Maybe you're just paying more attention to it now? How often do you VTEC? In S2000's that burn oil, a lot of it is related to how often the car is driven at high RPM.

 

Well i wouldn't say i am in the VTEC all the time, but i like to hit it here and there. Some days more than others.

 

I've just started to log the oil consumption. Results soon. I have also switched to Mobil 1 Synthetic as of the 3rd oil change. I know the results will show high oil consumption. Will be interesting to make it official and compare with others. Engine is and always has been strong and tight; hence never even thought about logging the results.

Maybe if there enough of us that gulp enough oil, we can get a recall and some new engines ! Of course it will never happen.

 

For everyone's interest, this is an article explaining the hard breakin:

http://mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

And an index page with all his other articles. He writes some pretty interesting stuff.

http://mototuneusa.com/thanx.htm

I'm sure most oil consumtion traces back to how well the piston rings are sealing from when it was first broken in.

Chris.

 

I always keep a close eye on my oil situation and i've done 3 oil changes on the car since i got it. The first 2 were done at Honda and i think they used Pennzoil or something synthetic oil and it never burnt a drop. Always stayed at the full line. This is the first oil change i have done with Mobil 1 and now i notice i'm down a litre after 4k. Wondering if i should switch back to whatever honda put in or if i should just try mobil 1 again. Don't wanna wreck something in the engine and have it start burning oil.

 

I was really interested when I first read that article. I discussed it with a race engine builder I know (He builds a heckuva strong engine) and we determined that for race engines with an already predicted short lifespan that this is fine. However, considering that with a new street car, everything else needs to break in as well, for example, new main and rod bearings conforming properly to the shape of the connecting rod and bearing caps, new gears and synchroes in the transmission, new diff gears establishing a wear pattern, new struts forming wear patterns together, brakes, etc. that as interesting an idea as this was, It didn't make sense to break a street car in that way. However it did make a really good point about seating the rings properly.

When I drive in a new car (something that is pretty much a daily part of my job) I take into account the suggestions of this website and also what's suggested by the manufacturer. Once the car is warmed up to full operating temperature, assuming there are no running problems, I will use full throttle from about 2000rpm up to 1000 rpm away from redline, generally 2 or 3 times. This gives me a chance to confirm that VTEC is working, it develops full gas pressure in behind the rings, helping them to seat, it doesn't subject the transmission (and in the case of the S, diff as well) and all the other mechanical parts that are trying to establish a wear patter to too much stress while breaking in.

I know for a fact that some of the Hondas (if not all) do have specific breakin additives in the oil from factory and I generally suggest going the full duration to the first oil change. If a person is really paranoid, then change the filter, but not the oil.

Sorry for going slightly off topic but since the hard breakin was mentioned, I HAD to say something.

 

Honda Canada wants to pull my head, hahhaha.
They somehow wants to examine the top.

Update to follow.

 

Am I the only one that has a hard time reading the stick? I don't even check anymore, when it makes ugly noises I take it in for service....

 

This might be true. My friend had a Nissan Sentra V-SPEC 2003 and apparently there was a recall for high oil consumption. The rings in the 2003 were too hard so they never seated properly. The honning edges wore down before the rings could seat. The other side of the story is people that ran the crap out of their cars from day one never had this problem including. My friend included.

 

Leak down test proved to be normal. Actually readings would say it is almost a brand new engine. This is now pointing to the piston rings as the cause, but most of us know that already. Next step, send some hardware to Honda.