Here's the relevant TSB you'll want for your car should you decide to take it to an Acura dealer.

TSB 18-009 - Engine Oil Consumption Exceeds Client Expectations
Applies To: 2009-14 TL SH-AWD - ALL - ALL
http://www.urvi.net/forumfiles/SB/B18-009.PDF
http://techinfo.honda.com/Rjanisis/p...nu/B18-009.PDF

Yea, so right after I made this post I called the closest Acura dealership which is 2 hours away. Got to the service manager and started out by asking when the delivery date was on my car, so I provided him the VIN and .. It was January of 2010. So Just out of the 8 years.

Anyway, Immediately he said I had a airbag recall that needed to be taken care of immediately and not to drive the car. So I told him that's all fine and dandy and I would set up an appt to get the car there to take care of the airbag recall but my main reason for the call was this TSB. I've worked at dealerships so I have a pretty good idea of how stuff works in that regard. So I chatted with the service manager, he knew of the TSB and my concerns about the heavy consumption so he said the best thing to do is just do the consumption test if I want to keep the car. He said even though we are out of time on the warranty, if its that bad he will fight to get it taken care of. Also noted that since my family has purchased probably 8 honda/acura vehicles in the last 5-6 years it should help.

My concern was that I wanted to sell the car before 100k.. I'm at 97,200 right now so I'd be at 100k after all of the 3 consumption tests. Ultimately, the service manager is going to call me tomorrow with a date to get the car there ASAP and I'll decide tomorrow if I want to do the consumption test. They will be sending a tow truck to get the car and will foot the bill as well,

I'll update the thread on how this goes. I'd like to keep the car but it's kind of a gamble in my situation, driving back and forth 4 hours that may not amount to shit. LOL

Any update? I don't know that the car comes with 8 years warranty. Is this warranty extension regarding the oil consumption issue only? Anyone knows if this is the case in Canada as well?

Only recently did they up it to 8 years in response to this concern. I don't see why it wouldn't include Canada since they're the same Ohio production plant.

WHen a company extends a warranty its generally ONLY for SPECIFIC systems or parts. NEVER like a standard factory warranty.
In answer to your questions, This warranty would be applied only to parts mentioned in the bulletin. If the parts are not mentioned,, they will not be covered.

I contacted Acura Canada regarding the extended warranty for the oil consumption issue and they said no extended warranty. I highlighted that there is an extended warranty for the same issue in U.S., they said yes but not in Canada. So good luck for whoever in Canada and have this issue.

it doesnt end there. File a claim with Acura Client relations. They will review it. And once any person with a brain reviews the facts, and evidence and corporate sourced service bulletins they will approve it.
If you put in a bit more work it will pay off. I had to be tenacious when dealing with Acura. But they always come through.

As he said, I would press them. Not sure what their justification would be for not honoring it. I doubt any technical difference such as oil viscosity would make a difference in this case.

You both are right. I don't understand how they have 8 years warranty for this issue in U.S. and not applying the same warranty in Canada. Canadian cars are coming from U.S factory. We use 5w-20 here which I'm sure it's also used at some areas in U.S. as well.

5w20 is the recommended oil in the US for the 3.7 motor.

Well, I'm a bit pissed at this point.

It was looking promising in the beginning but now the dealer closest to me seems that they don't want to deal with the oil consumption issue. I had to call 4 times in three days just to get back in touch with the service adviser I spoke to. I called today regarding the air bag and he said to call client relations to see if they will do the airbag recall at my local honda dealer instead of towing the car to Acura. I then followed up about the oil issue and he said that his manager didn't seem to believe it would be covered even though I'm only 3 months out of the extended period, and well under the mileage on the TSB. I'm losing faith and I'll bet my parents or anyone in our family buy another Honda Motor company vehicle again after this.

That's my update, unfortunately.

I'm with you there, I've owned Honda vehicles all of my life, but between the oil consumption and recent boring car designs, I will probably be going with a Toyota/Lexus for my next car.

