Mastraz

Just bought my TL Advanced SH-AWD a few weeks ago, 116k miles when I bought the car. The TL seems to run like a gem and very powerful engine I must say. I kept hearing about the oil consumption issue, so I bought it to the deal to start doing tests on it. So far, I haven't seen any oil being consumed out of normal. I've put about 1700 miles on it since I got it. I do about 500-600 a week usually. Before I bought the car timing belt and everything was completed, so the 100k service is pretty much done and good for, it was around 99k when the last owner did it.

I'm just wondering how many of you have had to do the repair for the oil consumption tests. It would be nice to know the percentage of cars being affected by this, and why some need it and some don't. What would be the reason, any ideas?

AriKain

I had my car tested for oil consumption and it passed. There were no issues. I think, if I recall, it was only draining like .008 a quart or something - something very minuscule.

dopeboy1

Theres no way to know the percentage but I think how hard you drive the car has a lot to do with it.

4GTL-CBP

Just had my oil consumption done about 4k miles ago and I could not be happier. I had about 180k when I ran through the consumption test. Mine was close to the 1quart of oil burned per 1,000 miles mark but not quite there, but my service advisor was nice enough to approve it right away. Definitely restored a lot of power back since they threw away the old pistons and replaced with new. And as part of the TSB, they also do a valve adjustment which restores power back.

BTW I own a 2013 TL SH-AWD with Tech

The consumption was more relevant in the MDX / TL with the J37 (3.7) engine. Most of the engines had this design flaw hence why Acura ordered an extended warranty for this issue and then later phased out this engine. But I know few people who didn't have this issue, and thats VERY few amount of people. My guess is that, those people never drove their vehicles hard and was babied all of its life.

Mastraz

Mines the 3.7 motor J37. Should I drive mine harder then usual for some of the consumption test?

4GTL-CBP

I mean you can, but then again do your research with your Acura dealership. From what I understand the extended warranty was in place until September 1st. Luckily I was able to get this done before that cut off date. Just be sure to check in with them, I'm here that some people on the forums got it done after.

dopeboy1

I did and you defiantly should too. I also had a lot of fun doing it too.

Assuming you started the test before the cutoff date, this is a one time opportunity to have the pistons replaced for free. You need to take advantage of that opportunity. Do whatever it takes to make it 'burn' at least 1 qrt for every 1000 miles driven.

NYERRCITY

I thought the warranty was extended for the life of the vehicle.

vertigo2

125,000 miles/200,000km or 8 years from the in-service date, whichever comes first.

NYERRCITY

Sorry , what do you mean by in-service?

silvervtec96

The date the car was sold as new and registered for the first time.

Girl-Trapped

Is it possible that the general philosophy regarding how hard an engine is driven could be backwards as far as some Honda engines goes--particularly THIS engine? Of course, I don't mean abusing the car at all, rather driving it in the spirited manner it was designed for.

Think about how the engineers squeezed an additional 25hp out of their J35 engines--increased TB size, VTEC on both exhaust & intake valves including duration of lift, increased intake valve size, and finally increased displacement. As far as I can tell, the increased displacement is due to slightly longer piston cranks for increased stroke and larger bore by using high-silica-content aluminum cylinder liners instead of the iron sleeves used in the J35. The literature reads like it's the same block, but they couldn't just bore the cylinders due to coolant passage clearance so they replaced cylinder liners instead. Other applications for high-silica-content aluminum alloys like AlumiSil are in motorcycle and racing engines where high rpms are the norm. They are just as hard as iron but dissipate heat more efficiently, which allows them to be thinner, thus giving an effectively larger bore size without changing the block.

My point is just to wonder if most of the oil-consumption problems are simply a function of NOT using these engines as they were clearly designed to be used. Similar to the way that if you drove an F1 car around town for normal commuting, it would overheat because the cooling system is designed to remove heat from the engine at speeds over 100mph.

dopeboy1

An interesting notion for sure which could be true in some respects.

But if the oil control rings are defective - as acura claims - then this means they are not effectively wiping the cylinders and leaving oil behind which is then burnt.

So that would mean more rpm would result in more oil left behind to be burnt and less rpm the opposite.

I personally noticed the harder I drove the car (sport mode and holding gears longer for more rpm), the more oil it burnt.

coldb

It was a fight, but just had mine completed.

Piston kit, and both cams done under warranty.

I also had RV6 PCDs installed to complement.

I no longer have any knock issues, and have been getting about 30 mpg fuel economy.

Used about 0.5L between oil changes (4000kms) done early to replace with Idemitsu 0w20 molybden

Before repair I was using 1L every 2000kms.

dzionny_dzionassi

So you still burning?

coldb

Yes, but significantly less.

I was burning 3L per 50% oil life / 6000kms.

So roughly 4-6x better, so far.

Who knows after a few years though.

vertigo2

Regarding your decision to go with 0W20 oil at this time of year, is that because winter is coming up or would you just run that year-round?

coldb

It's winter here. About to be -40 in a month or so.

However my Acura dealership (Canada) offers 0w20 year round being that the operating viscosity is the same, and our average summer temperature is around 20 celcius.

vertigo2

-40 in a month, you must live in Calgary! Here in Ontario they just tell us to run 5W20 year round as per the manual.

coldb

Haha. Yup. I'm in Calgary

vertigo2

Right on. Glad to hear your got your engine done and it's better than before. I hope I end up with the same experience.

coldb

You bet man. I think you'll notice the difference. I feel mine runs smoother and I'm getting excellent fuel economy too.

I do feel the Pre-Cat Deletes made a significant difference too. I used to get knock with any fuel other than Petro 94 and now that's resolved too. I assume because the pre-cats were clogged with oil and carbon deposits from years of oil consumption.

csmeance

0W-20 is to thin for the high side loads on the 3.7L engines... Acura/honda has not approved it.

coldb

My Acura dealer uses it, plus thinner molyb oil displace heat better.

What does side loads mean?