hey everyone, i know that burning oil in 5th gen preludes is normal, but is there any way for it to burn less oil? I just but like 3 quarts in like 3 weeks ago, and already my oil lights starts to flash again. Is there anything i can do to make it burn less oil, cause at 4 bucks a quart and gas on top of that, it's just freakin not cool. lol.and it makes my rear bumber dirty too fast. lol thanks,
jimmy

rear bumper dirty? From my experience, there's almost nothing you can do. I tried it all, from lucas oil to resolve or something like that. I use to use synthetic and now I just switch back to conventional. I use Kendal, 5-30.

You can use 20-50 wieght but I think it's not worth it. Kind of makes your car sluggish imo

So my rear bumper doesnt get dirty, but my friend does, and he had a compression test done, the mechanic concluded one of his piston rings are worn.( I am not going to say that is my diagnoises or your car) just thought you want to know that. ANd if that the case with your car, there's really nothing you can do about it either. It cost so much to replace the pistons, might as well get a new engine imo

I orginally came on this post just to see if my car buring oil is normal and I foudn out it is. What pisses me off, is all those 5th gen that dont burn. Some people 5th gen doesnt burn oil. But I dont think they run it hard enough too though

3 quarts in 3 weeks is NOT normal. There's something wrong, go get it checked out. The oil light only flashes when its reallllllllllllly low.

Yeah oil light is for people who dont check it! If its on something's definatley off,leaking,valve,something.

valve seals, oil ring, pcv....could be any....how many miles are on the motor?

i bought the car at 120,000, i've had the car for maybe 6 months and it's now at 141,xxx

my 4th gen is at 150K and i burn about a quart every 2.5 K

work at a dealership to solve engine burning oil

free oil is nice : )

compression test might give you the answer

Just as an FYI do NOT use that lucas oil stabilizer junk.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/images/lucas/lucas.htm

Regarding the post 3 quarts is not normal in 3 weeks. Are you sure you're not physically leaking the oil out of the engine somewhere? Some places to look at the oil pan, oil filter, camshafts and VTEC solenoid. Those are a LOT easier to fix comparatively vs burning oil. What kind of oil are you using anyway? Regardless I'd switch off synthetic to conventional and try a high mileage blend.

Check you oil every time you start the car since I believe when the oil light blinks that's when you have ZERO oil pressure which leads me to believe it's more of a leak than burning issues since you'll always have more oil in the sump when you start up and you'd see the steady light before it starts to blink.

i usually use vavoline, full synthetic, i thought synthetic was better? do you know guys know where i can get a compression test and how much that may cost?

Switch off synthetic, if you're burning 5+ quarts in 3 weeks then there's no benefit of using it as you're replacing it far far far far before any benefit of synthetic will kick in. Plus conventional will run you $1-3 a quart vs the $5+ a quart for synthetic.

Compression test should cost you std service rates for an hour of work. Or you can just head over to Sears (or other fav tools store) and pick up a compression tester for $25 and do it yourself. All you need to do is warm up the engine (just do it after you come back from somewhere), pull out all the spark plugs, pull the fuel pump fuse (optional), screw the tester into a spark plug hole, mash down the gas pedal, and crank the engine over 4 times and take the reading. Repeat for all cylinders.

Do you happen to know if the previous owner(s) used synthetic or not? And there's no evidence of a leak on your garage floor or anything?

no, i don't know the previous owner. when you say crank the engine, you mean i should turn it off and then turn it on again? right? lol, that might sound kinda dumb, but yeah i am serious, i have no idea. lol. so when i get the numbers off the reading, how to i know what my numbers should be at and stuff? Does anyone know how to do this and if you do, maybe you can help with it. I would take it to the shop but i would much rather learn how to do this myself. and no there's no signs of leaks any where. oh and when i changed my sparks a few weeks ago, i noticed some hints of oil on one of the sparks, is that normal? again, thanks everyone for helping me out

if there is oil on your spark plugs, i suspect the piston rings are worn.

I forgot the exact number that your specs shouuld be, but if you do a compression test for all 4 valves and one is off, (lower than the rest, than you know its that ring)... but I remember seeing it done to my friends car. You pretty much take the spark plug wire off and you put the tool in and crank your engine...

hey u want to come over and we can figrue it out together? Also that way i can see if the rings are also the way my car is burning oil too, or is it just normal

If there's oil on the plugs your piston rings or valve seals are worn enough so that oil is getting into the combustion chamber. So to attempt to remedy this try using a high milage oil, usually these formulations will help expand worn seals and hopefully cut some of the oil burning problem. But here:

http://ngk.com/sparkplug411.asp?kw=Fouling&mfid=1

Go though the plug problems and see what your plugs looked like if they had any problems at all. The reason why I ask about oil is because it seems like since you owned the car the oil consumption problems have gotten worse. 6 mo is actually quite quick for problems to arise due to wear. I think the issue was that the previous owner used conventional oil and when you switch to synthetic at 100k+ miles you risk losing your seals and it seems like that might of been the case. Just as an FYI for the future if you get another high mileage engine and don't know how it's been taken care of don't use synthetic oil.

