2007Civic

I have a 07 Civic LX and found that it was burning 3L of oil in 6 months. I probably driven 8000km from my last oil change. I am your typical average driver - abide to speed limits and never race.

I am very disappointed that such a highly rated vehicle in its category could possibly be so inefficient in oil consumption.

Is this normal? Is anyone else experiencing bad oil consumption in their Hondas?

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

wow no its not normal. hondas almost never burn oil. i have an 02 with 88k miles and it doesnt burn anything. its always at full. are you sure you dont have any leak, bc i remember some of those car had a recall for oil problems. its still under warranty? try switching to hi mileage 5w30 oil like valvoline maxlife i bet it will help you some.

lilmidget08

yea there are recalls or service bullitens on oil leaks on that car. bring it into the dealer to have them take a look at it. i have a 99 with 135000 on it and i beat it daily and i never burn a drop of oil. you definately got a situation there.

2007Civic

Thanks for the advice guys.
I already brought it into the dealership. They didn't find any leaks. Don't know what else the problem could be. The 15 year old Ford that I had didn't even have engine oil burning problems. Over 3L of engine oil is ridiculous on a one year old Civic!

The engine oil light never went on, but I suspect that when it does, the damage would have been done. Is there a way to check myself if there's been any transmission damage from the low level of oil?

lilmidget08

low engine oil will not damage your trans. and its hard to diag a oil leak through the internet lol. umm i dont know what to tell ya. im assuming you dont see any oil spots in your driveway. are you blowing any smoke out the tailpipe... try driving your car with a friend in another car behind you and try driving a little rough, have your friend tell you if you are blowing smoke when you accelerate hard. maybe you have a bad seal internally???

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

if there is no leak, its burning oil for sure. could be that somehow the engine was not broken in properly and is now leaking tons of oil past the piston rings and valve seals (inside the engine). if they sold you this car used, i bet they knew and thought they could pass off a lemon to you. so hopefully they take care of it, which right now sounds like thousands of $$ rebuilding the engine.

rmc092

I have an 07 LX. I change my own oil (Mobile1 now) and was putting many miles on in short time last year (NH to NJ weeek after week). After about 7k I checked the level and the oil didn't even register on the stick. Since I was changing the oil at 8k, i had to add about a half quart and this brought me almost half way on the dipstick. I never had this with conventional oil with any new car I have owned. This is the first car I have used synthetic with any of my cars. A friend of mine has an si and he said the same thing about oil consumption (hate to use the term burned) when he changed over to synthetic

Did you verify the oil was at the proper level a the time of the last oil change? How often and and how much at each interval are you adding?

I agree with gearbox. Three quarts in that time is way too extreem. Did you buy it new or used? Sounds like you got a lemon.

johng35

I know that the R18 is not recommended to run full synthetics.
I read an article about Mobil 1 full syn when is first hit the markets that some engines are not designed to run so "tight" that the full syn could cause higher than normal fuel consupmtion as they do not allow proper break in.

I think the R18 was designed to be more fuel conscious than the K20 , so it might be a "looser" engine. Try standard or semi synth oil for a bit, but the break period might be too late.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

yeah that goes for any engine warning against synthetic for the breakin period. i personally would not use synthetic at all. why not use a proven conventional? its cheaper, it works, and valvoline is even bragging about their 300k mile engine warranty. synthetic usually causes too many problems.