chunky

Hi all,

I have a question concerning oil consumption and would love to get some feedback concerning it.
My car is a 2003 CLS with a 6 speed transmission. I have always followed the manufacture's recommendation for my oil changes. I have only put in 5W20, non synthetic oil.
The car currently has 209,00 Kilometers or 129,800 Miles. Since 198,000 Kilometers or 123,000 miles, I add about 1.0 Liter or 0.80 quart to the engine, between oil changes. I don't seem to have any leaks or do I detect any blue smoke from the exhaust... Is this something I should be concerned about?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

gnuts

iTrader: (1)

these motors don't tend to burn oil. i say something is not running right for sure.

brian6speed

iTrader: (5)

My car has never burned or leaked oil. Try using 5w-30 instead of 5w-20. I run Redline synthetic.

chunky

Thanks for your comment. Would you say .80 of a quart is excessive? I have heard others claim that this is to be expected as the engine ages? But of course I really don't know...

chunky

Thanks for your comment. One of my mechanic friends recommended 5W30, as well. He said the thicker oil might help reduce consumption. But I'm hesitant since Honda recommends the 5W20.

gnuts

iTrader: (1)

My Rav4 burns oil, but it is common for that engine.
I'm not sure of all the reasons it could happen, but you see no drips or white/blue smoke you said. You could check your spark plugs, check you coolant colour. A compression test maybe.

chunky

Ok, I'll check those things out. Just read that a bad PCV valve might contribute to this as well

gnuts

iTrader: (1)

what sort of maintenance have you done? Have you ever taken the intake manifold off and cleaned all the EGR passages? Pull the PCV and have a look, or just replace it. It's pretty cheap.

brian6speed

iTrader: (5)

No reason to be hesitant. You are better off running 5w-30 in my opinion. That is what I have ran for 12 years and 126k miles, no issues ever with engine.

mattcl-s

always run full synthetic pretty sure it says that in the manual

gnuts

iTrader: (1)

No it calls for regular 5w20.

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

I have never burnt a drop of oil in this motor.

So I would have to say there is def an issue.

chunky

I was contacted to do a secret shopper thing at the dealership out my way, so I figured I would take advantage of the free oil change. They are also paying me for my time & report.
Anyways, the tech told me he noticed my rear main seal was leaking and this is why I was adding a liter of oil between oil changes. I still have not seen any oil on the ground ? Can they detect this problem that quickly?
I am really hoping they are wrong. I heard the job is about 8 hours to do, to replace a $10 seal. Is it worth doing on the car, or should I just add my liter of oil during oil changes?

01CLinprocess

iTrader: (2)

I run Castrol Conventional 10W-30 w/ a Purolator PureOne filter, and change every 3-5000 miles. I always buy the oil when its the monthly special at Advance, $24 for 5 quarts and the pureone filter.

The reason I use this oil & weight is because of experiments done by a well known J-series builder (seems he's banned from azine at the moment, but you know who).

He found that using Honda's recommended 5W-20 results in oil pressures wayyyyy below spec. After testing multiple brands of conventional & synthetic oils in different viscosity and weights (on multiple J's), just about every 5W-30 and 5W-20 failed to produce oil pressures that were in spec.

Castrol Conventional 10W-30 creates oil pressures that meet Honda's specs, and provides greater protection.

Another interesting discovery he made was that engines which were running Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5W-30/20 over the life of the engine consistently showed more wear (chamshafts, main bearings, crankshaft, piston walls, pistons, rockers) than engines which ran 10W-30 dino oil for the same milage.

Many Import Car Manufacturers have admitted to switching to 0W-20/5W-20 in recent years in order to reduce emissions slightly. They don't care how long your engine lasts past the warranty period, they care about sticker specs and conforming to ever increasing emissions regulations.

Just my $0.02, I'm no expert and I don't claim to be even close to one.

chunky

Thanks for your input. That information is quite interesting.

This morning however here in Montreal, it is -24 Celsius or -11.2 Fahrenheit, so I'm not sure a 10w30 oil would be good on start up without a block heater

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

My mdx has 5w 30 in it and barely started today. Even with 5w30 I have had it not able to start in the Cl. Block heater was required.

HinesShvines

ever since I did my catch cans and went to royal purple 5w20 I haven't had any oil consumption problems. But before I did this I lost about a half quart due to the stupid pcv system. I live in Chicago and my car has started every day the last two years i've owned it never misses a beat and I need a tune up!!!!!. Must be a lucky one out of 3500 that owned this car lol. But I ask acura why recycle oil vapor into the engine with out filtering it from the factory.

fsttyms1

Replace your PCV. I run 15-20k oil change intervals and im only down 1/2-3/4 quart at those intervals.

Also the ONLY reason honda says to run 5w20 is they went to the thinner viscosity in all their vehicles to help increase mpg for the rising the CAFE standards.

Accord316

I dont have burn but small leak caused by rear main seal gasket which is known for leaks in some CL's....check your rear main seal

Accord316

Wow, 15-20K oil change intervals? I thought I was bad for every 7-8k change intervals....

Accord316

I have same rear main leak but it's very very small...not worth doing but you can try a stop leak brand that will maybe help seal gaskets

Accord316

picture of your car?

fsttyms1

Which many have found to be caused by the PCV.

fsttyms1

7500 is the factory oil change recommendation. Been doing it for over 600k miles now. The motor i pulled out when i built my 3.7 had over 400k on it and the bearings looked like new when i tore it down, and it never burned a ounce of oil.

YeuEmMaiMai

138K and no noticeable oil burn here. If you think the car is burning it, pull your plugs, you will know if it is burning excessive amounts of oil.

BTW ALL CARS burn oil, however it is not noticeable in a properly running engine that has been well maintained. I change oil every 5-7K miles.

Accord316

that's amazing mileage....are you using synthetic and what grade oil?

fsttyms1

Never anything less than syn, and 5w20 to 5w30

3.2cls6speedmt

My 2003 3.2 cls does not burn oil but has started leaking a small amount from the oil pump. The dealer has stated that the oil pump's seals are starting to fail. I had the timing belt replaced and water pump but they did not replace the seals in the oil pump. They have quoted 1,200 for the fix. I am going to continue drive and monitor the oil levels.

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

u noticed the leak before or after the service?

3.2cls6speedmt

The dealer noticed leaks after my last oil change. The timing belt, water pump were replaced a couple of years ago.

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

If you are dead certain u see no oil leaking out and are dead certain you are losing oil it has to be getting burned /evaporate in the motor somehow. Have someone drive behind u and floor it in hard from 1-2 if u see anything come out the pipes u are on to something. 1 liter of oil per oil change is not enough to notice it urself while driving looking in the mirrors. Get a buddy to trail u and floor it. If the shows nothing.. That would be my next move. Do this on a day that's not freezing cold and make sure engine is at full temp. Keep us posted

johndo18

I think this might just be true about the oil pressure. I was running mobil 1 0w-40 in my supercharged CLS6 and while on a highway run up to 150mph with a Lamborghini gallardo and an Merc sl550, my car developed a knock in the motor .

I was puzzled as to why such a good synthetic oil with cause an issue on the J32. Mobil's 0w40 is considered to me more of a 0w30 in actuality so i felt safe using it. It could well be possible the motor experience low oil pressure momentarily and caused an issue...idk you tell me

teh CL

iTrader: (1)

^ more details about that race..

johndo18

I don't' want to high jack this thread so i will just start my own one and explain what happened

Plus i have pictures and videos that i can upload


I think this is important info for our community if we are all using the wrong weight oil