1999 Accord 2.0 vtec oil vanishing! Can you help?

[CR&DR]

Hi, I bought an UK 1999 Accord 2.0 Vtec last week. When I bought it I check the oil and it was pretty low but, still just above the minimum mark on the stick. The next day I tried it and it was bone dry so, I put 2 litres in and check it everyday and the oil was fine until yesterday where it was bone dry again. Does anyone have any ideas? It ain't leaking oil and it doesn't seem to be burning it either. Thanks in advance


PS. I have been told off so many people these engines just don't give you any trouble

[10 Pence Short]

If abused the piston rings can wear, same as any engine. I've seen the 2.0 give a lot of blue smoke when cold when treated roughly by company car drivers.

[CR&DR]

As far as I am aware there is no smoke and certainly no blue smoke

[10 Pence Short]

Well put it this way, if the engine is using excessive oil, it's either dropping it somewhere or burning it. There aren't oil fairies who empty the sump every night...

[CR&DR]

Well I don't understand how it can be fine for 5 days and then all of a sudden bone dry. If I was driving it really hard would that make any difference? Also it get up to the proper temperature very quickly(2 minutes top)

[Glosphil]

[quote=CR&DR]Well I don't understand how it can be fine for 5 days and then all of a sudden bone dry. If I was driving it really hard would that make any difference? Also it get up to the proper temperature very quickly(2 minutes top)
[/quote]

I had a 2002 Accord 2.0 Vtec for 3 years and 40K miles and that also got up to temperature very quickly, but only used oil at the approximate rate of 1 litre per 6K miles.

[10 Pence Short]

[quote=CR&DR]Well I don't understand how it can be fine for 5 days and then all of a sudden bone dry. If I was driving it really hard would that make any difference? Also it get up to the proper temperature very quickly(2 minutes top)
[/quote]

Driving it hard will make it use its oil faster, yes.

'Proper temperature' depends on your definition. The water temp will rise quite quickly (what you can see with your instruments) but the oil temp will take quite a bit longer to reach optimum.

By your original post it also sounds as if the car is no stranger to running very low on oil, so don't be surprised if there's already some serious wear having taken place.

[CR&DR]

It goes up to the halfway point of the temp guage very quickly. It does have a FSH andhas only done 76k miles

[SkinnyBoy]

All VTEC engines use a little bit of oil. Pull your intake off and see how much is in the inlet. Poke your finger through the throttle body butterfly and with a torch look inside the manifold. Chances are its filthy in there, indicating a thrashed motor.

My advice would be to do a full oil change including filter. Measure how much comes out, and put the recommended amount back in.

I'd be dropping the sump and checking the oil pickup condition too. I seized the previous engine in my car even though it had the correct amount of oil in it. This was due to a blocked pickup caused by my stupid engine flush treatment cleaning a bit too much out.