eluzion

1qt of oil every 1,000 miles is ridiculous, especially for a modern car.

I have a 2011 SH-AWD with just under 8k miles now. I constantly checked the oil level before I changed it at around 4k and it never burned a drop. I did not "baby" it either, I'm definitely a believer in pushing the car a bit (i.e. putting load on the motor under 5k RPM or so) the first 50-100 miles and not cruising at a constant RPM for the first 500 miles or so. Regardless, I doubt how you break in a modern engine will really make much of a difference in terms of oil consumption. I'm planning to change the oil again here in the next 1k miles (roughly 5k miles on this first oil change with Mobile 1 5W-20 full synthetic) but so far I have not noticed any oil consumption.

If my car burned 1qt of oil every 4k miles under normal driving conditions, I'd even consider that abnormal. I'm sorry, but this naturally aspirated 3.7L V6 is hardly what I would call a "performance" engine and should not be burning that much oil.

Scottwax

Early VQ35s and early rev-up VQ35s were notorious for oil consumption. First '02 Maxima use a quart every 1500 or so miles. Stayed that way the 80k miles I put on it (although it got a little worse when the valve covers started leaking) but never fouled the plugs or caused any drive-ability issues. Bought the car when it was well past the warranty and figured it was cheaper to keep adding oil than to replace an otherwise good running engine. 2nd 2002 Maxima used a quart every 3500 or so miles so at least that was better and actually pretty good for an early VQ35. Oh yeah, the dipstick design is horrible on VQ35s, car has to sit a good 10-15 minutes for the oil to drain back enough to get an accurate reading. Glad I never bought one new. Maximas (especially the 6 speed 02/03s) are great cars used since they depreciate so much, probably the best $5000-6500 used car on the market. But the oil consumption issue is a pain.

When Car and Driver got the E46 M3, for a long term test, they added 14 quarts during the 42,000 mile test.

My '04 Accord has 83,000 miles on it, misread when the oil was changed when I bought the car, by the time I realized it had been 10,000 miles (glad it was synthetic), the oil level was still on the full line. Even when my '90 Accord had 250k+ miles on it, oil consumption was maybe a quart every 5500-6000 miles.

To anyone experiencing excessive oil consumption, good luck getting much done about it. Most manufacturers won't replace an engine under warranty until it burns more than a quart per 1000 miles.

moych1

Hey guys - new member here .I own a 2010 sh-awd 6mt.Bought it new 2 years ago. I started noticing the oil consumption around 15k miles.I added a quart of oil just so it would show on the dipstick.Before before my 20k oil change I added 3/4 of a quart.Dealership says it is normal but ive owned infinitis' and BMW
and have never experienced this.Went for an oil change 2 weeks ago
and closed to 6 hundred miles-no sign of oil consumption.Dealership wants me to come back after 500 miles to check for oil consumption.I noticed the consumption in between 5000 miles.Saw an article in the dealerships waiting room - this carmd says any any oil consumption is not normal.Will continue to monitor.

3rdGenHybrid

Working for honda, and being trained by them, 1 qt. Every 1kmiles is acceptable. Its an engine, its not 100% efficient, and its our job as car owners to check the oil level regularly. It sounds like a lot and I would definately complain about it, but for those who are down less than 1 qt. At almost 4000 miles I wouldn't be alarmed.

As for how to check your oil level, you should start the engine. Shut it off and check the level within 30 seconds. Letting it sit over night wont give you an acuurate reading because all the oil has drained down to the pan. Making your reading to apppear over filled.

Edward'TLS

Good grief, but thanks for revealing to us that Honda trains all their men to deceive customers by telling them losing 1 qt. of oil every 1K miles is acceptable.

It's definitely not acceptable, not with Honda and not with Honda engines.

It is a well known fact that Honda engines don't need to add even a single drop of engine oil in between oil changes.

Having owned 12 Honda/Acura cars in my family since 1984, I'm the living proof.

On the other hand, losing 1 qt. every few-K miles is the norm for Audi engines, since it is notorious that Audi engines burn oil for breakfast.

3rdGenHybrid

You must have not owned a 98-02 accord 4cyl, those things burn oil on a daily basis, and the 08+ accords 4cyl eat oil up to about 2qts every 1kmiles. We're not trained to say 1qt every 1k miles is ok for a brand new car, it's just a guideline , a reference that if you were burning that much it's not typically a bad thing , and if u read what I said , I would Definately complain about consuming that much oil, but for customers who have older Hondas with 100k miles + most would rather top it off here and there then to tear it down and re ring it and have new valve seals installed.

Edward'TLS

Honda/Acura cars owned/owning in family :

Accord : '84(I4), '88(I4), '91(I4), '94(I4), '05(I4), '05(V6)
Integra : '90(I4) (no added oil until after I heavily modded the engine)
TL : '97(I5), '02(V6), '04(V6), '12 (x3 cars)

All the above don't need a single drop of oil to be added, except for the modded to hell '90 Integra and the current '12 3.7L-V6 TL (oil level dropped to 1/2 the dipstick marking merely at ~4K km).

