No Oil on Dipstick prior to 3,000 mile mark

I got my oil changed this weekend and for the second time in a row, there was no oil on the dipstick. The car has always gone for it's usual oil change every 3,000 miles, so I'm not sure why there's no oil. There is no noticeable leakage anywhere. It was suggested that I get an engine flush. Before spending money on that, are there any explanations to the oil issue? Thanks.

Reply to
MP via CarKB.com
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Your pcv is probably stuck open, sucking all the vapor out of the crankcase. Your owner's manual will tell you how often you should have beenchecking the oil. When asking for help, it's important to mention the year, make, model, and mileage of the vehicle.

'Curly'

Reply to
motsco_ _

You should be checking the oil every time you put gas in it and adding oil as needed. Letting it go that low will blow the engine if it hasn't already. Take it to a qualified mechanic as someone recommending expensive flushes without determining the problem is just trying to pad his wallet....

Reply to
Woody

The other posters made some great suggestions. I only wanted to add that you should look under your car every morning to see if there is a pool of oil under the engine. It's possible that oil is leaking from the oil pan as a result of defective oil pan gasket. I also advise you to have a complete tune-up. Prior to the tune-up, tell the mechanic or the service advisor about the oil problem. Perhaps the mechanic can figure out the problem. I should note that you should follow the suggestion from the other poster related to the PCV valve before you spend the money for the tune-up. Jason

Reply to
Jason

"MP via CarKB.com" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@CarKB.com:

How many miles on the car? What model?

How long (months) does it take you to get to 3,000 miles?

Reply to
TeGGeR®

Get to your dealer right away. This happened to my daughter some years ago; no oil on the dip stick after only 250 miles. she had a Civic with 55,000 miles and out of warranty. The dealer didn't believe her so they filled it to the full mark. 250 miles later there was no oil on the dip stick--back to the dealer, consulted with Honda who authorized an engine tear down, as required, to determine the cause. They found some worn valve seals and replaced them. 250 miles later the same problem--back to Honda who again said "tear the engine down again". This time they found piston rings worn, rebuilt the engine and this solved the oil loss problem. Her cost was minimum---just parts the for the first tear down and nothing for the second tear down.

55,000 miles is nothing for one of Honda's engines so they went after the problem . Obviously, there was the worry-- "how many more like this are there out there? is the cause--design/production problem or a one time incident?". She ended up with a zero time engine and when she got rid of the car it had about 200,000 miles on it. MLD
Reply to
MLD

I once heard about an Odyssey that had a 'porous' engine block that allowed the oil to leak out of the engine. It was my uncles, and he worked at a honda dealership at the time so they fixed it...

Probably not your problem, i just thought it was weird.

MLD wrote:

Reply to
disallow via CarKB.com

There have been sporadic reports here of sudden increases in oil consumption in fairly low-mileage Honda engines. The few that were resolved turned out to be broken piston rings, IIRC.

Forget the engine flush - it will only obscure some indications of what is really happening. With 3K mile oil changes it is a pointless exercise anyway.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

I forgot to mention the model and miles. It's a 99 Honda Civic Si. It has

117,000 miles >> I got my oil changed this weekend and for the second time in a row,
Reply to
RP via CarKB.com

Lots of good advice from other posters but let's simplify this problem. As I understand you, there is no oil on the stick when you go for your oil change. Only two possibilities exist: 1) There is no oil in the sump or 2) the sump has oil in it and the reading on the stick is wrong. Which? When the oil is changed at 3k miles, how much do they drain out? I would have the place that changes your oil measure the amount of oil drained out. This will tell you for sure which possibility it is. If there is no oil in the sump, follow the advice given by other posters. If there is a sufficiency of oil in the sump, then the first thing I would check would be the dipstick. Is it the correct one or did it get switched at a previous oil change? Just a thought.

Dave D

Reply to
Dave D

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