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A buddy of mine has a 2005 Civic 4dr/1.7L, over the weekend someone hit his vehicle in the front while it was parked, this caused the hood latch to stop working altogether, we were able to open the hood. He had asked me to check the oil and it was bone dry, we opened a 5L jug and poured in 3L to the second dot of the dipstick. I found that to be odd, after doing abit of reading I found out Civic's take approximately 3.7L of Oil when it is replaced/changed.

My question is:
Is it possible that my buddies Civic had about 700ml of oil in the pan?
How was he able to drive the car and have the engine not seize up?

He said he added oil about 2 weeks ago (in-between the 2 dots on the dipstick).

I'm puzzled??
Just want to clarify, this is not my vehicle, this guy is worse then a girl when it comes to car stuff, he actually thought the more you drive, the more the car looses oil.

He said he added oil about 2 weeks ago (in-between the 2 dots on the dipstick).

 
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Back when I worked in a quick lube there was a few 6th and 7th Gen civics that would routinely come in for an oil change with no oil in them. You'd pull the plug and get a puff of smoke or a dribble. And then maybe a tablespoon or 2 in the filter. Fill them up with fresh oil and send them on their way. They wouldn't even sound super noisy rolling in.

So yes they can run with no oil, is it a good idea? No. Will the engine last in the long run? Also no.

He should probably be throwing in a quart of oil every time he gets gas

 
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Hey Collin thanks for your info. What I did was trip his odometer reading to zero and told him when your add oil the next time, keep in mind how many km you drove. This will give us a better understanding how much oil he is losing through leaks/burning.
I don't even think it makes sense to change the oil, we just put in 3L, when changing the oil 3.7L is needed.

 
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As long as there is enough oil that the oil pump can maintain oil pressure the engine isn't going to seize. The problem is when it gets that low the oil shifts away from the oil pickup during cornering, acceleration and braking so oil pressure drops. If the driver is paying attention he will notice the oil pressure light flickering. The other issue is with that amount of oil the oil is breaking down much faster. If he really is burning oil that fast my guess is the oil control rings are stuck, probably from low/bad oil, so the engine is burning oil faster and the catalytic convertor is hiding the smoke.

 
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That's the self changing oil feature lol.

There is an allowable amount by Honda but I can't remember what it is. 1 quart per 1000 miles maybe?

 
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Iirc, that was acceptable loss rate, 1qt/1000mi. A fckin lot in my eyes, but "acceptable" rate, nonetheless

 
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Seen 5 with less than a litter, and two virtually empty, still running strong. Sounded horrible at first, but they didn't fail.

 
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Hey guys thanks for your input.

 
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I wonder if his owners manual says to check engine oil (and other stuff) whenever you fill the gas tank

 
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700ml im cringing Yikes.!

 
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i think thats being generous,

from what i recall about my 05 it only used to take about 3.3L with oil and filter,

3.7L is probably the total capacity, but you never drain all of the oil out 100% when changing it, there will always still be some up in the valve train

 
Rep Power: 224

Owner's manual states 3.2 L (3.4 qt) for non-VTEC and 3.5 L (3.7 qt) for VTEC, this is for oil and filter change. Mine always seemed to take the recommended amount.