2003 Accord unreal oil consumption

[clampjockey]

I just recently purchased an 03 Accord 4cyl that goes through obscene amounts of oil. ( 1/2 litre per tank of fuel) I've searched around and this doesn't seem to be all that uncommon of a problem, but most are saying that the "cure" was new engines at mostly ridiculous prices.....what exactly is the cause of this???? The engine runs excellent, (160 km's/100 miles) doesn't smoke, smell or leak oil, but its disappearing .....FAST. The inside of the tail pipe is very black and sooty, but again, zero smoke. (I've even stood staring at the exhaust while someone else started it, cold......not even a puff of smoke) I've started using 10w30 with no noticable reduction in consumption. Is this engine flawed? toast? I'm pretty disgusted with this oil consumption issue. I really like the car otherwise, but I have a horrible feeling that either my gf or I will "forget " to keep an eye on the levels and it'll pop the engine.

[MagicRat]

Have someone follow you for a bit as you drive, when the engine is warmed-up. Engines can burn considerable amounts of oil, but not be visible in the rear-view mirror.

If the engine is burning that much oil, there will be some smoke. The key here is to observe if the smoke is heavier upon acceleration (especially after idling for a bit, such as when you wait for a traffic light) or of the smoke is heavier when decellerating, such as when you drop a gear and drive down a hill.

These observations are important to tell if the oil is getting past worn valve guides, or worn piston rings (or both!)

BTW I had an '87 Mustang (4 cyl) that burned the same amount of oil as your car. There was no visible smoke that I could see from the drivers seat, even on cold start-up. But my wife drove it once, as I followed her, and the smoke was plainly visible when she accelerated away from a stop light. The valve guides were worn ( a common problem with that engine) I took off the cylinder head and had it rebuilt, which fixed the problem nicely.

[clampjockey]

I can't see anything coming from it.....I have an old Camry with the valve guides bad (450,000 kms) and can easily see puffs of blue smoke coming from it at times.....but it doesn't go thru nearly the same amount of oil as this piece of junk. I'd only top it off with oil about once a month, with this Accord i have to check the oil EVERY tank of fuel. This amount of oil should be leaving a crazy amount of smoke from the exhaust....but it doesn't smoke.