Rep Power: 0

My 2002 Honda Civic EX, 1.7L, 5 speed manual trans, 150K miles, has recently started using a lot of oil, about a quart every 200 miles. The car is still getting its' usual 33 MPG. I put some clean paper underneath, ran the engine, and there's no sign of an oil leak. I pulled all the spark plugs, and they're all light tan to white-ish in color. Someone said it could be the PCV valve, so I swapped it out, but no change. I recently changed the oil, but the oil seemed to turn dark very quickly. Another thing that happened about the same time is a hesitation or jerking you can feel in the car and gas pedal when you let up on it. Also, when I push in the clutch, and come to a stop, the engine will sometimes rev up and down to 2,000 RPMs. I don't know what to try next. Any ideas?

 
Rep Power: 222

Oil is either rings or valves, the cat is eating most of the smoke so you don't see it coming out the tailpipe. Might be able to see a bit of soot on the rear bumper.
idle issue is probably a dirty/sticky iac

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks, Colin42. IAC sounds like it's the idle problem.

The tailpipe has some soot in it, but I don't know how much is normal. I'm just surprised the oil consumption went up so quickly. I put 275K on my old CRX with no oil burning problem. Honda builds awesome engines, and this one looks so clean inside. Would a compression test be of any diagnostic use?

 
Rep Power: 222

It might tell you if one cylinder is worse than the rest, wet vs dry compression test might tell you its rings if the numbers improve on the wet test. Leakdown test would give you more info.

 
Rep Power: 125

These engines seem to be the exception as far as durability went. They are notorious for head gasket issues, and I've never personally come across one that didn't burn oil. Mine you, mine wasn't that bad - mine was about a quart per 600 miles.