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Hi all,

I think my Civic is burning oil. Every couple of weeks I have to check the level and sure enough, it drops a little. I checked the oil drain plug, filter and they're dry. Can it be the rings? Would 5-30 help?

Thanks!

 
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Here is simple test, when you accelerate hard do you see purplish smoke come out of the exhaust pipe? If so than Yes your car is burning oil.

When was the last time you changed your oil, what intervals?

 
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Sorry double post

 
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what he said. do you drive above 4k rpms alot? some oil burning is normal with these motors but it shouldnt be much to notice, maybe 1/4 qt every month or so. if its not leaking and youre losing alot of oil, its prolly burning off. switching oil to a higher weight often helps "fix" oil leaks, but in your case i doubt it would help if nothing is being lost.

 
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Hi guys and thanks for responding!

I do mostly highway driving and rarely, and I do mean rarely, hit 4K rpm. It just burns oil. The car does have 123K on it though.

Setho, I use Mobil1 and change it twice a year. But I'm constantly adding because of the burning.
NOTE: Before switching to Mobil1, I used regular 5-20 with the same results.

 
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Twice a year thats your problem right there. Change you oil + filter every 5,000 Km on the dot.

 
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Before with reg oil, I changed every 3K miles. But with Mobil1, I'm going to 5K. Besides, the manual says that under normal conditions, mostly highway, little stop and go city driving, recommended oil intervals can go to 10K. So, I'm changing way lower than that.

 
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ehh i have been going 6 months 6k miles and sometimes 8 months if i dont drive as much. engine is in pristine condition. 5k is the normal change interval for conventional, and synth is higher upto 10k but you still should change the filter sooner. i use conventional with LC20 additive which preserves the oil until 10k miles. anyone who changes oil at 3k is throwing money away and wasting perfectly good oil.

 
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I use amsoil full synthetic 0w-20 and I don't plan on changing more than once every 15-20K miles. :-)

 
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thats fine but 0w20 is a bit thin for a regular civic imo, even a hybrid. and the gas mileage increase is almost non-existant. im hoping that it will at least provide better heat protection being that it is a real synthetic.

 
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Thanks again guys, but what do you think it's burning oil? Should I try 5-30?

 
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i dont think heavier oil will help anything. its something in the engine requiring it to be rebuilt (valve guides or piston rings). happens as a result of the engine getting old. you can do a compression test and if the pressure is low, its the rings. i would recommend just switching to valvoline maxlife 5w30 hi mileage oil if you cant afford engine repairs. its actually what i use now and my car has 88k miles. if its the valve guide seals gone bad, thats actually not a costly repair. try changing the oil first, if it doesnt help then as a last report try an engine oil additive at the store designed to help reduce burning.

 
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Thanks for the advice! I'll try the least expensive route first!

Oh, when burning oil, does it reduce mileage? I noticed a drop. I used to get 35-38 mpg and now it's 32-35.

 
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yeah, because too much burning oil will cause the spark plugs to foul out or at least make them work less efficiently.

 
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I hope the heavier oil and/or additives help.

Thanks!

 
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Yup, that's good advice there. I have 180,000 kms on my engine and also use Mobil1 synthetic, and have decided that it is not my friend. I have to add almost a quart every month. Although, I also have a small pan gasket leak. When I was using the Honda oil, I had no problems. It seems as if the synthetic caused more problems, if anything.

 
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my pan started to leak last year a tiny bit too just enough to cover the pan with oil and burn it off. it stopped when i switched from 5w20 to 5w30. i think the 20 weight is just too thin for these motors, esp over 75k miles. the motor just becomes "looser" and tolerance isnt as tight as new. so usually a slightly thicker oil at higher mileage does well. the maxlife is prolly the best hi mileage oil in terms of the additives inside and the moly. i would not recommend a full synthetic to anyone. i changed my oil around september for the first time with maxlife 5w30 and its been 6 months now, the oil level is still at the top.

 
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UPDATE: I added the oil treatment (it's thick!) and I also bought the Maxlife 5-30 as per your recommendation. I'll use it at my next oil change. In the meantime, I hope the additive helps.

 
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....

 
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if nothing helps, its just old age and eventually you will need to overhaul the engine with new valve guides and piston rings. prolly cheaper to swap in a whole new motor tho at that point. the oil burn will just continue to get worse. once it starts using a quart every 500 miles, its time to think about a new motor.

 
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New motor? Isn't 123K 'nothing' for these engines? It's a Honda for goodness sake. Don't get me wrong, I'm not arguing with you. It's just the thought of getting a new motor doesn't sound 'hondish' to me.

 
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eh well thats if it gets worse. you may not need to worry for another 200k miles. its really just luck and driving style. certain engines last longer than others. cars are so complicated its a wonder more things dont break all the time. and dont worry low mileage D17s usually go for $600 not expensive at all, and maybe $1k to install it. how much oil does it use now?

 
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Checking every week and adding to the loss. I have to add about a quart a month. I hope the 5-30 works! BTW, I have the HX with CVT.

 
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hahahahaha!
good thinking. i like working on sludged up engines! there are sooo many parts to replace. thanks for giving me work!

i think all hondas use oil. i know i go through about a quart about every 6 weeks. i don't mind adding oil though, it gives the engine more fresh oil.
i have a small leak somewhere, (collects on oil pan) but i can't find it. i've done the pan gasket 3 times, the front and rear crank, the cam, valve cover, etc. i can't find it. i gave up. i get oil for free so i don't really care.
oh yeah, my car sees 4-7000 rpm alot! many times a day!

 
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UPDATE: Changed the oil with the Pennzoil Maxlife and new filter, did over 260 miles and the oil level has not gone down! Seems to be working! Mileage seems to have gone back to 35-38 mpg!

 
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nice man. oil weight plays a big part in leaks it seems.

 
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Well, it didn't have leaks. It burned oil. But your advice seems to be working fine!

 
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yeah internal i meant, like leaking past piston ring. as engines get older, its natural for tolerance inside to get bigger and you get stuff going where it shouldnt be past seals. using thicker oil keeps it from seeping out, i think every hi mileage motor should be using a thicker oil.

 
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I have a similar problem, but worse. I had my timing belt replaced a little over a year ago and the head had some valve work done at the time as well, due to a busted timing belt. Ever since, I have to add roughly 1qt of oil every 1-2 weeks. I don't see it "burning" any oil (smoke out of the exhaust) or even dripping any. But what I do notice now is a lot of black "soot" all over my exhaust pipe and even around my bumper surrounding. My garage floor has black speckles all over it as well everytime I start the car. I did a compression test a few months back and if I remember, all the cylinders read evenly ~135PSI. Is there some way that oil could be escaping the head/valves and into the exhaust or intake? This is frustrating as I went 2-3 weeks without checking and just got my oil changed and they said it was way low.

One thing to note is that before the timing belt issue, I could go 3,000 miles and maybe lose 0.25qt oil which is average. Now I lose 1qt in 250-300 miles. Something tells me the mechanic jacked my head/valves. Any ideas as to what the mechanical issue is?

 
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when they were rebuilding, did they replace valve guide seals and piston rings? they should have if the timing belt broke. i bet they just short-cutted the work and didnt do a complete job fixing the engine.