Frustrated to find this thread as many others have as well. I have a 2011 MDX with about 86k miles. Purchased certified pre-owned in 2014 with a 100k Acura Care warranty. I stumbled across excessive oil consumption a couple years ago when the oil light came on. After some time of just adding oil I started documenting it and am losing close to 1 quart every 1k miles. I had mentioned the excessive consumption to the dealer before knowing exact numbers and they didn't express any knowledge of the problem or concern. I'm feeling frustrated that they likely knew of the issue but didn't say anything.

I don't know if this is related, but last summer when I was driving home from a vacation (about 1.5 hours into a 3 hour drive) the check engine light came on and the car was essentially disabled. Turned out that the MDX blew two head gaskets and the engine had to be repaired. I know the oil level was good before I left but can't help think that the issues are related. Luckily Acura Care covered the issue. Has anyone else had this type of engine failure? I still have my 2001 Acura CL Type-S with nearly 200,000 miles on it. Never had to add oil and have not had many issues (other than the transmission of course) so I'm super disappointed in the MDX.

Haven't heard of any blown head gaskets as a TL issue, but you might check the MDX forums. Blown head gaskets are usually the result of overheating or other coolant issues.

Congratulate me, solved the problem with oil consumption, there was 1/2 a court for 1000 miles, now 1/4 a court for 5000 milles)

How many courts in a galin?

Four quarts in a gallon. Do you know any languages other than 'merican? Just curious. No need to break balls.
We'd be impressed if that was the case and didn't require short block replacement. We're not even sure if the engine replacement is a fix for the problem. What did you do?

My TL SHAWD 3.7 drinks oil excessively also. I personally don't mind adding oil to it as fresh oil in the system can only be a good thing. I fly airplanes and those piston engines by lycoming and continental drink oil like there is no tomorrow. With that said airplane piston engines are overhauled on scheduled intervals.

Now my questions is what kind of damage may occur from adding oil as a band-aid to it consuming oil over a very long period of time? Can we expect engine failure over (a long) time or is this just a semi-minor annoyance of topping off the oil every other fill-up?

The catalytic converter will break down, begin to fall apart into a ceramic dust that hits the engine and scratches the cylinders, and the pistons begin to knock!

Dimexid added to the oil, he completely washed the engine from the inside, cleared the clogged oil draining the canals in the pistons, and the oil rings were starting to do their job

The cause of oil consumption engine J37 is the wrong interval of oil change, due to which clogs the oil rings, due to which the oil gets into the cylinders and burns together with gasoline.

This is understandable to some degree as I have had catalytic failure before in a honda product. What I didn't have was engine damage because of it. At least not to the degree where it could be noticeable. Wouldn't the oil that is inside the engine and covering the cylinder walls at Top dead center clean away the particles of dust?
Based on the soot from the exhaust I could see where cat issues could become a problem though. And those things are expensive to replace. That concerns me ultimately.

​​​​​​So the solution seems to be more rapid oil changes.. Now I'm curious if doing an oil change early, say 40% oil life left and resetting the maintainence minder every time will cause issues in terms of tracking maintainence as it should be used.

When I initially bought my car, both the dealer and the manual stressed that one should follow the MID, especially on the initial, break-in oil, which for me worked out to about 7500 miles between changes. But later, my dealer told me to bring it in at 5K intervals for oil changes. (I have free oil changes, so they aren't making any more $$ off that recommendation). My previous usual practice with new cars had always been to do an initial oil change at about 1K miles and that always served me exceptionally well in terms of engine service life, etc. I now wonder if I screwed the pooch by keeping that initial batch (and a few subsequent batches) of oil for 7500 miles.

care to share what the solution is?

A long as there is adequate lubrication at all times, your engine will keep going like the energizer bunny.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...16ef0eca87.jpg
Oil only lubricates and cools the piston. If the ceramic dust gets in the way of a ring and cylinder wall(it's not cast iron, it's alu-sil), you will get a scratch in the wall of the cylinder. The oil will not save.
The percentages of oil life are just a timer that has nothing to do with it. You can reset it every day!

Yikes! If that's taken from a J37 i will be in for some trouble down the road I would imagine. Did you notice knocking and reduced performance mileage from that vehicle because of that?

