Soon after buying the car with 80000 km on the clock I found out it was a Honda that used oil .
After reading (lurking) about it inhere I was reassured it was normal.
I'm not sure if the dealer mentioned it, the manual does, so I kept checking it every weekend or after driving a lot.
And I was adding oil, about 1 liter every 1500-2000 km or so, not all at once of course but in small sips keeping the level at the top X.

But now...

It stays at level!
I noticed it about 6 weeks ago.
Here I was, with my oil bottle, checking the level.. no need to add.
About 3 weeks ago I drove 1800 kms in two days.. no oil needed.
An hour ago I checked it again (with TP).. no oil needed.

This couldn't be the Longest Break-in Ever.. could it?

I remember the dealer saying something about the previous owner was a woman, trading the car in for a Honda Jazz because of having a kid (and a partner.. obviously )
Maybe the car didn't see a lot of but after 80000 km one (me) would expect break-in to be done.
I'm spend time in VTEC land, at least once a day.

Thoughts?

 

I've seen this happen before but not in the kind of high miles you have. Oil consumption can be cyclic. It can start off using oil, then quit, then begin again many, many miles later, repeat itself. I have no explanation for it.

 

xviper Posted on Apr 2 2006, 05:33 PM
THAT'S why most of us are talking about cars as a "she" !
Cycles

This car needs a firm hand I reckon
I won't stop checking and update when another "cycle" begins.

Its not the oil btw, it had Shell in the engine when I bought it, just different visc.
I was expecting the usage to rise again with the 0W-40 but not so far.

 

Oil usage is not directly proportional to mileage. Highway miles doesn't consume much oil per miles. VTEC miles may consume more, but I found out normal stop-and-go city driving miles consumes more oil than track lapping miles. Similar characteristics to my BMW 325i.

 

I agree that your rings have finally broken in and seated to the bore. The honing action required to seat the rings requires some friction. Perhaps she had break in oil (with very slippery Moly or teflon added) in it the whole time. Who knows? Does she have any maintanence records, maybe on file at her dealership?

 

My car has a tad over 87,100 miles (140,174 km) and I have to put in 1 quart (~0.94 L) of oil ever 1,000 miles (~1,609 km) of driving. Just like you, I don't put it all in at once. I put some in every few days to few weeks depending on how much I've been driving.

As of now I haven't really noticed any correlation between driving style and oil consumption. It has been a fairly constant 1 quart per 1,000 miles of driving whether I'm driving calmly or hard...highway or traffic (although I don't drive TOO much in heavy traffic).