For over a year my oil has been consistently decreasing. Every few weeks I'll check and find its low (again). Its not leaking; that is to say, there is no obvious leak, no oil spots on my garage floor. I have discovered my oil to be very low a few times and naturally I'm concerned about what damage may have been done. Once, the oil light came on steady, and fortunately I was right by a gas station where I pulled over immedately. I checked and the oil level barely registered on the dip stick (really made me feel like an ***).

Three times in the last month or two the oil light has started to blink. The first time I immediately pulled over and checked the oil but it was full (I had just changed the oil two weeks prior). But yesterday when it starting blinking again, the oil level was just below the low-mark on the dip stick. All three times when it started blinking it stopped when the car was turned off and restarted. All three times I had just taken a quick turn.

I can't figure out if the disappearing oil has anything to do with the blinking light, or if the two are unrelated.

Anyone have a hunch as to a likely cause or what to check for the decreasing oil level?
Does the computer log the cause of the bliking oil light? There must be a difference between comming on steady and blinking, so the car's computer knows something. If I go to AutoZone and they use the code reader would this show up with some more detailed info?

Thanks much for any input.

140,000 miles

 

I had a feeling this was going to be a 2003 Accord from the title. You may have two problems. If you are low on oil during a turn is the most likely time the oil light will come on as the oil in the pan is no longer at its highest level around the oil pump pick up. Of the Accords with the mysterious oil consumption most are 2003 Accord. Honda considers one quart per thousand miles normal. My 2003 sucked up quarts of oil over a few days and not many miles. Driving it home from Home Depot the check engine light came on and I stopped at AutoZone which was the same parking lot and they got the code for the cam sensor. A few blocks later it blew up with timing chain tensioner failed from lack of oil according to the dealership. The oil light never came on.

For the oil consumption I would try a PCV. I got a used engine with 2000 miles on it and it was really going through oil until I replaced the PCV. I think it was off the old engine as it is screwed into a bracket they reused. It doesn’t use any noticeable amount of oil now. It may have been just the oil consumption from the engine sitting since 2005(I wanted to get away from the 2003 engines). The oil light coming on while the oil is full may be a bad oil pressure sender, the passage is clogged or you may have low oil pressure. The oil pump pickup screen could be getting or is clogged.

 

Please let us know what you find?

 

OK Chris, thank you very much for your reply. I went to AutoZone last night and bought a PCV. For $14 I figured it couldn't hurt. I would have also put in a new Pressure Switch ($9) but they didn't stock them. It will take a few weeks to determine if the PCV has had any effect.

The guy at the store seemed pretty knowledgeable and also said that the PCV would be a likely culprit. If the pressure in the crankcase is too high it will push oil into the cyclinders. I'll let you know.

Joe

 

Hi guys. Have been reading through the high oil consumption posts and wanted to add my 2 cents.

Guess what car I have? Yes, a 2003 4cyl EX with 98k miles and I am going through 2.5 qts in 2000 miles. No leaks, no exhaust smoke or oily smell. So far all I have tried is new plugs, filters and switching from synthetic back to dino oil. No noticeable change. I was about to do a compression check to look for bad valve stems or piston rings, but thought I would check the forums first.

Chris, your description of Honda's response to your warranty request is EXACTLY what they told me too, except they said I would be up for $800 dollars if they didn't find anything wrong.

Joe, have you had any luck with the replacement PCV?

Thanks

 

I would change the PCV. I got a used 2005 Accord motor put in my 2003 and it went through oil like crazy until I replaced the PCV, now no noticeable loss. It had only 2000 miles and been sitting since 2005 at the junk yard and may have just needed some miles for the loss to end, who knows. The PCV is screwed into a bracket and may have been off the old motor and did rattle. I have a friend with a 2003 Accord that went 200,000 before losing oil at an extremely high rate and the slack adjuster failed like mine.

 

Got a new pcv valve today and will install this weekend. I'll post up with some 'results' in the coming months. I performed the inspection check as shown in the fsm on the current valve and I could not hear it clicking, although the engine noise may have masked that.

On a side note, this valve set me back $21 from the dealer (none of the aftermarket stores had them), compared to $7 for my Toyota. It's amazing the difference between manufacturers for a part that does the exact same thing.

 

I bought this car brand new and never had any work (even an oil change) done anywhere but Honda. At 98k miles, I took it to a different Honda dealership for an oil change while out of town on business, this dealer noted NOTHING regarding the car being low on oil. Not too long afterward, the oil light came on and the car was running a little rough, which I told my usual Honda service dept when I took it in for the next oil change at 101k miles...1k miles after my warranty was up. I was told the screen was clogged, and I could not even drive the car away, it would blow up the engine. So, I paid the $500 and thought that was that. Again, the oil light came on, I checked the oil and added a quart, when I took it in again, I asked the technician to let me know if it was low. Nothing registering on the dipstick, and 1.5 quarts in the car!!! The dealer kept my car for a week, only to call and say the lower portion of the engine needs to be rebuilt now and we'll see if Honda will cover part of this. All of which amazed me since I felt I'd taken great pains to take care of the car and had no plans on having a worthless engine at 100k miles, that's actually why I spent more money on a Honda. The cost of repairs started at $8300, then to $4000, then finally $2200, which according to the dealer was "the Honda rep's FINAL OFFER." A truly offensive way to be treated. The general manager of the dealership then offered me what he called a good deal on trading it. I am somewhat out of options given that I am upside down on what is now a worthless car. Has anyone else had this problem and perhaps there is a class action lawsuit? I feel like I'm getting the run around since I am a woman. Please let me know if any of this is familiar!!! Thanks.

 

Just an update to this thread regarding my PCV valve replacement.

So far I've done 1500 miles with no drop in oil level. Yay! First time in over a year. So, I'm close to assuming that the new PCV valve has fixed the issue, but I'm going to continue to monitor the situation for a few thousand miles more. I'll update again in the future.

 

Well, last Friday the engine started stalling when at idle. It would restart so I limped it home. CEL came on with P0341 Camshaft sensor. After letting the engine cool down completely I attempted a restart only to have the timing chain slip completely off the vtc gear and it missed timed by 90°. Mileage is at 99680 and my extended warranty expires at 100000. 1 tank of gas to go! I called Honda Care and they towed it to the nearest dealer where it has now been sitting waiting for an adjuster to come out to inspect it. Apparently Honda Care just turn up when ever they feel like it, they won't schedule a time to inspect my car. Pathetic service.
Over the phone they requested all my oil change records, for which I have only four business receipts prior to doing all maintenance myself. Would you believe they will not accept my personal records without seeing the purchase receipts for the oil and filters? I am furious about this whole situation.

I'm pretty certain this timing chain failure is directly related to the high oil consumption issue. Honda Care had the opportunity to fix this when I first contacted them 25000 miles ago, but instead they chose the self serving attitude and threatened me with the high cost of repair. Now, a predicable problem has occurred and again, the customer comes last.

This is the thing that annoys me most. Honda Care claim that a quart of oil used in 1000 miles is 'normal'. Since the oil capacity is 4.2 qts, that means that it is normal to burn through ALL the oil in less than 5000 miles!!! And the maintenance schedule in the fsm for oil changes is 10,000! WFT?