04 6-Speed Manual with 192K miles drinking too much oil?
 

Hi all,

So I picked up a 04 6-Speed Base TL with 190K miles a few months ago. I have been doing all the maintenance stuff on it little by little. There was an oil leak and I thought I took care of it recently when I did the oil filter housing gasket and Vtec solenoid gasket and o-rings. The oil leak by the oil filter has stopped (so it seemed) and I did an oil change at the same time. Now about two weeks later, I checked the oil and to my surprised, its already down to barely over the bottom hash marks! I don't notice any oil marks on the floor but I think that's a pretty significant amount considering its only been about a few weeks? I eyeballed the engine bay and the only area I can see being wet is under the intake manifold and by the valve cover gaskets. I've already ordered the valve cover gaskets and hoping to do them once the weather gets a bit warmer. But looks like I might have to bring it to a shop and get it done. I don't believe its the case, but I am just wondering are our TLs know to drink some oil, especially with such high miles on the clock? Any inputs in appreciate it. Thank you!

No its not common for 3G TL motor burning oils, other area to check for leak are rear main seal and oil pump assembly.

Yea...I figured as much. Those two are the areas that I am dreading the most, as they will be the most involved and be very expensive to fix! I will do the valve cover gaskets first and go from there. Wish me luck! :xfingers:

Just one data point; my 2006 6MT TL with 150,000 miles on the clock and has minor oil leaks from the cam seals, has gone about 9,500 miles since my last oil change and it is only down about a half quart.

OP, did you add 4.5 quarts when you changed oil and filter? Was the level at the top of the hash marks after the oil change?

If the answers are yes and yes, then it's burning too much oil. My 04 6MT has 310K miles on it and I never have to add oil between oil changes (~7500 MID oil change intervals).

Pretty sure a leak like that is not all coming from the valve gaskets or it would be very noticeable to visual inspection.

I'd add a quart and monitor it closely for the new few days/weeks and see what happens. Good luck!

My car burns about 2 quarts every 5k miles, I read in an article Honda says 1 qt for every 1,500 miles is normal for the 3.5 type S, Ill have to see if the article mentions the 3.2.

my cam seals are weeping/seeping too.

Yeah, that's why I recommend folks replace their seals at Timing Belt change time. Of course this is much to the chagrin of our buddy @nfnsquared who maintains it is utterly unnecessary because his car has over 300,000 miles and doesn't leak a drop.

i thought it was my valve covers at first, but after looking around, it's coming from the two circle seals. ( I have a used 100K+ motor and not my original)

SUCH a slow leak, it's probably been there since I swapped the engines...circa 2015


I did go against my mantra "maintenance over mods.." and did a mod over maintenance... lol such shame....
I added an intake mani spacer. I could have kept tearing the engine down to get to the cam seals.... buttttt, eh. LOL

oil leaks are fairly common on the TL, the rear main seal and the oil pump seal are two very common ones.

i have had both for about 3 years and top off about 1-2 quarts every oil change (5-7k miles). i won't fix those until my next TB/WP job which will be in 60k miles or 4 years from now
with those leaks you will most likely see little or no oil when parked, my shops told me that it comes out the most under load and pressure and doesn't leave much when parked.

i just keep a close eye on my levels, but your level going that quickly is definitely surprising.

I did the cam seals and crankshaft seals when I did the TB/WP job. So I don't think its from there. I will do the valve cover job and see if it solves the issue. I'm just keeping my finger crossed its not from rear main seal or oil pump assembly.

You didn't answer my questions. You're certain that you lost a quart in only 2 weeks? I'm still wondering if that's not accurate?

How long did you have the car before the oil change? Did it lose oil at the same rate before the oil change?

If you don't have any oil on the ground, I can guarantee it's not the rear main seal.

I'd have to believe that a loss of 1 quart in 2 weeks would have to be obviously visible. Sure sounds like your valve covers are leaking, but hard to believe that you lost the full quart that way.

how is your leaking? aren't you on the 4th motors? lol

When is the next pho for the twin SSM meet?

Some drips on the garage floor, but it's been like that since 2015 lol

And how many TL's you have now? 8? :rofl:

It's like you're collecting them

shit, I am the Acura dealer lol

When I got the oil change, yes I put in 4.5 qts. And I topped off the car with whatever was left in the bottle and its back to the upper hash mark. So I actually lost about half a quart over 2 weeks period. I just bought the car about a month and half ago and an oil change was recently done by the PO. Over the period of about a month since I owned it, I lost over 2 quarts but that was before I did the oil filter housing gaskets, Vtec solenoid gasket and O-ring. I know there was a significant amount of oil leak from oil filter housing and after doing the gaskets, it stopped.

Did the PO tell you that it was burning/losing 2 qt/month before he sold it to you?

The PO only had the car for a few months and he barely drove it. Got it as a daily to go and back forth to work and things changed. I knew the car needed work when I bought it and paid accordingly. The engine and transmission ran strong. I bought the car with the intentions of fixing all the issues with it.

don't be fool by the valve cover leak, mine 05 TL leak from both valve cover and the front one is severe it actually drip all the way down to drain plug.

Yea...its actually quiet severe. I had the the engine bay detailed just a few weeks ago and I can already see some oil build up right around the block right by the front valve cover. I need to do the gaskets ASAP. I wish the weather is warm enough so I can DIY! But looks like I might have to cough up $300 to have a shop do it.

what's the hardest part of this process for switching in new gaskets?

Taking off all the electrical stuff and the manifold. Not exactly "hard"...just tedious and a long process. Not something I could do in the 20 degree weather out on the street.

Yeah, not difficult, just tedious. And the manifold bolts have to be tightened in a specific sequence and the manifold gaskets are supposed to be replaced. Definitely would suck doing this outside in the winter. You don't have a friend who will let you use his garage for a few hours?

If you're going to have to pay someone to do it, might as well have them adjust the valves while they're at it...

hardest part is to remember which 10mm bolt goes where on the strut brace :D, lucky for me I got experience on these thanks to my old Accord. The infamous EGR clog lol

Like OP said its not hard it just tedious, once you reassembly make sure tighten intake manifold bolt from the inside out pattern. If I recall from my head the most FT-LBS was around 32-35 and the rest were like 12-15.

here I did mine earlier this year on the TL-S



https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...f7b6ad6e95.jpg




if you need help just hit me up on social media messenger.

302K miles and I still don't burn nor lose a drop!
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How religiously do you change out all the O-rings and gaskets? A lot of these leaks happen due to failed O-rings and gaskets, which the PO probably didn't do. So I am catching up on a lot of the maintenance stuff.

Answer: A big fat ZERO! I've only religiously changed the oil with synthetic oil and top notch oil filters
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