Euro Oil Consumption

Anyone out there experiencing high oil consumption? My service dealership currently has me on "consumption watch" i.e.I now have to take the car in every 1,000kms. When I say high, I mean by modern standards, where no one expects to use any oil between changes. Mine has used 0.50 litres between 20k and 20.5k. Courtney & Patterson my service dealership, say they have not seen this on the current crop of 2.4 ltr engines so I have not been fed the "they all do that" crap. C&P only use Honda oil whatever that is. I would not call myself a hard driver, never exceed 3,000 rpm unless the engine is warm, mainly commuter driving with the odd freeway squirt.

You use 0.5 litres every 20k or you used 0.5 litres between 20k to 20.5k on the odometer (i.e. 500km)? I've only reached 5000km, but no oil consumption between the 1000km service and now.

GOD i hope this is not going to be an issue on the accords although u should be happy Honda is actually looking at you issue seriously and not brushing it off like subaru does, I got rid of my last car cos Subaru wouldnt address this issue among others... my last car Subaru liberty 2.5i 03-04 was consuming on avg 500ml's of oil every 3000km it had almost 40,000km on it Subaru claim the engine still wasnt run in yet and thats why it was consuming oil (load of crap)...I check my euros oil after every fuel stop once the car is parked at home (on level ground) after a few hours to ensure i get a correct oil measurement reading so far no oil consumption either...

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Originally Posted by fergus

Anyone out there experiencing high oil consumption? My service dealership currently has me on "consumption watch" i.e.I now have to take the car in every 1,000kms. When I say high, I mean by modern standards, where no one expects to use any oil between changes. Mine has used 0.50 litres between 20k and 20.5k. Courtney & Patterson my service dealership, say they have not seen this on the current crop of 2.4 ltr engines so I have not been fed the "they all do that" crap. C&P only use Honda oil whatever that is. I would not call myself a hard driver, never exceed 3,000 rpm unless the engine is warm, mainly commuter driving with the odd freeway squirt.

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It is a little unusual - I have never added oil to my car - now at 21k and dip stick above top mark since last service at 17.5k. That said - oil consumption is normal during break in. If there is a problem, such as an oil seal leak - it will be fixed.

Also - I presume the 20k oil change was done by Courntey and Patterson? How do you/they know the new apprentice put the right amount of oil in your car?

if u recently had a service.. check if they put da damn drain bolt back in tightly :D

There are many reports of oil consumption of the K24 engine on the tsx.acurazine.com boards as well. But those people only do their first oil change at 10000 miles! Yup, that's 16000 km in our measurement units. Crazy, that Acura is claiming that their engine can go that long before the first service on the factory mineral oil! I mean, a luxury brand has to have lower maintenance requirements because the owners don't have the time for that, but 16000 km for the first oil change is ridiculous.

Trust me after owning a Alfa Romeo 147, Honda has no issue with oil consump.

My 2L Twin Spark Engine in the Alfa would drink 1L of oil in about 1200Km you have nothing to worry about.

On the other had I better check my oil level ah ? :D:D

My car seems to have used a fair amout of oil.
It's done around 9500km now and is showing about half-full or a bit less on the dipstick.

Sorry guys got the decimal point wrong! The consumption is .5 litres in 5,000 kms!
No I am not sure that they filled it to the top initially.

My understanding is that these modern engines really relish being revved a bit more than I may have been doing. Of course in Victoria that means running the risk of loss of licence, so maybe I should not be so anxious to get into 6th.

what I do is a medium throttle in 2nd. It is the gas pressure that helps seat the piston rings. Just look for a road with 80 limit.

coladuna: 0.5 litres in 9500km is not too bad. You'd be going for your service at 10000km anyway.

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Originally Posted by aaronng

coladuna: 0.5 litres in 9500km is not too bad. You'd be going for your service at 10000km anyway.

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Does half line on the dipstick equal .5 litres?
I have been thrashing the car a fair bit, i must admit. :D

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Originally Posted by coladuna

Does half line on the dipstick equal .5 litres?
I have been thrashing the car a fair bit, i must admit. :D

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I'm not sure if that is 0.5 litres. But those who do suffer excessive oil consumption report that the dipstick doesn't show any oil at all! I reckon yours is ok, and also because you thrash the car too, so 0.5 litres when you are close to the service won't kill your engine due to oil starvation.:)

Im pretty sure the euro's use a synthetic oil which have a tendency to burn off easier then a mineral oil if your engine is under a fair load, just make sure u check the level every 3rd or 2nd fuel stop just to gauge it every engine if different my past hondas have never required topping up but its always good to mindful to keep an eye on it, like any issue best to catch it early then let it escalate

if the euro uses Honda's genuine oil, then I'm pretty sure it's mineral.

