97EX

Any ideas as to why my car is burning ALOT of oil? I bought the car about 2 months ago, gave it an oil change a few weeks after that. And my oil light came on the other day and I checked it, and had absolutely no oil. I dont have any oils spots on my driveway and had a quick look under the hood but couldn't get a good look under the engine as I have lowered the car since I last gave it an oil change. I have no clue. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

imported_chris_v2

do a compression test.

if you dont know how to do one, do a search, or pm me or something. This test will tell you how your engine is internally.

1sloweg

It still could be burning oil and have good compression. Valve seals could be shot.... it depends on the circumstances on which it will actually burn oil. If you go out on a cold start does a big poof of blue smoke come out..... or as you coast down and give it throttle does it blow smoke..... all things to consider

eurovento

x2 on the compression test.

Worn valve seals wouldn't cause most of t he oil in the engine to burn off like he described I don't think.

97EX

I did a compression test. the cylinder closest to the driver's side is down 20 psi from the others. I never noticed smoke before. However, after letting it idle for 5 mins. then punching the gas, it did blow some smoke. After about 15-20 seconds it stopped again.

1sloweg

This is the problem with this forum. Obviously you have little to zero engine building experience or automotive repair experiance at all. Valve seals will most definantly cause a great loss of oil..


what are the readings on all the cylinders..... i could do a cylinder leak down test for you no problems, gimmie a pm

imported_Cablerat

To properly diagnose oil burning issues, you need to do both a compression test and leakdown test.

20 PSI less on a cylinder is not good, but it's not horrible either. I would re-test everything "wet test"; This time pour a little bit of oil in the chambers. For the bad cylinder, see if the compression improves significantly you know that it's most likley due to piston rings.

Leakdown tests will help identify overall leakage and where the leakage is coming from. You will hear it leaking either from the intake manifold, exhaust pipe or oil pan. That with the percentage of leakage will help you identify how bad the situation is.

Bottom line in the end, if you have no intentions of fixing anything now, no point testing anything. You just need to be aware of how bad it is.. So, next time top up your oil and then track your mileage to see how fast your loosing oil. If it's significant, start using 20W50 in the summer time. It will help drastically and is fine during the summer months. Once winter comes a long make sure you go back to 10W30.. Don't waste your time with 5W30 in a oil burner, it's like lighting money on fire 1 4.4L jug at a time.

imported_janz3n

my last engine would burn 20w50 like it was 5w30.. it was great.

imported_chris_v2

Yes it would.

97EX

Ya, I've been using 5W30. I assumed because the oil cap says to use that, that I should.

imported_janz3n

things change when you start to burn oil. try the 20w50. thats what im using next , i go threw about a liter every week and a half depending on how im driving.

imported_Cablerat

5W30 is the recommended oil from honda however, I've always only used 10W30 without any problems.

I even don't change oil until around 10-12K as recommended on the airbox. My Girlfriend's EG which we bought @ like 130K now is almost at 300K has always been running 10W30 and 10-12K oil changes without any issues for 6 years and still counting.

20W50 again, will be just fine until you hit the fall/winter months. Switch over and you will notice a drastic improvement.