Can someone in Canada sue Acura over this as I cant be bothered to argue with customer service at a dealership over this issue. I went to the service counter at a dealer in BC to inquire about a brake job and the service manager asked if my 2009 TL tech was a type S model or not. :annoyed: I had to remind her there was no type S for that generation, so therefore no brembo ($$$) option. Needless to say I find the dealers incompetent and useless. Charging an arm and a leg for service they should do the quickest compared to everyone else.

how did you solve it?

Damned Damned Damned. Id hope the high would last. It didnt. Im back to feeling every gear shift and revs are loud and unrefined. And guess what, I check the oil just 515 miles after an oil change...and It was WELL below the Spec level. Actually NO OIL on the desigatned area of the dipstick period.
I added one quart....checked....still wasn't to level. Added a half quart...it levels out. this was just at 515 miles into it. So Pissed. Now the battle begins....Im gonna collect all the TSB and see what the dealer says.

Darn I was so close to 1000.. So at this rate, 1.5QT ar 500miles. Thats 3Quarts per 1000miles. Thats f-ing insane.

^^ I was checking my oil level from couple of days ago after parking the car for 5 minutes, I found the oil level way below the low mark. I parked the car until the morning and checked it again before turning it on, I found the level 25% above the low mark. For some reason this car takes so long for the oil to settle down. The manual says wait few minutes after turning the car off. I'm not sure what is meant by few minutes. I think 10 mins should be enough but It's not the case with my car. It takes hours for the oil to settle down.

I called Acura Canada regarding that, the extended warranty only applies to US customers. I told them our cars come from US as well. They acknowledged the problem, but unfortunately it's not covered for whoever in Canada.

Im so angry!!!!!!!!!

Agreed. That's why I always check mine after it sat all night.

It is well-settled to follow the owner's manual on Honda/Acura oil readings. Yes there will be more oil in the pan after it drains overnight, but the dipstick is calibrated to check when warm and sitting for a few minutes

I am over 1200 miles since my last oil change and still no oil loss.

Valvoline Max Life Synthetic Blend SAE 5W-20 Motor Oil 5qt
and
Restore (00012) 6-Cylinder Formula Engine Restorer and Lubricant - 12.5 oz.

I put half of the oil in, then the 12.5 oz of engine restore, then filled that empty can with new oil, then poured the rest of the oil in leaving 12.5 oz left over if i need to top off. But so far I haven't needed it.

The dealer was putting in 0w20 for the last 2 oil changes and I had to top it off every 500 miles or it would be very loud on startup. Now the car is quite and running great. Also resolved my Hot Start detonation issue.

Forgot to mention I am at 199700 miles!

This will not work for everyone but it is worth a shot!

Impressive results, please keep us updated through your next oil change! Mine drinks about 1qt every 1500-2000 miles and has the hot start pinging under load every once in a while as well. I ran a bottle of Redline SI-1 through the tank and it eliminated pinging but still awaiting long term results (this was about 1500 miles ago).

Mine was drinking about the same amount 1qt every 1500-2000. I went around a turn with about 30-40% oil life and the LOW OIL light came on... scared the hell out of me.

The combination of the high-mileage oil with sweller's to expand old seals, semi-synthetic helps with the car sits longer than 24 hours, and the engine restore to help with scuffed up cylinder walls. I will also be changing the oil at 5k miles and not the 7-8k miles when the MID Dash light comes on.

I'll report back if I can make it that long without the need to add any oil.

Does anyone have a copy of the PDF?
LinkDeny
I cannot open it.

My wife's 2010 TL AWD started burning oil excessively at 90xxx miles. Still two months short of the 8 year from the original purchase date. Would like to get it fixed as we like the car a lot otherwise.

Thanks!

Felix
vikfel@yahoo.com

We are done with the oil consumption test. Despite the dealer over filling the oil by probably 1/2 quart, it went bellow the minimum mark in less than 1000 miles. I had to add oil as we were on a road trip. For those who have the engine repaired/replaced, was the process easy, or did you have to escalate the issue with Acura directly? The car was purchased and serviced at the same dealer, except for maybe tow oil changes which were done at another local Acura dealer. I got the paperwork for all work since new.

