Forgive all of the questions I am asking because I do not own an S2000 of my own, but I am doing research before I put down some serious cash to take one of these bad boys home!!! All of the archived threads that I have searched regarding oil consumption say that those of you who burn more oil than others is because you hit VTEC more of the time. The threads, however, do not mention anything about WHY this is the case. Can someone please explain to me why revving the engine higher would consume more oil? I mean I know that the engine burns small amounts of oil here and there but it just scares me to see the amounts of oil that some of you keep having to add to your car. There are some of you who have to add like a quart or more and to me, that's simply rediculous, especially since some of you are having to deal with this on a relatively low mileage new engine. I know this may not be a good comparison but my daily car is a 1998 VW Golf with a 2.0L 4cyl and 50,000 miles...I know I know, nothing exciting but hey it's good on gas and it's just my daily transportation. It burns NO oil whatsoever but I have changed the ECU chip in the car so that will permit me to rev to 7000 rpm, which I do on occasion, yet the engine never burns ANY oil. I thought it was strange how you would burn oil on VTEC with the Honda engine yet the engine may still be very low mileage...some of you even said that you need to check your oil everytime you fill up gas and have to add a bit here and there, which I find very odd considering that the S2000 is supposedly a high tech and well engineered car. I am not bashing the S2000 in anyway...the only reason I am asking is because I am curious if it does consume oil regularly...something I would like to know before i consider buying one of these. So educate me guys...thanks a lot! Sorry for the long post.

 

At high RPM, oil pressure pushes a metal pin through the valve rockers and the follower, effectively binding the three pieces into one. And since the high RPM lobe pushes out further than the low RPM lobes, the two valve rockers now follow the the profile of the high RPM lobe. The high RPM lobe's profile is designed to open the valves open wider, and for a longer duration of time, thus allowing more fuel/air mixture to enter the cylinder.


The pin(the thick black line on the right) is shown in this pic, see how it binds all three pieces together?

 

thanks but what does that have to do with oil consumption?

 

FormulaRX, oil consumption is something that is characteristic of high performance engines in general. I have a 92 Civic CX hatchback with 100,000, and it too burns no oil.

I believe what has a lot to do with it is the piston speeds that are found in the F20C. Because you have piston speeds which compare to (if not exceed) those found in F1 engines, your rings must be toleranced to allow this (they are a little looser than what would be found in an engine that is not as performance oriented). The piston is not able to scrape as much oil off the cylinder wall when it is travelling at such high speeds, so it gets burned. The F20C is not the first Honda engine to consume oil at this rate, the B18C5 (Integra Type R), B16B (Civic Type R), and B16A2 (Civic Si) all burn oil as well. And they are all very reliable.

Don't be alarmed, the F20C does consume more oil during break in. However, there are many owners past the break in that don't burn oil at all.

 

the vtec system depends on oil pressure, during this process oil can be burned off. btw the f20c isn't the only motor to burn oil, in fact all DOHC VTEC motors from honda will burn oil during vtec operation. it doesnt matter how well your oil rings have seated during breakin, if you vtec often, you will lose oil.

 

Thanks a lot for the info...so does that mean that the new F22C units won't burn as much oil as the F20C?

 

the f22c is basically a stroked f20c, so it should have the same characteristics(fiber reinforced material cylinder walls, etc).

 

so far 2100 miles and vetc every day, no oil use, period, i guess i am lucky.

 

These engines don't start to burn oil until they reach about 2,100 miles. Why, I don't know. There are minor variations in the tolerances in these engines, therefore some lose more than others. I didn't lose a drop until a little over 2,000 miles. I now have 3,000 miles and have lost 1/2 of a quart.
Dude, drive it another 1,000 miles and report back to us.

 

89,000 miles and i still have to check my oil regularily; its all that damn vtecing...