"crank the engine" means to attempt to start the engine and let the starter of the car do all the work. The car will not start since you don't have your spark plugs installed. You'll audibly hear every complete revolution, don't worry you'll know. The numbers should show to be around 180+ psi but regardless of the number the thing you're looking for is consistancy between the numbers. Usually all cylinders will not wear exactly the same so you're just looking for the numbers to be within 5-10% of one another if one's way off then that's a problem cylinder.

Doing a compression test is actually really easy. If you can change out your spark plugs, you can do a compession test. Just search the web for a write up, I just briefly outlined the steps in the earlier post.

since the whole oil burning/dirty exhaust smoke bumpers, are pretty common, wouldn't this effect our smog?

Newb here.
sorry if this post comes as a multuplicate.
speaking of oil...
...i'd like switch to synthetic oil. Am hearing that it is advised to do the switch by starting off with a 50/50 blend. does any one have experienced and/or has any suggestions/problems? what would be the ideal blend, any certain brand? I have a 5th gen. basic model lude. only adds is an aem air intake. thanks for your input.

Switch if you are not high mileage. Don't switch and stick to conventional oil if you are high mileage since leaks could occur.

it has about 187k. at this point it is burning a reasonable amount (about a quart) in between oil changes. should i do the switch?

No. Stick with conventional oil.

well, i never figured out why my oil was burning. I never saw any leaks are anything like that...untill last week i was pooring oil into my car at work and i notice a big trail of oil that lead right under my car, and i looked under and as i was pooring my oil in, it was coming straight back out. I took it to the shop and they said it was my engine seals, so we'll see what happens when i get my car back. I am getting all my engine seals, my water pump, my axle, my timing belt and my tension belt, and my window regulator fixed for 500 bucks, that sounds about right, right? lol thanks guys
jimmy

Jimmy, sounds like your got a pretty good deal there!

Oh man, this would have been great advice If i'd checked before I worked on mine!
I picked up a 5gen with 105,xxx on the odometer. I run Mobil1 in all my cars, so I just switched it to synthetic like the rest.
I lost about 2 quarts over 2000 miles, and my rear bumper (white) is filthy about a week after I wash it! Also, mpg has been atrocious, as bad as my Mustang!

I'm on my second oil change (still mobil1) but I can switch it back to conventional next change. Has the damage already been done? and If so, what happens when I try to smog it?

I'd actually be pretty surprised if the synthetic oil was able to remove that much carbon build up in 2k miles. I'd do the same as above in terms of getting the compression checked along with looking around for any seal leaks as the H22 is notorious for leaking oil out of the distributor area, camshaft seals and VTEC solenoid. As per gas mileage do you know when the last time the spark plugs / dist cap & rotor / and all the other little things were done? If those haven't been changed in a while they can be a factor in your gas mileage, esp on a car with an unknown maintenance schedule.

But, though this is just my method of thought, is that on any car that's run conventional for 80-90k+ miles I'd stick to it. If unknown just stick to conventional... The bottom line for most of us is that we don't need a synthetic oil, we just want to baby the car with "the best." Though for your engine I'd try and figure out some other causes as it's doubtful that the synthetic blew out the carbon buildup that quick.

Actually, the gas mileage and the carbon buildup is what made me really start trying to diagnose my problem.
Along with the 2nd oil change, i put in new plugs and a new dist. cap. Theres definately some oil buildup in the engine, but I cant be sure how much of it is recent damage (from me) or is just the result of a messy engine bay of a high mileage car.
I also initially thought it might have been something with the exhaust, since soon after I purchased the car I installed the GReddy Evo2 catback.

What kind of gas mileage are you getting? What are you referring to by "recent damage?" Since the exterior of an engine doesn't matter short of showing leaks. Get a cylinder compression test done and see how consistent it is across the cylinders, it should be 180+ psi but you're looking more for consistanty. Might also want to change the PCV valve if you hear it ticking or just pull it out and see if the valve is still working.

Compression test came up fine across the board. By damage I meant dirt/oil/grime in the engine compartment

Man still no resolution with the oil problem?What was your compression? I just did mine on my jdm h22 w 55k and it was 238 across the board +/- 1psi.

I actually hijacked this thread, i wasnt the one with the initial problem.
I didn't test the compression myself, I just had my shop do it while it was in getting some new struts installed. I dont have the numbers, but they said it was fine across all 4 cylinders.

check ur coolent see if it's brown. and check to see if there is smoke coming out of ur muffler. check for leaks under ur car, and dont use vtec that often =)

My car sleeps in a garage every night, so I'd notice if there were any fluids leaking.
Also, theres no smoke that I can see (black or white).

I'll check the coolant tomorrow, though I haven't had any heating problems whatsoever

if u use vtec very often that might be the cause too... i know when i take my car to the track i lose 1 bottle of oil in a few hrs..

I try not to track the lude, I was hoping to keep it mostly stock and have a "dependable but spirited daily driver".
Plus, i live IN the city so theres not many chances to really unwind it.