2000 civic 1.6 104,000miles

Alright, just got the car this week and it's been losing oil like crazy. I've maybe driven 120 miles and put in almost a quart of oil. There is no sign of puffing or oil burning smell.

I drove behind the car in another car and only could faintly smell burnt oil once going up a hill and I'm not sure if it was my car or the one in front of it

I did some researched and found that a lot of people changed the pcv valve and it helped. I just changed mine today and filled up the oil to the max line. I will check it tomorrow night again and see if that helped. My pcv valve was gunked up so it won't hurt.

There is no visible oil leak coming from the engine, even the oil pan is dry. Only place where it is leaking is from the Distributor cap outer o-ring which I will replace shortly. But it doesn't seem to be leaking a lot compared to the oil lost I'm having..

Can someone help me out?

Pull the spark plugs.... What do they look like?

Have someone else drive your car (fast, slow, hard, soft, all conditions) while you follow it. How much oil smoke do you see now?
Check for oil in the radiator?

There are ash deposits on at least 2-3 plugs if not all, I can't recall correctly
Already followed the car, and like I said only smelled burnt oil once going up a hill, never actually see any smoke coming out.
Will check oil in radiator. The temp gauge needle goes a little over 1/4 way up but never more, could this be a sign?

If it's not leaking out, then it's either "leaking in" or burning it.
A working cat can hide a LOT of smoke.

Ash buildup on the plugs is a sign.
A quart in 120 miles----I'd almost expect wet and dark plugs.

Also, you don't know what's really in the crankcase either. Someone could have used "SMOKE-B-GONE" or something in the oil to mask a problem.

Ok a little update,
The pcv valve did little for my oil problem.
Did about 110 miles and took 1/4 quart of oil. (also my previous statement about 120 miles using up a quart wasn't accurate, but I did use up a quart in not too many miles)
Coolant is dark in color.

I searched a bit and Maybe I have a blown head gasket?
Temp gauge is low between 1/4 and 1/2 but when I go under the hood it seems really hot. Important loss of oil. Darkish coolant. Ash deposits on plugs.

I may be way off here.

Also I'm I supposed to be using 5w30? I see a lot of people using 10w30 in civics

Use the oil it says to on your oil cap, I believe 5W30 is correct for that year.

That's still a lot of oil.
Oil would float on top of the coolant, it would be obvious. And he rubber seals on the radiator cap would probably be swollen by oil contamination after some exposure time..

Oil disappearing wouldn't be a typical failure.

Duh. 200 degree radiator and 500+ degree exhaust!


Some coolants are dark to begin with. Some get dark as they age (and stink). Oil floats to the top and much of it usually goes to the overflow reservoir, where it coats the plastic and floats.

Cap should say 5w30. I personally might run 5w20 though.

"Thicker" oil doesn't always do what people expect, old school thinking doesn't always work in more modern cars. 10w30 and 5w30 are usually lower quality oils, and can contribute greatly to carbon buildup in the ring grooves, causing stuck oil rings. Higher quality, better specs, and 'thinner' oil can help reduce the carbon buildup, but it might take an awful long time.

Kinakoes has a different approach to dealing with sticking rings too.




If the engine has ever been severely overheated: the rings could have lost some spring tension, contributing to oil consumption.

Ok so I don't have oil in the coolant. That's good news right? loll
So where to now? I still have to do a compression test. Anything else I can do to pinpoint the cause?
I still got to get the o-ring for the distributor too.

And sorry but what do you mean Kinakoes?

I guess so!
Oil diag is easiest by smoke.

In general:
Oil smoke with higher RPM is usually rings.
Oil smoke under high vacuum is usually valve stem seals.

But you say you can't see it smoke so that makes it harder.

I'm guessing the oil control rings are stuck.
And a compression test cannot evaluate the oil rings.




He's another regular poster here.