Are you burning oil?

[JK47Si]

I am. About 1/2 quart every 1000 miles.

I have 94,000 miles on my 100% stock, daily driven Si. 75% of my driving is on the highway. I began to notice the oil consumption at about 88,000 miles. Until then, I never burned a drop.

I have personally maintained my car since I bought it new in 2003: oil changes with 5W20 Pennzoil Conventional motor oil every 3,000 miles, new Honda oil filter every 6,000 miles, all other recommended maintenance per the manual (if not sooner than recommended).

I’ve had only one problem with the car: The catalytic converter went at 84,000 miles and I replaced it myself with a used cat with ~12,000 miles.

I baby my car and I’m very surprised that I’m burning oil this soon. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

[4angrybadgers]

5w20 is too thin - go to 5w30. And why are you changing out the filter at every other oil change? Change it with the oil, or if you ever do extended oil change intervals, possibly more often.

[mikebigh]

i use mobil 1 5 20 synthetic only. New Honda oil filter every 3000 miles. If you run heavier oil its not good for the head. 5 30 isnt that much thicker, but the oil holes inthe cam are tiny, and we need thinner oil, even if you blow by a quart every 3000. Since new I have used a quart every 3000, I beat the crap out of it, runs like new at 107 k.

[Fico]

i use mobil 1 5 20 synthetic only. New Honda oil filter every 3000 miles. If you run heavier oil its not good for the head. 5 30 isnt that much thicker, but the oil holes inthe cam are tiny, and we need thinner oil, even if you blow by a quart every 3000. Since new I have used a quart every 3000, I beat the crap out of it, runs like new at 107 k.

actualy,no, we need 5w30, 5w20 was used by honda to improve the gasmilage and emissions, after alot of cam failures with it they reccomend 5w30:mwink:

[talonXracer]

Use 5w30 only

You are just seeing the wear that is contributable to 5w20 oil useage, just as if you have been redlining the engine every shift, you are seeing accelerated ring wear. You might want to check the valvetrain for cam lobe damage as well.

[RedSiBaron]

Use 5w30 only

You are just seeing the wear that is contributable to 5w20 oil useage, just as if you have been redlining the engine every shift, you are seeing accelerated ring wear. You might want to check the valvetrain for cam lobe damage as well.

actually after taking your advice over a year ago and switching to 5w30 and after running RP for a period ive noticed more even clean cam wear since when i got the car...before i t was not even shiney wear, it was starting to gaul it appeared, but now its all even and no sign of gauling whatsoever...


see now in my case, cuz i use RP, i use a qt about every 2k, but as talonxracer would agree, its cuz rp likes to burn off and find every little crack to leak out of...

[talonXracer]

actually after taking your advice over a year ago and switching to 5w30 and after running RP for a period ive noticed more even clean cam wear since when i got the car...before i t was not even shiney wear, it was starting to gaul it appeared, but now its all even and no sign of gauling whatsoever...


see now in my case, cuz i use RP, i use a qt about every 2k, but as talonxracer would agree, its cuz rp likes to burn off and find every little crack to leak out of...

Glad that has worked well for you. The thicker 5w30 coats the cam lobes better and protects the metal from overheating and galling.

[lleron]

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t69/lleron/DSCF0728.jpg

This is what 5w20 does to our cams... I bought the car with ~90k and the guy who owned it before me had the oil changed every 3k miles at honda.

[mikebigh]

actualy,no, we need 5w30, 5w20 was used by honda to improve the gasmilage and emissions, after alot of cam failures with it they reccomend 5w30:mwink:

No shit!! Guess I've been away from here for too long.

[talonXracer]

Honda will not officially change the recommendations, but the stealerships have for the most part(unofficially of course). If Honda was to change the recommendations officially, then it would be liable for back tax's, tariff fees and penaltys.

[JK47Si]

Thank you for your advice.

If I change to 5W30 weight oil now (at 94,000 miles), could it do any harm to the engine? Would it be okay to change to a 5W30 synthetic oil such as Mobil 1?

[03Si757]

Once you change to synthetic, do not switch back to conventional oil and youll be better off, it should not hurt you engine. Best bet is to go to Mobil 1 5-30 or Amsoil or Royal Purple.

[RedSiBaron]

Once you change to synthetic, do not switch back to conventional oil and youll be better off, it should not hurt you engine. Best bet is to go to Mobil 1 5-30 or Amsoil or Royal Purple.

if you can run amsoil, im considering switching to it, but dont run mobile 1, run royal purple if you cant get amsoil...

[talonXracer]

Once you change to synthetic, do not switch back to conventional oil and youll be better off, it should not hurt you engine. Best bet is to go to Mobil 1 5-30 or Amsoil or Royal Purple.


There is absolutely no harm done to your engine if you switch types of oil. All you have to do is adjust your OCI to match the type oil used.

[03Si757]

Theres no harm in Mobil 1, Iv always used it in all my vehicles and havnt had any issues.

[SiR R8TD]

Theres no harm in Mobil 1, Iv always used it in all my vehicles and havnt had any issues.

Same here. Now I run Mobil1 & it's great. I used to run Castrol Syntec when I had my A3. It burned quickly & came out a little frothy when it was time for a change. I add 1L every 5,000km w/ my Z1 now that I'm running Mobil1.