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Hello friends,
I have somewhat of a complex situation here. I drive a 1995 Honda Civic DX 1.5L with a D15B7 engine. The car currently has 138,000 on the odometer and it’s burning oil. I purchased the car in May of this year, and the previous owner told me he had recently replaced the head gasket. When I initially purchased it, it would burn about 1 quart of oil every 1,000 miles. I’ve heard that this is common with these engines, so I decided to suck it up and top it off as necessary. Recently, I started to notice that the car started to burn oil quicker. Instead of every 1,000 miles per quart, it has come down to about 300-400 miles per quart. There is no visible oil leakage anywhere underneath when it both runs and when it’s turned off. There is a faint smell of burnt oil near the hood after 20-30 minute trips.
To try and fix this problem, I replaced the PCV valve, but to no avail. My next guess would be the piston rings, but the car still gets great gas mileage (30-35 mpg), even when burning a quart every 300-400 miles. When looking at the exhaust when it’s running, there is a faint blue tint, but it’s not very strong. I currently use a synthetic blend for oil, would bumping it up to full synthetic make a difference?
I know there is a lot of things that could cause loss of oil, and to reduce the number of things to examine would be awesome. Anyone have any ideas on what it could be?
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Any blue smoke from the exhaust? Particularly when taking off from an idle?
If it’s definitely burning, not leaking, the oil, then I’d suspect the piston rings and/or valve seals. A compression test is a good way to check the condition of the rings.Which grade oil do you use? If your engine has an oil burning issue switching to Full Synthetic will only make it worse.
When my Kia Sorento got an Oil Burning issue I switch the brand of oil to Valvoline Max Life which has some additives to condition the oil seals. My oil burning issue was not completely solved but the consumption lowered from 1 Liter every 1000KMs to 1 Liter every 3000-4000KMs.
Yes, there is a tint of blue smoke, but not much. But would it be the rings, even if I’m still getting good gas mileage?
I use 5W-30, which is recommended in the owner’s manual. More specifically, I use Quaker State High Mileage Synthetic Blend. So you suggest switching oil to Valvoline Max Life? I mean its a 24 year old car that I bought for $200, if I could slow the leak that would be optimal.
I would perform a compression test AND a leak down test. Compression will tell you if any of the cylinders are low. If one is low, then squirt some oil into that cylinder and perform the compression test again. If the compression goes up, then your rings are most likely shot.
I’m curious about the previous owner’s reason of replacing the head gasket. Do you know if it was because of an overheating issue, the burning oil, or loss of coolant? Whichever the case, the leak down and compression tests will tell you why that oil is burning.
Hello friends,
I have an update on the Honda. Sorry it has taken so long, the polar vortex up here in Minnesota was brutal. I’ve ran a compression test on my engine, and the readings were: (I labeled the cylinders 1-4, based on going left to right)
Cylinder 1- 150 psi
Cylinder 2- 150 psi
Cylinder 3- 150 psi
Cylinder 4- 130 psiI know that 130-180 psi is normal in these engines. However, I DID notice there was a decent amount of oil on each of the spark plugs. Since the PCV valve and head gasket have been replaced, I’m curious as to what it could be.
So you’ve established you have a significant problem with #4. Now, as hondaguy453 said, you need a wet compression test and a leakdown test.
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