'00 Odyssey Losing Oil, Very Dirty

Has the oil ever been changed? If so, how many miles ago?

The times I've seen reports of sudden increases in oil consumption when it was finally resolved, it was a broken compression ring in one cylinder. I think it toook teardown to find that; it didn't show up on a compression test. The catalytic converter burned up the smoke, but oil additives are hard on the catalyst, too. A look at the spark plugs, looking for evidence of oil on one insulator, would be a good way to go.

Mike

My uncle had a 98 ody bought it used... they replaced the engine at the dealership due to a porous block. But I doubt that would manifest itself as quickly as yours.

Michael Pardee wrote:

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Check your PCV valve also. It can suck the oil out of your engine and burn it invisibly. More likely what M Pardee said, though.

'Curly'

While I can't say for certain, I believe the bad cylinder on the $200 Civic is a broken ring and it surely does show on a compressions test. And that thing is smokin' bad 'nuff to kill mosquitoes especially when letting off the gas going downhill.

JT

Poor ventilation can certainly increase oil consumption. I remember a certain F*rd LTD that normally consumed a quart per day increased to emptying the crankcase in fifteen miles...

Oh... The good ol' days!

JT

depends which ring. oil control rings don't add much to compression, but they sure do let the oil in if they're dead. a top ring makes a big difference to compression and not so much to oil.

i agree.

My car has graduated to the next stage. Previously, it simply was a lot of blowby. So much so, the previous owner use a garden hose fitting to allow the excess to blow out below but there was not a lot of smoke coming out of the tail pipe. Now, it mostly just smokes badly but on occasion, the blowby will return during certain acceleration speeds in the lower gears.

At any rate, it will be fixed one way or the other in the next few weeks.

I'm torn between an in-car overhaul or just building up an engine and swapping it out. If I do the swap out, I'll also put in a five speed as the current box is only a four speed.

None of this would have been required if the previous owner did not "rebuild the engine" because it lost power... The problem simply was a plugged cat converter..

But then, it would never have sold for a measly $200...

JT

i'd /definitely/ go 5-speed. my civic '90 4-speed revved so high, i'd have to keep checking to see if i'd left it in 3rd.

hey, i got that '90 civic /free/ because it wouldn't start and the owner was sick of getting hosed by her local garage on repairs. all it needed was a set of new plugs.

snip

I'm inclined to agree plus the fact I don't really know what I'll find on a 160K + engine that has already been "tampered" with by the previous owner..

Yep, you gotta be in the right place at the right time and have some basic knowledge/insight plus females and old folks are "ripe" territory for abuse by repair shops.

JT

(Who is old but doesn't stand for much in the way of abuse...)

So, are you going to let your alternator oil go unchanged forever? You should really get the muffler bearings serviced at the same time.

Mike

I sorta got suspicious when they told me the four way slug nuts were worn out...

JT