They acknowledged the oil consumption, now they need the maintenance history. Good that I have saved all receipts, since the dealership did not do a very good job at keeping record (they only had records for 5 out of the 15 oil changes). They will be filing it with Acura. Will see what happens.

Acura's "official" position is that there is no issue with my VIN number and there is nothing they can do. Will see if my dealer can do anything about that. If not, my family will never buy anything made by Honda. We are going to need 3 new cars in the next couple of years anyway. Was faithful Honda owner for 20+ years.

Does your car fall outside of the age/mileage requirements stated in the TSB? If not, why was it denied?

I cannot find in the TSB any mention about the mileage or age. The one for the TSX has 8 years/125000 miles. My car is less than 8 years old and has 91xxx miles. Acura said that they have no warranty extension or TSB for my VIN. If you have a TSB with age/mileage, could you email it to me at vikfel@yahoo.com ? Thanks! Still waiting to hear back from my dealer and see if they were able to make any progress.

Refer to post #276 above for the TSB. I don't understand what does it means your VIN is not covered. It's either you have an oil consumption or no unless you are in Canada where Acura has a double standard there and does not offer any extended warranty to any one.

I got that TSB and that is what the dealer is working from, but Acura stated that there are no TSBs or extended warranties for my VIN and since I am past the 6 year/70000 mile powertrain warranty, there is nothing they could/will do for me. ;-(

I am at 58,000 miles on my 2014 and no oil consumption issues yet. I do get my oil changed every 3,000 to 3,500 miles and also drive on the highway for 90% of my commute not sure that has anything to do with it. Regardless I am thinking about getting rid of it in November when my warranty is up (CPO car)

would you get rid of it?! What color? Trim?

you dont love the car?

The dealer convinced Acura to authorize a repair. So far they have ordered pistons and rings, if they find some cylinder damage when they open the engine, will hope that Acura will replace the block. Will update next week when they start working on it.

^^Glad the dealer/Acura came through for you. Keep us posted once the repair has been made.

the EXACT situation with me. I decided to stop using Lucas Oil products and get it fixed instead. Also side note: Did you guys know there are Service Bulletins for rattles in the roof and pillars in the front passenger? I had assumed it was normal wear and tear. Not so. Hopefully the dealer convinces Acura to do my repairs. Im averaging 2qts per 1000 miles. I have a pretty good relationship with my dealer so i am hoping they support my situation. Acura has been good to me so far. I took in the TSB for the oil consumption fingers are crossed. Please let us know when you know something.

Checking back in at 2000 miles on the oil. I am 1/2 quart low. Oil consumption increases under WOT for sure, the first 1000-1500 were mostly highway. The last 500 miles were a little more aggressive driving.
Overall it is still way less than it was before. I will continue to check in every 500-1000 miles with an update for future readers.

Got the car back. Acura did a good will repair (thanks to my dealer who did all the leg work!). They did replace all the pistons and piston rings. They said that there was not cylinder wall damage. They did find that the piston rings were stuck due to carbon build up. Had them do the spark plugs, timing belt, water pump, tensioner, adjuster and idler since they were working in that area as well.Will see how things go.

If it is back to normal, I will have to re-think the oil change strategy. Up to this point the car has been serviced according to the Maintenance Minder with whatever oil the dealer uses (5w20). Might be worth trying shorter change intervals with a different oil. Many forums recommend using 5w30 full synthetic instead. Will need to research this more. Any input is appreciated.

I used 5w30 Motul since the 2nd oil change (First one was free from dealer). I started burning oil (1L every 5k km) at 150k km or so (I just hit 190k). Up until then, I only burned around 200ml every 5k km. I recently did Seafoam, like another forum member had suggested in this thread way earlier. So far, I no longer SMELL oil burning (driving, or revving) but i have to give it some more km's to really be sure. I can tell you that the Seafoam calmed my idle when the AC kicks in.