Just checked my engine oil level and it has dropped even more.
My car's done about 9800km now and scheduled for a service on the 24th, which is still good 5 days away from today.
The oil level is currently at the minimum point.
What should I do? I'll probably do at least 200-300km until the service, which is a bit of a concern. :confused:

Hmm.. Tell your dealer that the oil is at low now. If he is a good dealer, he should top it up a bit for free so that it lasts until your next service. You can get a can as spare in case for the future. But damn, your car burns oil quicker than mine.

Maybe just check it every day until the service. If it drops below minimum - obviously you need to add a litre.

The other thing is - when are you checking the oil - after the engine has been running? Try to check it before you start the car for the day so you can be sure all the oil is in the pan. That will give you the most accurate reading

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Originally Posted by yfin

The other thing is - when are you checking the oil - after the engine has been running?

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I checked the oil after I washed the car. so I did run the engine just to put the car back in garage, but I did give about 5-10 minutes before I checked it, which should be sufficient time for the oil to drop in the pan.

I'm a bit surprised at the rate of oil consumption.

Well, full marks to Courtney & Patterson I have called in every 1,000kms, usually without notice, since I posted last and they have topped up & recorded the oil consumption and the good news is that it is reducing. I have recently done a couple of runs up to Hamilton in western Victoria and that may have affected the consumption (got 6.7 litres per 100kms).

As a matter of interest there was an letter in Wheels last month from an RX8 owner who experienced "high" oil comsumption in early ownership and by 30k kms it was down to zero.

My understanding is that the Honda oil is not synthetic and C&P do not recommend synthetic as Honda do not recommend it?

This is good news!

As far as I know, the Honda oil for i-VTEC engines is a 10W30 mineral oil. The reason they use mineral is because the oil is changed every 6months, which is only half of what other car manufacturers specify. Therefore any mineral oil that has degraded would be changed out before it would cause a problem.
I'm thinking of going 10W40 synthetic at my 20,000km service in 5 months time. I'll ask the dealer if it is ok first.

I'm using the new 0W40 Mobil Synthetic Oil. Currently done just over 10000kms. C&C didn't say anything when i asked. I've had no problems with it so far. It probably is a much thinner oil, as pointed out by Autobarn. Will have to check the levels to see whether it has burnt any. I've used it in my Subaru Forrester, and it worked wonders interms of response and fuel efficiency. As for my Euro, engine still feels tight so hard to tell any difference.

If a new engine is broken in properly.. you shouldn't get any noticable oil consumption between oil changes.

Main culprit is running new engine on highway at the same speed for extended period say > 30 mins. Or never getting the engine up to operating temperature say u live only 3-5 km from work.

It's amazing how many people I speak to still think going for a long easy highway drive is the best way break in a new engine... and then complain about oil consumption later...

Also, changing to synthetic too fast can also contribute to future oil consumption problems.

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Originally Posted by aaronng

I'm not sure if that is 0.5 litres. But those who do suffer excessive oil consumption report that the dipstick doesn't show any oil at all! I reckon yours is ok, and also because you thrash the car too, so 0.5 litres when you are close to the service won't kill your engine due to oil starvation.:)

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Originally Posted by V205

If a new engine is broken in properly.. you shouldn't get any noticable oil consumption between oil changes.

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Wrong. It's got nothing to do with that. When you drive your car hard, there will definitely be oil consumption.
I owned a Prelude before too and it used oil too when you give it a good thrashing regularly.

It's been 5000km since I got my 10,000km service done and the oil level has dropped to around half way mark. FYI, I never ran the engine at constant rev on highway from the first day of ownership. Always changed down to vary the revs.

I owned a prelude too and a s15 200sx. Thrash them both regularly and no noticable oil consumption between 5000km.

Any Euro owners here who redlnes regularly without noticable oil consumption between 5k changes?

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Originally Posted by coladuna

Wrong. It's got nothing to do with that. When you drive your car hard, there will definitely be oil consumption.
I owned a Prelude before too and it used oil too when you give it a good thrashing regularly.

It's been 5000km since I got my 10,000km service done and the oil level has dropped to around half way mark. FYI, I never ran the engine at constant rev on highway from the first day of ownership. Always changed down to vary the revs.