3rdGenHybrid

I see you left out the 98-02 4cyl accord.... I never said every single Honda ever produced consumes oil, but when they do, there are certain guidelines that we go by, 1/2 a qt at over 3k miles is no need for alarm, what are u running in that 0-20? I think 5-20 is thin ... And I think oil viscosity plays a big role in why older Hondas never burned as much oil as these newer engines. I own a 2010 tl and never had to add oil, my 97 prelude burns oil(175k miles), 99 odyssey burns oil(190k miles) my 05 Accord doesn't(75k miles) and my 05 TL doesn't (90k miles)....

lji

I think the 1qt/1000 miles is rule of thumb that Honda is telling its Techs to go by nowadays until they figure out what the issue is with the excessive oil burning. A 2010 Honda Accord V6 (3.5L engine with VCM) in the extended family had the check engine and VSA lights come on (@ 15,000 miles) and the engine was misfiring. Took it to the dealership and replaced three spark plugs that were fouled and stated that Honda has a service bulletin out for this. Upon further researching this, I found that there is also one out for excessive oil consumption on this engine (link). Don't know what is going on with Honda nowadays, but there are too many complaints by owners on the '08-'10 Accord on excessive oil usage (link)

lji

Checked the dipstick over lunch and found the oil level to be just under the full mark. I think this is the 2nd time I've checked the oil level since I bought the car and I've gone through one oil change as of now (First changed @ 7,500 miles with Royal Purple 5W-20 oil & RP filter). At 12,6xx miles now with the MID showing 40% oil life left. I'm thankful that mine isn't burning any oil.

3rdGenHybrid

Yeah the v6 throws misfires for 1-4 and there's updated software, as for the 4cyl, I guess the map for cold start is too rich washing down the cylinder walls and eventually gunking up the rings, there's also an update for those, ive personally rebuilt at least a dozen new pistons and rings because it was consuming like 2.5 qts every 1000. Quality is defintely dropping, very sad to see.

typeR

your oil is going through the PCV ... then burned out the exhaust

Harry Diaz

I already reached the 45K in my TL. I'm close to my 5K oil change, but after haivng a low oil message, I found out that I was over 2.5 quarts low. I called the dealer and I'm plannning to follow up the issue next week. I asked the dealer, but not a clear anwser yet. Car runs great_ no other issues.

SoCal2010TL

Dealer told me that if I was in the VTEC range and really pushing it, the engine burnt up the oil...

mrclemson

In my mind, it might be okay if every single Honda engine burns oil at a certain rate, let it be 1 qt per 1000 miles or whatever. Let customers know what to expect. It is certainly not okay if most engines don't burn oil at all, while others do excessively, this is inconsistent, and not what people usually expect from Honda. Fortunately for the 2 Acuras that we own (a '07 RDX and then '10 TL), they don't burn oil at all.

fsttyms1

it shouldnt burn that much period. I run 15k+ intervals and in that time im lucky if i can get a full quart in to top off (mostly from the filter change at 7500). My car idles most of the day and when its not idling its hitting vtec often. None of my other hondas have ever burned oil either.

ionian2k

I have a 2012 TL SHAWD 6MT I bought last May brand new and it has been burning oil at rate of 2.0 to 2.5 qrt oil about every 5k miles. It isn't consistent burn. First 1k miles after an oil change not a drop is burnt then second 1k miles half .5 quart is burnt then it somewhere in last 3k miles about 2 qrt is gone. when my oil life is at 30% there is no oil on my dipstick and Acura dealership is telling me it is working fine. I called Acura client relations and those people are the most useless drones believing the dealer. I called second dealer and over the phone I was told they will need do an engine compression test then when I show up I was told I need to an oil consumption and the lady said it is same test I couldn't believe it.

I showed them the oil consumption test from previous dealership that was abruptly ended on me at 2k miles. They said they need to change oil again and start test over. they said Acura tied their hands. I guess Acura will keep doing this scam until my warranty runs out. This is the first and my last Acura.

ionian2k

The car has about 14k miles now. My wife will be in market for a car in next few months and I know which brand I am not going to consider.

typeR

pcv

brechbt

Here is an article about engine break-in that many will find controversial. I myself find this argument convincing and broke in my '12 TL Tech using these suggestions. I rode the car pretty hard using manual shifters for the first 100 miles or so, and changed out the break-in oil at 600 miles. In the 3000 miles since then, the car has not used any oil whatever.

My last car was an Acura CL that was a dealer demo. That car also used no oil between oil changes. Since most demos are driven pretty aggressively, I believe that this car benefited from an inadvertent proper break-in that resulted in proper ring seating.

Bottom line for me is this: if different examples of the same year and model of a given vehicle show different oil usage, then you have to wonder why. There is some other factor that causes this. I believe that different engine break-in processes is a likely explanation.

mtc46jw

I had a 2010 Tl base model that I loved dearly, It was a car that absolutely flew it was so quick (much faster than the AWD) and it never used any oil period!

I was so happy with its performance that I bought a 2012 SHAWD thinking it would be as good or better for us here in Canada! Ha! The damn thing burns oil much Like everyone else's 3.7 sited here....at least to a degree.

