burning oil

[Melt]

well it looks like i may be swapping soon folks, i round a corner on the freeway this morning and my oil light comes on ... but then goes back off ... and im like wtf ... so i park soon as i get to school ... go to class come out an hour later and check the oil level ... shit was bone dry! so luckily i had a quart in my trunk so i put that in, check the dipstick again and now its at minimum ... so imma have my boy go get me another quart at break so i can get this bitch to be full up.

As far as i know honda motors take about 5 quarts right? Im guessing if the shit got to minimum when i put a quart up in it that means i had about 3 quarts in it ... so hopefully no damage was done to it ... motor was running fine.

I did however run it a little hard this morning on the way to school ... fuckin semi was blockin the road so i downshifted into second and went around it in the bike lane, then saw that some construction guys were chasin me so i redlined both second and third and mashed down this frontage road to lose em then hopped on the freeway ...

anyways you guys think im burning oil? cause i dont see any leakin out the bottom, and i checked my back bumper to see if some oil may have collected there cause if you mob down the freeway with a leak thats where it will collect, and there is nothing there.

Sorry for writing a book guys but this sucks!

[4g4d_getone]

sorry to hear it buddy but hondas take 4 qts and 10w30. well mayb u can get that thing runnin hard when u get a swap soon.

[Melt]

4 qts and 10w30 ... damn so that means there were only 2 in it ... i been puttin 5w30 in it too so that might be part of the problem.

[BLU CIVIC]

2 WEEKENDS AGO I PUT 3 QUARTS OF 20w50 IN MY CAR (ON A FRIDAY NIGHT) AND BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON MY OIL LIGHT WAS ON...THAT WAS ONLY 600 MILES FOR THAT OIL TO DISAPPEAR

[Melt]

yo blu ... have you experienced any engine damage by running it when the oil light came on? Im more worried about that than i am about the engine burning oil ... i can deal with putting in some oil once in a while.

your car reminds me of my old mg ... i hadda put a quart in like every 300 miles!

[BLU CIVIC]

i think i may have some...that why i'm plannin on a NA build...but the light has never stayed on...but it flicked on and off a lil....but it sux....itz like my engine is on the bottle...

[Redline_civic91]

usaully when that oil light comes on it means you are real real low on oil, that light wont come on till your just about dry. and i dont think theres a way to check if you damaged anything, you'd have to wait and see. i use 5w30 in my car runs fine. my friend ran his civic with very very low oil, he said the oil light would come on everynow and then and when he turned the car on the light would stay on a little longer than usual. he damaged something but we can't find what it is, but somewhere around 5000-6000 his car is losing power you can feel it lag then after like 6500rpms you can feel it pull hard again. he said it started doin it after the low oil signs. did a oil leak down and the block was still in very good sharp, they removed the head and checked everything and they still couldnt find whats wrong, but they do know it happend while he drove it without oil. its hard to tell if you messed anything up melt. i would take it in and have someone do a leak down test to see if you damaged your block or anything else. good luck.

[Melt]

eh im not even worried about it ... i can get a d16z6 for like 400 ... and it would probably cost about that to test and fix anything that got fucked up on this motor so i will just do that ... for now imma just go get another quart in about an hour when i go to lunch and put that in and hope its all good.

Oh and then carry more than just one quart in the trunk!

[amy@af]

don't sweat it. the fact that you were going around the corner when the light came on means you had oil but were running low....when you rounded the corner the oil swished to the side causing it to appear to be low. you should add oil but don't go adding a couple of quarts at a time. add a qt at a time so you don't over fill. you over fill and you'll be blowng smoke for sure. also, don't check the oil after you've been driving around. let the car sit in a flat/ level spot for a couple of hrs. same concept as if you had 1/2 cup of oil in a bottle. shake the bottle and the oil will coat the sides making it appear there is little oil in the bottle....let that bottle sit and it will all collect at the bottom again. by letting your car sit you will get the most accurate reading for your oil.

when was the last time you put oil in your car? i wouldn't worry about it burning oil unless you are always replacing it....like once a month or more. to be honest, i think you might be over reacting by saying you'll need to be swapping. if you were just driving around with the check engine light on for a couple of days....or replacing oil like mad then i would think otherwise.

slowly add some oil then monitor how long it takes to burn it off again. hell, if it were me...i would change the oil (whats left) and go from there

[Melt]

i added the quart around 9am this morning .. .and imma check it at 11 before i go to lunch to make sure its still at min ... if it is ill add another quart.

I know about the swishing cause i think if the light came on when i was on the flats then the shit woulda been REALLY low. Plus this same shit happened with my brake fluid one time when i was making a right turn.

Im bout to do an oil change sometime this week also ... and imma wash my car today cause i was lookin at the back and there was what appeared to be oil on the back bumper ... so ill see if it reappears after i wash it.

and i am probably overreating about swapping, seeing as this motor supposedly only has like 70k on it.

[Melt]

update: checked it right before lunch and it was just above min ... so i bought another quart (advice, never buy oil at a gas station, $2.71!) and added about half of it in there ... car seems to be running good now ... i gassed it on the way back from lunch to see if it had any problems lagging or anything and it still pulls fine ... so im good to go.

[jusg19]

ok, well which oil should we all be useing? I've always used 5w30. the owners manual tells me to use 5w30 and the sticker under the hood says the same thing...

[amy@af]

check it again before you go home for the day. add a little more if needed. let it sit over night and check it in the morning and see where it's at. drive for a week and take it from there

[Melt]

sounds like a plan ... ill be sure to park in my driveway tonight too so i can check it on a level surface before i go to school tommorow (my street has a madd slant)

[HONDABOND]

You might consider changing the oil as well. When you run low like that all the shit in the bottom of the oil pan gets tossed up. Then add oil to it and you have main bearing wreckage