Long time listener ... First time caller, but seriously. Owned the car damn near a decade and my oil in between changes (i.e. Every 3k respectfully) has to be filled like 3 times. Like completely filled, to the point where my oil changes can be done in a fashion where I don't even have to let the oil drip out into a pan because the car is burning it faster than Usain Bolt runs the 100 meter . I can literally swap an oil filter and just put knew oil in because of how often the oil is low . So in other words, my oil is low CONSTANTLY. Can it be the gaskets? Who knows , but it's been like this since day one, when I wasn't fully aware that this wondrous machine does this. It can't just be my car, I rarely hit my variable valve timing deliciousness we all refer to as Vtec ever , if I did so ever day I'd understand but man oh man this oil thing. And btw it highly has an affect on my TCT as well. Lower oil level equals tic tic tic fromu timing chain. I'll have to see Billman for his newest TcT but this oil thing guys and gals is an issue on my end. And I digress

 

Seems more than usual. What your saying is a quart every 1k? If so try castrol 10-30 high milage. Stay away from synthetic. If your burning more than that you may have something else going on. Maybe you need to hit VTEC more? Just kidding drive how you want.

Good luck! My ap1 used around a quart every 1k with synthetic. The regular oil does not burn as much. Big improvement. I drive in hot weather mostly. I drive it aggressively most of the time love to let it ring. 120+k miles on original stock 2002.

 

If it was a gasket you would see it every time you moved the car. All that oil would drip down and leave large spots of oil on the ground. See if your pvc valve is good. Try a high mileage oil 10/30 or try a 10/40 and see if the oil usage goes down.

ROD

 

This is more than usual. How many miles and owners? I am curious to hear what others have to say, but you say you don't race the car and rarely hit the vtec zone. For these engines if driving more aggressively it is normal to burn about a quart between oil changes 5K to 7K synthetic. At least my AP1 with 33K on it does that.
Oil has only 2 places to go - on the floor of your garage or through the tailpipe. If it is dripping you will see it. Look inside the tailpipe. With good ignition the color should be grayish to whitish. Any oil deposits there? Quick compression check also may give you some indications. When did you change spark plugs? That is unlikely reason but worth looking into. If the car misfires or misses a beat you will feel it (I hope).

 

I used castrol edge 10w-30 synthetic on my car for most of its life, burned about a quart every 1,800-2,200 miles. Went to amsoil and consumption increased, went back to castrol, oil consumption decreased. Tried Pennzoil ultra platinum with pure plus 10w-30 oil consumption shot up to a quart every 8-900 miles, started refilling with same brand 5w-40 consumption went down. Did oil change with 5w-40 consumption is back to normal.

 

Try an auto-rx treatment - http://www.auto-rx.com/

See if it helps, your piston rings could be varnished up and frozen in place. Outside of that you could run a higher viscosity oil, and I also agree with a non-synthetic oil - Castrol high mileage, Amsoil XL series, etc.

 

If the car has ran exclusively synthetic oil, or even if the car has had regular oil changes(3000mi interval), chances are very low there's even so much as varnish anywhere inside the engine.

 

If you've seriously ran the oil that low without topping up, the engine must be close to expiring , you can't have that much bearing material in it.

 

Is running the car at the bottom hash mark on the dip stick that bad?

 

From the sounds of it the oil level must have been way lower than the bottom hash mark, like almost no oil in the pan , to quote his words:

"my oil changes can be done in a fashion where I don't even have to let the oil drip out into a pan because the car is burning it faster than Usain Bolt runs the 100 meter . I can literally swap an oil filter and just put knew oil in because of how often the oil is low "