My question is...are the oil burning issues only related to the 3.7 engine and its lack of cylinder liners? Being an old BMW bike rider, I know that the nikosil lining on the cylinder walls on BMW bikes can be very, very hard indeed. I also know that even BMW and Mercedes have screwed it up occasionally on several of their exotics motors in the past if not properly done! I now believe this is at the root of the problem. Not positive, but it makes some sense to me!

So....I would be interested to hear if anyone with the 3.5 is having oil consumption issues too. Given that I broke-in both my TL's in the same way it makes no sense that one burns oil and the other didn't! I have never had a car that burns ANY OIL!

Cheers

RDX in NY

Lots of truth in this statement however I would also add here that to break in the rings properly you should not only accelerate but DEcelerate too so the rings get loaded both top and bottom. I usually do this on all motors to seat the rings. Choose 2nd gear and accelerate from 25 MPH to about 65MPH using a substantial amount of throttle and then coast back down again. By doing this you load the rings from the top on acceleration and from the bottom on deceleration which expands them and seats them in for a better seal against the cylinder walls.
Best performed at an early mileage. Other than the initial use of a bit of oil from the start, I have never had an engine that used oil after the initial break in mentioned above and the cars have run perfectly.
Just find a road where you won't cause a traffic problem doing the above.

RDX in NY

I omitted in the above message that this should be repeated about 10 times for best results and ring seating.

lji

Would you elaborate on this? How is the oil going through the PCV?

Buffa

Great info. Thanks for sharing. When you say 10 times, do you mean back to back, or just on random days for example? My 2012 seems to burn about a quart every 4,000 miles or so. Have 16,000 miles already, I was expecting that to settle down by now. Not terrible by any means, but my 2001 CL Type S never burned a drop in 160,000 miles so I was surprised by this. Willing to experiment to help it out, and this procedure sounds fun anyway!

RDX in NY

That's TEN times back to back the same day (in a row).

One other thing here guys, this was meant for cars with the 5 speeds and I didn't take into account the new 6 speeds with a different 2nd gear than the 5 speed transmissions. The RPM would be a bit high doing it this way on a new 6 speed automatic running it up to 65 MPH.
Try to keep the speed mentioned in my post above to 50 MPH on the six speeds as not to crank them too high in RPM's.

JM2010 SH-AWD

That's about the rate for my AWD too. I'd say that seems normal for the 3.7 motor, but some AWD drivers here are reporting no oil usage.

typeR

put a catch can in front and ull see where the oils going ... i did

typeR

BTW this is also the source of of the clicking in the engine bay that most would mistake as valve clatter

lji

No issues on mine thankfully, but I was curious since there's an Accord in the extended family with the issue. Thanks!

fsttyms1

Its also attributed to the rear main leak too.

typeR

true ... i guess the PCV gets gunked up allows too much pressure to build and causes that to fail as well...but that will show up on your driveway

Oswald Vater

Just did my first oil change in my 2010 Tech at 8760 miles and 10% left on the MID. Not a single drop of oil appeared to be used during that time.

davensd

It doesn't sound like you drive much, I just passed 22000 miles on the same type of car. I believe the issue seems to be mostly with the 3.7 engine. The 3.5 seems to be more proven.

lji

I've got the 3.7 engine... About to hit my second oil change ... approx 14k on the car... the engine isn't using a drop of oil and I do get on it every once in a while...

typeR

my 3.5 went through a quart a month but ofcourse i babied it


http://www.streetfire.net/video/lil-...ack_173659.htm

Oswald Vater

You're right in both cases. I live on an island and use a motorcycle most times to get around. When I do drive the TL it is usually longer trips to the mainland 1000 miles (3-4 trips a year) at a time.

KarKraze

Just chiming in with my experience,i have the 3.7 l and did the first oil change in Nov before i stored my car and i had 6900 kms at the time,the oil was still at the full level which surprised me since i felt that it would have burnt some during that break in period.

Teddybear

im on my 3rd oil change, 4th tank of oil.
first was break in, then dealer did 1 free change with dino oil
2nd change i put in motul
last change i put in motul.

havnt burnt any oil in my J37, and i push my car somewhat often (only after break in oil was out).

i know h22's were notorious for burning oil, it came down to improper break in when the car was new.

Sailbum

I bought a 2012 SE 6 sp in January and now have 3500 miles on it and have added 2.5 qts of oil to keep it full.
To me this is excessive.

I previously had a 2005 TSX 6sp and a 2008 TXS auto; both of these used little to no oil between changes which were done about every 5k miles.

I was very surprised on my 2012 to see at 1,000 miles it needed 1/2 a qrt.
No big deal I thought, still new, breaking in. I was very surprised to have had to add 2 more quarts since then to keep it at the full mark.

Stopped at an Acura dealer this morning and explained the situation to the SA.
He said Honda's response is a qrt every 1k miles is not unusual. I don't buy that as my last two TSX's used very little.

He said to bring it in after the 1st service and they will monitor the oil level; said they are doing this on a few cars where customers have thought the oil consumption was high.

We'll see what happens.