oil burning on my civic

[Civic Si Kid]

Hi,I recently found that my car is burning pretty much oil,i had my oil change 2 weeks ago, the oil level was right above the max. hole according to the dip stick,but i just checked today,it drops to the middle(between the max. and minx hole) of the dip stick :( .Does anyone know what is going on with that and how can i reduce the oil burning? :oops: Thanks

P.S. my car is a 93 Civic Hatch

[wynode]

Firstly make sure you checked it at the same temprature both times.

Otherwise try a thicker oil.....maybe your rings are wearing (worst case scenario).

[Civic Si Kid]

Yes,i checked they are both at the same temperature, i am running on 10W-30 already.

[SPEEDCORE]

No visible leaks??

Have you had someone tail you or rev to see if you get PUFF..... the blue smoke dragon comming out the tailpipe?

[Kit]

No visible leaks??

Have you had someone tail you or rev to see if you get PUFF..... the blue smoke dragon comming out the tailpipe?

ok, one thing to note is, have you had the car since new? and if not, what sort of oil has the car been running on most of its life.

if its been running on stock honda stuff or mineral oil, and you are now running on full synthetic, you will get a bit of oil being burnt as the O rings will be worn a bit more. and synthetic oil being thinner and more lubricating, will get past the O rings and burn a bit.
As wynode said, try switching to a slightly thicker oil.

Speedcore, black smoke is ok, thats just the car running rich on WOT, all hondas will run a bit rich at WOT, its to prevent the car leaning out. Blue smoke is when you're burning oil. (*edited to have the right info*)

further to this, I have found in my old EK civic, Mobil 1 (the kmart stuff) tended to burn a bit more than other oils, over a period of 3000km, it would use about 1/4 - 1/2 of the dipstick

Chris

[-MuGen PoWer-]

yeah i got the same problem and my frend goes theres a bit of blak smoke that comes out the back wen i drive, but theres heapz if i go hard out
how can i get it fixed?? theres no visible leaks

[bennjamin]

Other simple things to watch out for - the "honda advised useage" is around 1 litre oil consumption (for a normal revy honda ) per 1000kms average driving. . . . . . which ofocurse by about the 5,000 k mark you are about to change ur oil anyway !
Another thing - if more than usual oil is used, the it could be used up via the PCV valve (located below the fuel rail , on top of the inlet manifold on my 92 Si) - a simple little valve to replace ($10 or so?...)

[-MuGen PoWer-]

anything besides that valve??
coz i have a good feeling theres oil leek sumwhere but duno where it is
its not visible
and plus my car smells bad(the smell of sumthin burning) wen i rev hi like past 4k or 5k

[Toby]

Rear main seal maybe??

[EuroAccord13]

I also think your seals are in need of a change.. Also, the oil might be burning up in the exhaust too...

CHEERS
Nick

[Civic Si Kid]

Thanks all, kit,i just bought my car like half year ago and that was my second oil change.I am not sure what kind of oil was it running,but i am running on Honda 10W-30.Also,no visible leak and bad smell.Any suggestion on my next oil change? My brother told me to put Slick 50.

[Rt!]

if you idle at the lights for a while and then drive off, see if it blows a bit of smoke. If it does, then its likely that the piston rings are shot.
afaik oil smoke is blueish and steam from condensation is white.

get some degreaser, and WHILE THE CAR IS COLD, spray it over the engine and hose it off (avoid electricals)
then just keep an eye out for any developing oil leaks.

[Kit]

Civic Si Kid, how much km's did you drive within that 2 week period for the oil to drop halfway down the dipstick? is that Honda FEO oil you are using? are there any other grades of Honda FEO? I always thought honda oil was a 10W40 or something but i could be wrong. and is Honda oil a full synthetic or just a semi synth?
next oil change try to change to 10W40 or even a 10W50 or something, a bit thicker. and monitor the oil consumption. you can try something like a Mobil S or similar, a semi synthetic.
also, what is the odo reading on the civic? and has it been serviced at honda for all its life? (check the log books). Just stay off all the additives stuff at the moment until you work out what the problem is.
Slick 50 is some lubricating additive (i believe, not too sure), so i dont think that would help your oil consumption.

Benjammin, does it say in the manual that the max oil consumption is 1L/1000km? cos thats the BS that Alfa romeo fed me too because my GF's 147 had some oil consumption problems. In my opinion, no car should use that much oil, there would be a lot more cars blowing their engines if that was the case.

RT, sorry, i got my colours mixed up, definately steam when you start your car in winter is white.
but thats just steam and not smoke. if oil is burning, it comes out as blue smoke. (*edited to have the right info*)

Chris

[ATSE]

Honda FEO has a 10w-30 rating and is a mineral oil. There used to be a "R" version of the oil, which was semi-synthetic... but they don't make it anymore.

When oil burns you get BLUE smoke. When coolant burns it is WHITE smoke, and running rich is BLACK smoke.

It is most likely your rings... but change the PCV first...

Changing to a thicker oil only covers up the problem.. it doesn't fix it...

[Kit]

Honda FEO has a 10w-30 rating and is a mineral oil. There used to be a "R" version of the oil, which was semi-synthetic... but they don't make it anymore.

When oil burns you get BLUE smoke. When coolant burns it is WHITE smoke, and running rich is BLACK smoke.

It is most likely your rings... but change the PCV first...

Changing to a thicker oil only covers up the problem.. it doesn't fix it...sorry, i stand corrected, blue smoke is oil:
http://www.trinbagoauto.com/mark_smoke.asp

but really, don't go giving the guy a heart attack, a bit of oil consumption doesnt really warrant an engine rebuild right? even if his rings are a bit worn.
If changing to a thicker grade oil helps then thats the option i would go every time.
especially if its a 93 civic, a rebuild is gonna cost a large proportion of the purchase price of the car itself

[ATSE]

hehe i know what you mean kit... not trying to scare him... but he said he lost half a quart in 2 weeks... now that's pretty hardcore man. But anyway.. just try different oils and see what happens, and tell a friend to follow behind your car to check for smoke.

[wynode]

1L per 1000kms.........What you puffing on Ben!!!????

[bennjamin]

1L per 1000kms.........What you puffing on Ben!!!????

not enough it seems.....

its a max quote off a ZC resource - max amount of oil used through normal useage apparently *scare tactics for oil companies ;) *

[[[d a n n y]]]

bens car is like that too..

[Civic Si Kid]

My car's odo reading is 85k miles and for the past 2 weeks, i ran for around 600-700 miles.From my mirror,i dont see any unusual smoke from the exhaust even i push it hard.Just some steam when i first start the engine at like 5C degree(I am from New york).i dont think my car got serve from Honda lately.I am sorry,can someone tell me what's a PCV?

[wynode]

Punctuation?

Well I rev to 6,800 a few times a week (2-3) and I dont loose that much oil!