Rep Power: 337

Hey, its been a while everyone. I own a 2001 honda civic ex with a d17a2 motor. Motor has 1265xx miles on it and I just changed the oil. Something happened in the past 6-9 months to make the car lose oil. My motor holds 3.7 quarts of oil, today maybe 1.5 came out. This was an unusual change for me because of my job change, I did the change at around 5k instead of normal 3k. Last year I did the timing belt and the transmission fluid change.

I drive as a courier so I fill up from 1-3 times a week depending. This means 400-1200 miles a week in my car. This problem was happening before I started this job, and I have worked this job for only a month so far, so the excess driving could play a part but idk.

There are no visible leaks that I could tell from being over and under my car. I redline sometimes, which means maybe once a week if i absolutely have to. I am thinking burning oil but idk what is causing the burning to go this bad.
I am losing around 2.2 quarts every 3 months, and my oil dipstick shows that the fluid is fine every time i check, which is weekly.
Mods- intake, headers, exhaust, lowered on springs, 19mm sway, toyo proxy 4 tires on rota slips that are 15x7s.
Any thoughts?

 
Rep Power: 813

sounds like burning to me, if theres no leak thats all it can be. you can try switching to a hi mileage oil like valvoline maxlife, and switch to 5w30.

 
Rep Power: 0

What he said. Although I would recomend mobil super 2000 5w30, and just top it up between.

 
Rep Power: 250

high rpms are gonna burn oil. are you using a synthetic? pcv valve still good?

 
Rep Power: 238

That seems like a large oil loss for not having lost much in the past. Not to mention that it's a bit odd that your dipstick was reading normal. Did you check it before you changed it?

That's really unsafe to even run your engine with only 1.5 quarts in it... Thats almost less than half the minimum.

 
Rep Power: 256

only things i can think of is a big leak in the block/head and the oil is mixing with the coolant somehow, or burning oil.

 
Rep Power: 337

I am not using synthetic. PCV is fine. car still gets 40mpg. i need to change the alternator belt because it squeaks in the cold.
Funny thing about that low of oil, my oil light never came on. And, today when i started the car, the light came on because the filter had no oil it in, but then went back out, so i know the light is not out.
I bought the car used at 56xxx miles...so i haven't even put 100k on it myself. I usually switch oils between valvoline and castrol. I have used penzoil in the past. idk if it really matters.
I agree with burning, but high RPMs in a blue moon would not burn this much. This is daily driving burn I think, and I need to figure out from where.
Oil is not mixing with coolant, the car has never overheated, and never even came close to it.

 
Rep Power: 425

Any oil covering the entire underside of the car?
Pull the exhaust manifold off and stick your fingers in the exhaust ports and feel around for oil gunk.
Then do a leakdown test on the cylinders. If you find a lot of leakage... its possible you've got a bad ring somewhere, or a headgasket issue, check your coolant color as well. Does it sound funny when running hard?

 
Rep Power: 256

the oil light will not inform you of low oil. the oil light tells you when you are under 10psi of oil pressure (i think). they call it the idiot light because if that light ever comes on, 90% of the time your motor would be down the drain already.

 
Rep Power: 354

try switching to valvoline maxlife 5w-30. then get some LC20 with that oil.

i have had my car since 51,000miles (1.5years ago) and i currently have about 122xxx miles. no leak, no worries. (almost 24,000 miles for me a year since i commute to school)

 
Rep Power: 332

id say you might need new valve seals.

 
Rep Power: 337

No oil under the car. Leakdown test means taking out the spark plugs and putting something in there huh? A few hours maybe?

I haven't got the valves adjusted yet, not sure if I am even supposed to.
Idk if this makes a difference or not, but during this winter I haven't been letting the car warm up before I drive. I just start and 10 seconds later I am leaving my neighborhood. Its about a minute before I go to 3k rpms before the shifts on the roads.

Motor does not sound funny at all at any RPMs. It still feels smooth, still sounds smooth. Idk. I was thinking valves or it could be that my car is constantly overheating but my needle too broke to tell me...unlikely. My exhaust isn't even a weird color. Fumes are only visible on a cold motor, and when hot there is no visible smoke.

 
Rep Power: 322

i agree with boilermaker..might be a headgasket. Does the car shoot out blue smoke when you first start the car up after you let it sit for awhile?

 
Rep Power: 332

only reason im a little skeptical about it being a head gasket is the fact that these motors are open deck. the first part to go on the head gasket is the seal between the cylinders and the coolant jackets, which then over-pressurizes the coolant system and forces the coolant out of the system. If the head gasket were the actual cause of oil consumption, and no leaks were evident, there would be plenty of oil in the cooling system. Assuming the oil isn't being burned away. If the car is stock, there's a good chance the oil is being burned up and the cat is eating up the evidence. a leak-down test could confirm either bad seals, bad rings, or a blown head gasket if done right by a technician with experience that knows what to look for and what to listen for during the test.

 
Rep Power: 337

yea there is no blue smoke. Idk, I will run this thing into the ground until it dies, and I think I will replace it with another d17a2 lol.
Hell, it might be cheaper to do that then to get the seals fixed...500 bucks for a d17a2