prelude oil consumption

I have a friend that has a 99' prelude. The oil in the car seems to be disappearing. After 3000 miles he was down almost 3 quarts.
The funny part is this is the second time that has happened. He took it to the dealer the first time and they replaced the PCV valve ( Car still under warranty.) Now three thousand miles later he lost the oil again.
(Car now over 36 month warranty but problem was reported under the warranty period.) He took the car back again and was told the following,
With the V-tec engine it is normal to lose that amount of oil when driving on the highway. Now call me stupid but my S2000 doesn't burn or lose any oil............ and when you are crusing down the highway your not even using the variable valve timing. Any ideas on what the problem might be? No leaks or anything, just gone. He called American Honda and they told him to tell the dealer to do a consumption test. Who should pay for that????? I think Honda, If the v-tec engines burn that much oil I think I should probably get rid of the S2K. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks

I thought tere was a TSB out on the s2k also, our 2000 prelude loses about 1 qt every oil change, but we don't run the piss out of it. I've heard the s2k was even worse

I do not want to appear ignorant-BUT-here is my take on this problem--I DON'T have this issue and my '99 Base (bought brand new) gets run on the track along with some very long trips. NO oil consumption since I completed the required break-in according to the Owner's Manual.

First: I am wondering if there is a possibility that the car was not allowed to bed the rings in properly. Second: and just as important-the dealer is full of it-period. I have asked the service department at my dealership about this (they are one of the oldest franchises) and their answer is it should not happen at the level you are talking about. Finally, I do get the engine into VTEC but not a much as others. Yet this should have little to do with the oil being consumed on a relatively low mileage car-unless you do not know its history.
Just my experience talking here.

Is this like their white smoke out the exhuast under hard acceleration is "soot being blown out the exhaust". I personally think it's a bit rich in vtec, but that was their excuse

I've got a 98 base prelude and its doing the same thing. I've had it for over a year, but just found out about the oil consumption in April. I've taken it to the dealer twice. They told me to drive another 1000 miles and they'll check it one more time. When I asked them what would happen, they said we'll wait and see. It consumes a little over 1qt per 1000 miles, similar to yours, but the dealer told me this is certainly not normal. I've been talking to people about it, so far the only thing anyone can come up with is that the piston rings are shot, but with only 50k miles that seems hard to believe.

This is actually a friend's car.
Please keep me informed as to what the dealer tells you.
This is very strange, especially the dealer telling him this is normal.

Now I'm in the same boat, well kinda. I have a 97 Accord with a 92 JDM H22 swapped into it, and my oil dissapears within 2-3 weeks. At that time I'm pouring approximately 3 quarts back in. Its a phenomenon!! I can't figure it out.. No leaks either! I do have some soot from the exhaust but that to my understanding was from the high flow cat...

A couple of things here. I said before that it is possible that the engine was NOT put thru the break in according to the manual. If this is the case then the rings will not seat properly and for that matter there could be some oil leaking down the valve guides too.
Next-the H22a4 runs rich normally-this is true for a number of Honda cars, not just VTEC Preludes. Both my Civic HB (1.6 Y7) and CRX Si have soot on the exhaust tips. What you see on hard acceleration is not oil smoke-but soot. If the exhaust color is white or grey-that means you do have an internal problem. You will smell burning oil coming from the exhaust if that is the problem.

The engine was broke in according to the book. This just started happening at about 28000 miles. There is no smoke coming from the exhaust. No oil smell at all. The only sign is the exhaust pipe is a little darker than a normal car which would be caused by running rich. The main problem is the dealer does not see this as a problem. I don't know of any car that consumes that much oil in a short amount of time and it is normal. From reading other boards this seems to be a common problem with the prelude. You would think Honda would do something to protect there name. I know if my S2K starts this it is going down the road........:mad:

I have to put in about 1 qt of oil every 750-1000 miles in my H23. No VTEC there.

My 97 SH is a little thristy for oil. I had an emission test done on it last week and the numbers were perfect. The car was babied during break-in and it runs just fine. I change the oil every 3 months and usually have to put in an extra liter before the nest change.

all the motors mentioned... H22, H23, F20C... have Fibre Reinforced Metal (FRM) cylinder walls.

FRM features less friction, thus longer life... but it's also much softer than ductile iron as used in other Honda motors.

depending on mileage and/or treatment of the motor, you could have scored the cylinder walls enough to cause oil burning.

as for soot around the exhaust pipe/bumper, that's VERY likely to be oil soot. most H22's also run a quite rich, and is witnessed when romping on the accelerator, resulting in a momentary "puff of smoke" from the tailpipe. this does not leave a residue.

i had an H22 that i had blown a few months ago. i was losing over 2 quarts every 2000 miles or so. after tearing the motor down, i found the headgasket had blown near the VTEC oiling channel on the block, forcing oil into into cylinders #2 and 3. when it was boosted, the car left a huge plume of smoke... when i pulled the system off, it no longer smoked, but oil consumption was almost as bad.

i discovered after further teardown that the cylinder walls had been scored a bit, resulting in excessive oil consumption.


so, my recommendation, have a leakdown test performed to see if the piston rings are still doing their job.

drift.. why aren't you a moderator?

typically, how much would one of those leakdown tests cost?

any additives you could use to help the problem either temporarily, or in the long run? how about a certain kind of oil?

Originally posted by Prelewd
drift.. why aren't you a moderator?

typically, how much would one of those leakdown tests cost?

any additives you could use to help the problem either temporarily, or in the long run? how about a certain kind of oil?


i gave up mod status a LONG time ago.

a leakdown check shouldnt be much more than $60

i hate all oil additives... usually they contain solids that can cause more harm than good. thicker oil will prevent consumption, but can cause more wear due to higher viscosity at startup engine temps. Honda strictly recommends using only the recommended weight of oil for their motors... VTEC operation being the main reason why.

Yup I have the exact same problem. My car just eats the oil.

I have a 99 honda prelude v-tech base, I just changed my oil about two weeks ago and now im getting the check engine sign on. Just yesturday i got a couple of flashes of having no oil in my car. But i placed about 4 quartz into the car. Now when I try to read the dipstick its telling me there aint nothing in there. I first thought it was a leak of some sort, so i decided to leave the car on on park. Nothing drips, same goes for if i leave the car off for a couple of days. Wat should i look for?

First off, don't post in a thread that was started in 2002. Post a new one.

I had a 98 Prelude SH for a few years. I drove it pretty hard and often hit redline and found that it burned through about a half quart of oil each time I changed my oil (about 3,500 miles). I had it between 70k and 100k miles. From talking to friends with Preludes and Integras, it seems that the higher the mileage the more oil it burns. Hope your Prelude is just doing that and that there aren't any other major problems. -Good luck