NJHB

I have just received a letter from my dealer (Geo Collins) about oil consumption. Why now I wonder after 2 years of ownership?

Extracts as follows:-

"We would suggest once a week to start with to enable a pattern of consumption to be established. If however you are covering high mileages at high speeds you may wish to check daily"

"Please note this notice is precautionary only and does not in any way mean the engine is faulty"

composite guru

I think Honda is fedup with replacing engines due to the average person owning them. My local dealer has replaced 2 lumps on cars that the owners have not checked the oil quantity on every fill up. "Joe Bloggs" who knows nothing about these cars would run it just like any other Honda (from my Honda experience no oil loss) but doesn't realise that an engine that revs to 9k and produces 240bhp will use oil if pushed to the limit.

Matt

UKjasonm

This is a timely reminder to us all, I checked my oil religiously for the first 12K miles, it seemed to really slow down after the first service and by 12K was (I thought ) hardly using any. Having read Andys post this morning I thought I'd better go and check mine as its been a while (probably 3K miles), I was shocked to find I was on the 'L' and I have just put 1.5L in to get it back upto 'H'.

If youve not checked yours for a while I suggest you have a look asap.

Scrooger

Do you need to check it when the engine is warm or does it not matter?

And what flavour of oil are most people putting in?

Ta

- Mike

Tonky

The best time to check your oil is before you even start up in the morning, when all the oil has drained down into the the sump and you're most likely to get an accurate reading. That's assuming of course that the car is standing on level ground. Failing that, the longer you can leave the car standing once you've run the engine the better. I like to wait 20 minutes or so; perhaps I'm being a bit anal.

Opinions vary on oil and I don't think there's a definitive answer, but generally speaking after the 9K service assuming you've done that sort of mileage, swop to fully synthetic oil. I and lots of other people use MIobil 1. Having said all of that ,many people have used fully synthetic oil right from the start and had no undue problems. Honda dealers seem to be cluelesss on advice in this area. Far more important than what you put in it, is regularly checking the level. You just can't do it often enough. Apart from the danger of engine damage/failure, VTEC efficiency very much depends on your oil level being maintained.

NJHB

The letter also said:-

"In the event the oil levels need replenishing we sugest Shell Helix 10/40 grade engine oil. If this is not available any good quality 10/40 grade engine oil will be acceptable."

Strangely when the garage did my last service they used Mobile 1

ianl

Not surprisingly (as I also use Geo Collins) I got the same letter this morning.

We haven't had an oil related thread for ages (at least 6 days ) - as you say Nick - they advise Shell Helix 10w 40 - however at my 9000 mile service, they filled the car up with Shell Helix 5w-30 - I cant imagine this is a big deal, it is just the inconsistancy of it all

Tifosi Red

The garage my car is going into for its service use Castrol 10W-40. I'm going with either Shell Helix or Mobil 1 depending on which I stumble across first before next Friday.

Tonky

I think Halfords have a sale on Mobil 1. Quite a big reduction IIRC!

Tifosi Red

Cheers CT, I'll poke my head in on Monday, 5 litres needed for a change isn't it?