Rep Power: 0

OK so I had an issue with no heat months upon months ago. That was fixed after the dealership under warranty replaced the VTec solenoid, radiator, head gasket, thermostat, spark plugs.

Now the car is having an oil consumption problem. We have been tracking it, I bring the damn thing to the dealership every 500 miles to have it checked and topped off. It is burning a 1/2 a quart every 500 miles and he submitted these results to Honda of America before deciding to tear the motor to find the issue. Honda claims that with my 2002 Civic EX Coupe at 70,000 miles that 1/2 a quart every 500 is within ACCEPTABLE usage limits.

Now that blows my mind cause to me I would never have to change my oil. Every 500 to a 1/2 = 3 quarts every 3,000 miles. So essentially I only have to change a filter??? This problem is really pissing me off now as I commute to work everday and the only time I can get to the dealership to check it out is Saturdays before 12 noon. So because of Honda of America not letting these guys check things out I have to suffer! And to top it off my warranty expires in 30k so I really don't want to be stuck with bad rings at 101k cause that is way to expensive to deal with.

The car runs fine until it gets low on oil, no smoking whatsoever, no leaks anywhere. My only conclusion is that it is the rings but we can't know until Honda allows more work on the engine. At this point I'm ready to drain or siphon oil out of the car before I go to the dealership so it is outside of their ludicrous acceptable limits!


Help!

P.S.- the dealership I have been working with along with the service advisor have been awesome, the best ever, and not once have they been jerks, right now its in American Honda's power.

 
Rep Power: 303

No, that's excessive for any modern engine.
It probably fried the rings from a hotspot in the engine. Of course they'll try to get out of it.

You know.... it's astounding what Honda seems to label as "Acceptable" these days.....

 
Rep Power: 324

that is silly. my 01 with 80k burns about 1/2 a quart every 3500-4000 miles

 
Rep Power: 0

Wanna hear something even funnier!

I called American Honda and they even confirmed this information. They also told me that I can authorize an engine teardown to find the problem but if no problem is found then I have to foot the bill for the teardown. I said, "ok, so what happens if the oil level is considered excessive?" Well the guy informed me that they could if I wanted do a teardown but again, that if nothing was found then it would be up to me to pay for the labor of the teardown.

So for those of you who don't follow cause it took me a minute to discern this. No matter if I am in the Acceptable or Excessive limits of oil usage according to American Honda, I still have to foot the bill if nothing is found by the technician. Wow I'm so glad I got that warranty, lol. So I said to the man on the phone "So me getting this oil consumption tested is basically a joke because no matter what the outcome is, there is nothing that will be done to my car for this issue that I will be 100% free of paying for even with my warranty." He told me that is correct.

Solution: Top the oil off, throw a bottle of restore in the car, sell it off, pay my loan and take the leftover cash and get a different car because I do not want to own this car in a year with 100k on it, no warranty and an oil consumption problem that could be worse.

American Honda Policy
Acceptable:
1 quart of oile every 1,000 miles

Excessive:
More than 1 quart every 1,000 miles

 
Rep Power: 303

WOW! That's just nuts. And you already KNOW they WON'T find anything.

Yep, try restore and sell it. Crap, my 85 nissan truck burns half a quart in 4000 miles or more. And it has 170k on it!!

What the hell happened to Honda???

 
Rep Power: 259

Honda's acceptable amount of burnt oil is ludicrous. I have a 1991 Honda Civic DX with 226k miles on it and it burns maybe 1/2 quart every 3k miles.

 
Rep Power: 0

Yeah the plan I am workin on now is to sell it. Ill ask 12k and take no less than 10k for it. I need at least that so I can have a down payment towards my next car. I am lookin at the 2001-2002 Lexus IS300 preferrably in graphite gray, for some reason I love this car

 
Rep Power: 0

Just a thought you could try a leak down test to see if the rings are bad and then stuff it in there face.

 
Rep Power: 0

How do I do a leak down test, please more info would be very beneficial.

 
Rep Power: 0

You have to get a leak down tester. Its kinda like a compression tester but it stays open to watch the air bleed by the rings. You could always buy or rent one.

 
Rep Power: 0

Wouldn't Honda just do that??? Why cant they I mean it sounds simple enough. Should I ask my dealer if he would try it out.

 
Rep Power: 0

One would think so but if its in there specs then why would they bother. This is more for you to show them a test done that showed poor results. That is if it shows up after the test in all. Either way good luck.