So basically, a couple weeks ago I took a 120 mile trip from CT back up to Boston, at no time during the trip was there anything noticeably wrong, but as soon as I pulled into my garage my oil light went on. I had checked the oil probably three weeks prior to that, and the level was fine. I unpacked my stuff waiting for the engine to cool, and when I checked the oil, I couldn't even get a drop of oil to show on the dipstick!! Furthermore, a golden/brown substance was dripping onto my garage floor. I put in 2 quarts of oil and drove it about a tenth of a mile over to Valvoline (they had done my oil change about 6 weeks before the issue). When I got there my "Maintenance Required" light was on. They took about 15 minutes to do whatever they do and said not to worry the car was fine.

BUT NOW, and for the past couple weeks, I have been averaging about 18MPG when I used to average 24-26!! When I had an alignment done last week, the mechanic told me it looked like a bunch of old oil had pooled up around my right front control arm. My driving hasn't changed, if anything I've been taking it a bit easy because of gas prices. What do you guys think happened? Did I overheat and damage something? Should I go to the dealership and ask for help?


Any help would be awesome, hope she'll pull through

 

It's probably the wrong oil filter or it was installed incorrectly causing a leak. Did you check the drain plug? How much oil was put it? I can associate lack of lubrication and poor gas mileage...

 

they said the drain plug looked okay at valvoline, although they had to put in I think 3 quarts. They said there was basically no oil in the engine. Should I call the dealership or will they try to screw me somehow?

 

3 qt? that is way too crazy for a 4 banger to burn that during the course of that trip, gotta be oil leak somehow.. if the oil pooled at the control arm, gotta be leak. Dealer? hm... u might be able to try to jack up the car. clean it very very well so no trace of oil leak is left. do a complete oil change, install everything using factory part... then take to dealer. hopefully they will just take it as is and take care of the problem... and hope their code reader dont show that there was no oil in ur engine and dont cover u

 

If the wrong filter was installed causing the leak, and somehow the engine is damaged due to lack of oil, what do you think the dealer would say? I would at least install a Honda filter, then clean up the oil puddle before taking it in...

 

any way I can prove to Valvoline that they were the cause of the problem? (assuming Acura tells me its the wrong filter)

 

Well, you need to determine what the problem is first... Is it the method of installation or the wrong filter. The wrong filter might have a incorrect size oil seal that causes the leak. Are you sure it's the filter where the leak is?

 

I agree, its the oil filter....either the wrong one or they didn't scrap the metal where the filter seal sits. They also probably either didn't fill with enough oil and put the wrong oil (5W20 - which tends to burn off in this car based on stuff I've read).

Get the garage to give you your $ back and tell them they're lucky the engine didn't seize. As far as your bad fuel economy, it could be all sorts of stuff...again ensure the correct viscosity of oil is in there (I would get a near 10mpg change in my old Accord when I had 10W30 vs. the required 5W30 in there). Hope that helps.

 

Another possibility is they left the old oil seal on the block, so the new filter didn't seal correctly.

 

Yeah, a mechanic friend explained that possibility to me the other day....

I called Acura about 30 minutes ago and told them the truth (basically) and they are going to call me tomorrow with some more information. I hope it is a simple fix, but I'm going to bring it to the dealership this time because if they mess anything up, they will fix it for sure.

Can I get the dealer to use synthetic?? They will probably change my oil

 

Sure, you just have to bring the synthetic oil with you and instruct them to use the oil you brought.

 

alright, nice, so how much oil does a full change call for?

 

I brought 5 quarts of Mobil 1 with me when I had the dealer perform the oil change.

 

You might want to check the oil filter gasket. I had that experience once when i had my integra. forgot to take out the old gasket, then the next thing you know, oil was leaking everywhere. 5 qts of oil is about right.