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Originally Posted by V205

I owned a prelude too and a s15 200sx. Thrash them both regularly and no noticable oil consumption between 5000km.

Any Euro owners here who redlnes regularly without noticable oil consumption between 5k changes?

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I wouldn't say I thrash the car - but I give it the whole rev range from time to time when the engine is warm. I have never noticed anything other than full oil level when checking the car - now at 25,500kms. I broke the car in by giving it various loads and revs from day one - not redlining necessarily but not babying the car either.

It is also relevant to say that I bring my own oil in to servicing (since 10,000kms). My dealer was using just basic Castrol Magnatec oil (not even the Honda oil) - so I decided to bring my own.

This thread is getting a bit old but thought it useful for me to input my experience to let future EURO ACCORD owners know!


Anyway: I agree with V205 that it is good to thrash the car a bit even from the beginning. You need to bed in the piston rings to the cylinder bore and the only way to do this is to at least give it a few revs, even at the beginning. That is why Mineral oil is used to run in the car, as it offers less lubrication (more friction) than synthetic oil, plus various other reasons due to synthetic properties.

Just make sure to change the oil and oil filter more regularly at the beginning, i.e. first 10,000Km. I normally change once at 500km, once at 1000km, once at 5000km. Also I think running in car has not only to do with engine, but also various components as well.

I have been red-lining my Euro daily (but not entirely carelessly thrashing it either) and it hasn't consumed any noticeable oil from 1000km to 4000km. I apply same driving technique to all other cars I owned and never had oil consumption problems, not to mention they consistent perform better on the dyno machine stock vs stock. Just make sure not to abuse the transmission forcing into gears as gear boxes break-in very slowly!



Also - HONDA replied me in email - the Castrol Magnatec 10W-30 that they use to service the Euro is supposed to be the FMX Magnatec variety, which is semi-synthetic, and available to Dealers only. Information is available under Castrol, under Dealers link.

There is also available a 100% Synthetic Magnetic variant which is more expensive.

THESE SYNTHETIC CASTROL MAGNATEC FMX OILS ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT RETAIL, i.e. Autobahn, Super Cheap Auto, K-Mart, etc,. It is only available from your dealer, or through special order.


Please do not confuse Magnatec oil vs Magnatec FMX oil, they are very very different.

- Normal Magnatec is only Mineral based. Avail at retail, and not recommended.
- Magnatec FMX are either semi-synthetic or 100% synthetic. Has the advantage of magnatec technology and also synthetic technology.



However, some Honda dealers probably doesn't use the dealer only FMX variety oil. Please make sure that they do, as Honda Australia has said that this is WHAT THEY INTENDED to be use to service the Euro Accord K24s. :)

My Euro now has 51k on it & I have run Mobil 1 10w - 30 since the first service. Both Honda & Mobil have said in writting to me that using this oil will be fine & not effect warranty. The recommende oil grade is 10w - 30 ONLY You should not use other grades. I have had no significant oil consumption at all. It does no harm to have a LITTLE oil use, but not the levels mentioned here.

Recommended is 10w-30, but the manual states that a range of oils from 0w-40 up to 15w-40 can be used depending on the conditions. You can use other grades. If you have cold winters like in the US, then the recommended is 5w-30 because the 0 degree SAE viscosity would start to matter since the ambient temperature would be below 0 degrees!

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Originally Posted by aaronng

Recommended is 10w-30, but the manual states that a range of oils from 0w-40 up to 15w-40 can be used depending on the conditions. You can use other grades. If you have cold winters like in the US, then the recommended is 5w-30 because the 0 degree SAE viscosity would start to matter since the ambient temperature would be below 0 degrees!

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Spot on - a dealer can't say 10-30 only. That is recommended based on certain climatic conditions.

If you live at Thredbo or Alice Springs, for example, a totally different viscoscity would be appropriate (see your manual).

Speaking of oil consumption - my car has finally used some oil in between service (at 39,000kms). It is very close to being due for service (9500kms since last).

The dip stick was showing 75% full. I didn't need to top it up - but I did so anyway as I have some left over oil and this way some clean oil can dilute the dirty oil in there.

Obviously there are climatic conditions that will dictate a change of oil grade. But we are generally talking about standard Australian conditions & even if you do live in Alice Springs or Thredbo generally speaking the recomended grade would be 10w - 30. You have the choice of running a different grade in those circumstances. There is no reason or need in general terms to vary the grade from the recommended grade in normal operating conditions from that recommended by the manufacturer.