Dibsen

Ok. The Oil Journals are all over the place, lot of info in there but I have a simple question and I’m looking for owner input/feedback.


2001, ap1 120k miles
my oil consumption is high. I think I added a quart in between the last 3 fill-ups at the gas station (I check it every time) also, I have a CEL 420 bad cat. I haven’t noticed any blue smoke in the exhaust but my tips seem dirty.

I plan on getting in the shop on friday, I have some minor oil seeps around the valve cover and VTEC solenoid that I plan to address. I am going to check the plugs and test compression. I think the shop has a bore scope so I might take a look for any scoring.

question
has anyone seen a reduction in consumption just by switching from syn to dino?

Also, PO had 5-40w unsure of brand and I switch to 10-30w. This was before I noticed any oil consumption, I just wanted to go back to “OE” spec.

umair

If you didn't notice oil consumption before switching oil the ideal thing to do would be to check again with the 5w40. However if your burning a quart every 300 miles it may be a different issue.

Billman250

Where do you keep your oil level?

B serious

How many miles do you get per quart?
3 fillups doesn't tell us much.

1qt per 1K miles is pretty common.


Here is how I measure consumption.

I fill the oil up until the dipstick reads FULL (top of the x's). Simply because this is the easiest level to remember.

Note your mileage, or set the trip meter to 0.

Drive as you normally would. Keep checking oil level at least every gas fill up.

When the oil level drops near the bottom of the X's, note the total miles driven.

Add oil. Note how much oil you add, in order to bring the level back up to the top of the X's.

Now you have mileage driven and quarts added.

Chuck S

Do not add any oil as long as the oil level is within the H-L range, the area with the X's.

Total H-L range is one (1) quart (liter).

-- Chuck

umair

I personally try to keep it at the h mark. Especially with frequent 9k pulls.

Chuck S

If you keep topping it off you'll never know if it's excessively using oil or just using it down to a certain level and stopping. Anywhere between the upper and lower marks is fine.

Owner's manuals all state to add oil IF the level is at or below the lower mark. -- Chuck

Dibsen

yeah, I only drove maybe 100 miles before I changed the oil. Car had been sitting for over a year before I bought it so I wanted to get that oil changed.

this was before I new they had a propensity to consume oil. I did check it and it looked clean and at the right level. It could have been 10-30, but the window sticker was 5-40

Dibsen

I check it every time I get gas. I don’t let it get below half.

Dibsen

this is pretty much what I just did. I’m going to calc fuel consumption and oil over the next couple hundred miles.

I had planned on getting into the shop today but life happened.

see how motivated I am tomorrow after a 0330 wake-up to get to a high school Xcountry meet by 0600