino oil? I tried running synthetic through mine and it burned out in under 2k miles. also try a high mileage oil with all the seal conditioners and see if that makes a difference.

 

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies, all very useful. I think I can get the vehicle history from Richmond Honda. They seem to know what's been done to the car, but always seem shy about giving me any more than I need to know.

I've been filling it with 5W20 - written on the oil filler cap. Yesterday I stuck my finger in the tailpipe and it came out black and very oily. So there is a lot of oil being blown down the pipe. I tried it with a '98 Accord in the work parking lot and it came out dry, but sooty, of course. (Please don't tell people I've been sticking my fingers into the tailpipes of strange cars!)

I think it will mean a trip to the shop, though. Tkundert's suggestion to try 10W30 will be my next shot at it. But this one could be expensive. Fooey.

Rod

 

It might be worthwhile to change your PCV valve. A faulty PVC could cause excess oil consumption.

 

I read this as "Please don't tell people I've been sticking my finger in their tailpipes..." and it made me laugh pretty good....

As for your issues I'd agree with PAhonda, I'd switch to a 10w30 oil (non-synthetic) and change the pcv valve and go from there... those are both cheap things to test/try...

 

Thanks to all. I'll give those two simple things a try and see what happens.

Regards

Rod

 

[/quote]
... those are both cheap things to test/try...
[/quote]

First rule of troubleshooting: Always do the cheap, easy things first!

 

Another good test is to check the condition of the spark plugs, in this case oil fouling. It'll pinpoint the cylinder that is burning oil. And if you want to go further, a compression test will give an idea of the cylinders, valves, rings, etc.condition.

How many miles are we talking??