Hey guys,

I've been reading through threads regarding first oil change and consumption issues on the 3.7. When I got the car the oil level was between 3/4 and the top line on the dip stick. It held there great for the first 2800 miles. My commute is short and consists of 2 miles highway and 7 miles suburban roads. Anyway, I took the car on it's first longer highway drive this weekend which was about 250 miles of pure highway. The stick read 3/4 to full before I left. When I got home later that day it was down to about 1/4 above the add line on the stick. Yes, I waited 15 mins for the engine to cool. I even checked it the next day after the car rested all night with the same outcome. Does highway driving without varying rpm really make this car burn oil at a faster pace?

Can I add synthetic to the car, it's all I have laying around the house? I know the car comes with conventional oil, and there are higher levels of molybdenum. My mid says I'm at 70% oil life and now I'm a hair over 3k miles. I have some free time tonight and was going to change it completely, but after reading old threads it seems many suggest not to. I did my first oil change on my rsx type s @ 3k miles and also on my '06 TL @ 3k miles with no issues. Any thoughts on both issues?

 

you can just do a complete oil change..

use full synthetic... i did mine last night mobil 1 extended performance 5w-20 with extended performance oil filter.

but as far as consumption.. that seems a little weird.. when i drained my oil.. a lot came out.. so im sure i dont have any consumption issues.. may want to check it.

 

First, yes you can top up with synthetic oil. Your oil usage is not uncommon. All engines use some oil, but it is my experience that manuals tend to use more, possibly because of higher shift points. My TL seems not to use any oil as far as I can tell from the dipstick. Different story for my Miata. Very hot days and hard driven, it uses some oil, which is normal.

 

i believe the oil consumption problem is more of a problem for the 3.7 motors ... the two that posted above me i believe are rocking the 3.5 in their cars as they are fwd.

i'm not sure its considered abnormal by acura, but i would keep a close eye on it, you never want it to run dry which i remember reading happened to one of the members on here and caused some pretty bad internal damage, im not sure what acura did for her.

 

The 3.7 with 6MT combo does seem to have some oil consumption (although some owners report none). Yours is about in the ballpark, especially for a new motor. Mine lost about 1/2 to 3/4 of a quart by about 4400 miles. It seems to get better the more mileage you get on the car, but you do have to watch it.

Opinions are all over the place on when to change oil. Both my sales guy (who's pretty knowledgeable) and the service manager were adamant about keeping the initial fill in until the MID calls time's up. The break-in oil contains additives that Acura wants in there for 5-7K miles.

As far as topping it off for now, any 5w-20 will work, dino or synthetic. My dealer offers a synthetic blend, which is a combo of dino/synthetic, so I can't imagine you can do any harm.

 

The reason that mfg'rs recommend to not use our cars for a steady diet of short trips is that the engine never get hot enough to rid the engine of water condensation that forms every time the engine cools down. Which means the generating water content is hiding the oil loss. And only when you finally get the car out for a longer drive and finally get rid of the moisture, it appears like a dramatic oil loss when you check the oil level. This pattern makes it appear like the engine burns more during highway driving, when it really doesn't. My other car manual clearly states to try to make drives longer than 20 minutes to keep water mositure out of engine.

 

That makes sense. My work commute and most shopping I do is 12-15 mins from my house. I don't baby the car, as I have one or two highway entrance ramps on my drive, so 2nd or 3rd gear gets run out to redline every other day or so.

Isn't water/moisture in general an issue with conventional oils?

 

Yeah, I read about the issue before buying the car. So I check my level every few days. It hadn't moved yet until this weekend.

 

Hello, new member here as I am, along with my Acura dealer, very baffled with where my oil is going! Have a new 2013 TL (my 3rd -owned 96' TL, 2004 TL & now my 2013 manual transmission. I am trying to find info if there is any about this problem and if it is prevalent. My car has not kept oil at all since 1000 miles. It has been back to the shop 4 times. 3 times as the dealer put oil in it, then said come back after 1000 miles....each time the oil is not there. This time it has been there since this past Tuesday, 6/4/13, and they gave me a loaner. I am so disappointed and scared to drive it! I haven't read all here and am a busy real estate agent on the go. I like this dealer as this is my third car I have bought from them, taken it back for every service on each TL and referred my manager to them. Does anyone have any experience with this? Mine could just be a lemon...looking for any input! Thanks!

 

Here we go again. ^

Your oil is being burned off.

Some cars are worse than others. Often it is related to driving style. Your consumption may be beyond manufacture specs, you should take it back until they fix it right.

See:

https://acurazine.com/forums/4g-tl-problems-fixes-297/oil-consumption-784028/

Lemon Laws very from state to state.