Where is my oil disappearing to?

My 2001 Odyssey is consuming oil at what I think is an alarming rate. A
couple months ago the oil light came on - I immediately shut the vehicle off
and ended up adding 3 quarts of oil. I checked it again the other day and
had to add half a quart.

This engine only has 41K miles. It does not put out blue smoke; there are no
oil spots in our garage. Don't tell me that this can possibly be normal
consumption??? Where could this oil be going?

Thanks,
Be

 

Have you thoroughly inspected the exterior of the engine?
Especially right beneath the valve cover and distributor?

 

Oops--Is the 2001 Odyssey distributor-less? If so, of course
strike that second part below.

 

I would suggest a visit to the dealer, get an estimate, and then call Honda
Customer Service. Honda has a tremendous reputation for quality and I
would see what they would consider doing on your behalf. Be polite, but
firm about this issue. Has the van ever overheated and are you the
original owner? Good luck.

 

Another thought.....are you sure the right amount of oil was put in at your
last oil change? Also, sometimes a shop or person could accidently leave
the old oil filter gasket on the engine and get a massive leak there. I
know of shops/people that have done all of these things. I would be
getting a new oil filter to be in the safe side. How often were you
checking your oil prior to the oil light? There are souls out there that
only check oil when the light lights.

 

I hate to suggest this, but it could be a bad ring. A few years ago we were
seeing several posts of low-mileage Hondas suddenly consuming quarts of oil
a month. Most remained a mystery, but one sufferer under warranty persisted
and the dealer tore down the engine to find a broken ring in one cylinder. I
don't know if it showed up on a compression check, or if it was a
compression ring or oil control ring. I don't think I've ever heard of
broken oil control rings, though.

I believe the catalytic converters prevent the exhaust from smoking even
with significant oil burning.

Mike

 

------------------------------------

Change your PCV with a HONDA original part, and check your oil as often
as the manual says.

'Curly'

 

So, a "couple of months ago" you ran your engine with zero oil pressure
(the light came on) for at best only a few seconds. You dumped in 3
quarts of oil, and then several months later decided to give it a check
(wow amazing - you must be a real maintenance freak). How many miles do
you drive in "a couple of months"?

You should change the oil and filter now with a quality oil of the
weight specified by Honda. Then record your odometer reading and check
the oil once a week. You need to know how many miles it takes to use a
half a quart, not how long.

 

Daughter's Civic, 55,000 miles and just out of warranty, had the same
problem--oil didn't show up on the dip stick. Filled the oil to the full
mark and within 250 mi it was below the dip stick again. Because it was so
severe an oil loss, the Dealer got Honda's OK to look for the problem with
only parts to be charged. Found some cracked carbon valve seals, replaced
them and put things back together again. Same oil loss recurred. Honda
authorized as complete an engine teardown as needed to find and resolve with
no further $$$ charged. Tore the engine down and found some bad piston
rings; replaced them all and the oil loss problem went away. So she
basically ended up with a rebuilt engine *zero timed* for very little cost
to her. Honda's response to the problem was excellent, obviously their
concern and motivation was "How many more are there out there like this, is
there something about 55,000 mi. in this engine that we've got to worry
about and if so, what. She got the car new and was putting about 400-500 mi
a week on it so it was probably one of the fleet leaders in mileage.
MLD

 

Do you know if a compression test had been done prior to teardown and if the
rings were compression or oil control? I'd expect a dealer to do at least
one compression test (that probably came out okay enough) and swallow hard a
couple times before tearing an engine down.

Mike

 

i second that. broken rings a good candidate.

 

If you think Honda has a tremendous reputation for quality you haven't been
keeping up on the Odyssey, especially the 99-01 models. Other than
transmission failures, EGR blockage, motor mount failure, Catalytic
converter failure and a few others the quality stinks. It wasn't stated how
many miles for the oil consumption but it is going to take some diagnosis to
determine what is causing it. A little more than my crystal ball can
determine......

 

Woody, I stand behind my comment about Honda Quality. Yes they do have
transmission failures, but did Honda extend the warranty? If the problem
is a Honda design or maufacturing problem, I bet they will assist the
customer. I have yet to see an Ody in the junk yard and Consumer Reports
rates the Odyssey as a "CR Good Bets" on page 80 of its 2006 Annual Auto
Issue. The Ody is not perfect but you could do a lot worse.

 

Obviously you haven't been keeping up on reality. At least Honda has
acknowledged these problems and have been working to fix them. Do you
expect the big 3 to do the same? Of course not! Unlike the big 3, Honda
remains committed to quality.

 

All car companies have troubles related to some models. The question is
related to how the car companies handle these issues. Based upon my
experiece with a Dodge Ram 50 pickup truck and 2 Honda Accords--it's my
opinion that Honda does a much better job than the Chrysler Inc. in
relation to how they handled problems that I have had. Of course, Chrysler
has now been taken over by Mercedes so they may now be doing a much better
job dealing with customer complaints.
Jason

 

The van has never overheated; I am the original owner; I also have an
extended warranty.

Be

 

How much do I drive in a couple months? Well, here's the math. The car is
one-owner and has been mine for 58 months. It has 41000 miles. That's a
shade less than 707 miles per month.... Not an amount that should scare me
into checking it weekly, at least not (in my opinion) when a car with
Honda's good reputation behind it has less miles on it than some people
drive in 18 months.

Be

 

So it sounds like it is consuming a quart every 2800 miles. Probably
more than average but not an alarming amount. You are lucky (and wise
to have stopped driving as soon as the light came on.) It is common
that cars which didn't really have an oil consumption problem before
they got too low, do have a problem afterwards.

Either it wasn't properly filled at the previous oil change, or you
drove it about 8400 miles after an oil change without checking it.
You don't have to check it every week, but you do have to check it
periodically. Once a month is good if you aren't having problems.

 

Don't know what the dealer did to troubleshoot--In fact, before they even
started doing anything, they actually drained and refilled the oil and sent
her on her way. After the 250 mi and no oil on the dip stick they became
believers. Obviously, the cracked (broken) rings were not associated with
compression, the dealer wasn't that bad. Honda responded as well as they
did because 55,000 miles is relatively low for their engine and the need to
know if this was "one of a kind" or a symptom of "what was to come" from
that family. BTW, she ended up with over 200,000 miles before giving the
car up.
MLD

 

MLD,
In most cases, if there is a defective ring--it can be detected by a
compression check. I was surprised that the Honda mechanic did not conduct
a compression check prior to a teardown of the engine. Perhaps the
mechanic conducted a compression check and done the teardown of the engine
as a direct result of the compression check test results.
Jason