There's been talk in the past about oil consumption. I have about 7,500 miles on the car and changed the oil at 5,500. Today the VTEC quit working and I found that I was down a full quart. The dealer said that the oil consumption will go down with more miles. Usually VTEC about twice a day when merging on the freeway.

What's the consensus of the group. How much oil does you car use between changes and how often do you change the oil?

Steve

 

Never used a noticable amount, even during breakin. I switched to synthetic early (before realizing it wasn't the best thing to do). Has 7.5k on it now, change oil every 3.5k.

 

It really seems to vary from car to car and driver to driver. Flying Pig (I think) once got down like 3 quarts!! I've never had a problem even when I take it to the track.

 

Oil consumption has been minimal; I used probably less than a quart during first 7500 miles. Since then no move on the dipstick at all.

 

There was alot about this on that other board. I used about 1.5 quarts during my first 3500 miles, and this was fairly typical of the comments I saw. Consensus was that VTEC engine uses some oil during initial use, then settles out at little to no useage.
Don

 

Our experience is the same as S2WOOOW. Haven't used a noticeable amount in 11K miles. First change at 2K, put in Mobil 1 at 5K, changed again at 10K. Results seem highly variable but this car has been (mostly) babied.

 

This is exactly the amount I used during the first 3500 miles, and the use of VTEC does seem to be the determinant, at least in my experience.

 

I've had my Stook since Jan.31. It has 2500 miles, and I've never used any oil. I keep looking expecting a quart to suddenly be gone, but nothing so far.

 

Every engine is different with minor variances in tolerances and materials. Every break-in is different, and there is a pretty wide difference in driving conditions and styles (as evidenced in the wide range of reported gas mileage). Oil consumption will vary from practically none to quite a lot as reported here.. and this consumption has to do with VTEC only indirectly, it is really just engine rpm that drives up consumption in an engine that has a loose seal.

Although most engines will seat their rings as designed in a few thousand miles some might take 10K or more. A very few will never seal as well as the design goal and will use a moderate amount of oil for their life. The guideline often heard in the auto industry is that using a quart in 3k miles is considered normal, and what this really means is

 

-I checked at 1000 miles, nothing.
-At 1700 miles after a trip, mine was 0.5 quarts low.
-At 4000, it was another quart low. That was after I had just put almost 1000 highway miles on it going on 2 more trips.
-I'm now at 4500 miles and I haven't used any oil since I added that quart at 4000.

How do I drive? Highway in cruise control, anywhere else around town and backroads, I VTEC all the time.

My local Honda dealer has a sign in their service bay about Honda recommending they not do any oil changes on new vehicles (except the Passport) before 7500 miles because of the additives in the oil. They sounded like they really didn't want me to do mine yet when I called them at 4000 miles to sched an appt. Since I've replaced 1.5 quarts already, I'm going to do mine at 5000.