Oil usage

[jimbo]

Dear All
Wondered if anyone could help me out there as I am having a few problems with my CR-V.
I have had a major failure of my number 4 big end. This has caused around £10k of damage, honda are refusing to pay under the warranty as they are suggesting that the engine had been run with insufficient oil in it.
The car has 19k on the clock and is approx 16 months old. Was serviced at 12k as per handbook.
My issue is that when the car broke down there was oil level was just above the minimum mark, i had checked it about 6 weeks previous and it was 1/2 full.
Basically they are suggesting that I should hae checked it every week and kept it topped up so that it never dropped below the maximum mark.:eek:

I was wondering if anyone else had had a similar issue or had found their oil usage to be excessive in any way.

Any thoughts??

[Black Pearl]

What does your manual say regarding oil level? I am presuming you have a diesel. My manual states "If it is near or below the lower mark, see adding oil..." (US gasoline).

What the hell is near the lower mark? Quarter inch, 2 mm, 0.0002"? If the oil level was not below the lower mark, then it had sufficient oil.

Again I don't know what it says in your manual, but there is nothing in mine about checking it every week and topping it off. That my friend sounds like unadulterated BS. In a failure investigation, it don't make hoot how often you checked your oil. What matters is was the oil level below that lower mark? And what does your owner's manual tell you to do? Why not check your oil every day and top it off? Why not every hour? This is BS pure and simple.

If you have not opened a case with Honda Corporate, I would do so immediately and I would consider getting soliciter and pursue legal action...if your manual supports what I said above. If the manual tells you to do what the dealer said then it makes for a tougher case. But I am willing to bet that your manual is pretty close to mine.

Car dealerships and manufacturers can not invent maintenance procedures to meet the needs of a specific failure. They have to honor what they told you to do in the owners manual or produce a registered letter to you indicating something different.

My Thoughts: Take the bloody SOBs to court and clean their clocks!

BTW in answer to your question, a lot of European Vs with diesels seem to have heavy oil consumption. Most of us in the US never have to add a drop.

[Jimbo_EX]

there is a 3 page post about diesel oil usage just a short scroll further down. Mine has 2 stickers telling you to check the oil every week. One is prominently displayed at the drivers side of the windscreen. This advice is also repeated in the handbook. If you dont follow this advice, then your leaving yourself open to this sort of problem.
However, in the real world i only check mine once a month, but i will also always check before/after a long trip.
To be honest, for it to drop from 1/2 way to empty in six weeks sounds a bit much - but what sort of mileage did you do in that time?

Id have to agree with "If the oil level was not below the lower mark, then it had sufficient oil".

And im no lawyer, but surely "suggesting" there was not enough oil is insufficient grounds - theyd need to prove it? Time to read the small print.

PS the original post does not say, is it a diesel engine??

[jeprox]

when i talked to a honda mechanic back in june or july, he said according to honda.... 1 litre of oil per 1000kms is normal. :eek:

in my own car, i try to check every 1 to 2 weeks or so coz i know it uses oil and apparently it's normal for the gas engines. for every 5000kms, as per the oil dipstick - the level would go down about 1/8" to 1/4" from the top hole. base on the MMS, 15% comes on every 8000 to 9000 kms for me and that time, the dipstick level is about 1/8" above half.

my sisters 04 accord is more or less the same.
a friends 07 civic Si is also the same.

[Black Pearl]

I am not arguing how often you should check your oil. Yes follow their recommendations, but if you don't and the engine is full of oil and it fails, the failure is your fault because you didn't check your oil often enough?

My arguement is that his oil level was above the minimum mark on the dipstick. I don't care if he hadn't looked at it 6 months. If it was above the minimum mark on dipstick, there is sufficient oil in the engine and the dealer or Honda are weasling out of their responsibility. Time for a solicitor.

I would still like to know what the UK owner's manuals have to say about the oil level on the dipstick. Not how often to check it.

BTW, my level does not perceptibally move in between oil changes.

[DaveC]

I would still like to know what the UK owner's manuals have to say about the oil level on the dipstick. Not how often to check it.

Exactly the same as your manual says... "If it is near or below the lower mark see adding engine oil..."

Which sounds to me a cop out. As you say, how near is near. Surely there is a lower limit for a reason. If the critical point is 2mm above the lower lmark, then why the heck isn't the lower mark 2mm further up.

Not sure what trim level the OP is running, but I think there is an Oil level warning light on some models. If his has it, and it didn't come on then doesn't that suggest there was enough oil in it ?

FWIW, my oil level is at least 3mm above the upper limit and has been for a couple of months now. I do around 1200 miles a month, so I would have thought it should have dropped by now.

Oh and the manual states not to fill over the upper limit....hmmm..

[Black Pearl]

DaveC thanks for the info.

I find it extremely hard to believe that anyone would design a dipstick to be so marginal. Honda is the great engine people, right? They make more engines than anyone else in the world, and they design a dipstick that if the oil level gets "near" the lower mark the engine self destructs? C'mon!

Jimbo, my friend, you are being bull sh*tted and it is time for a solicitor. Go after the b@st@rds for pain and suffering, loss of appetite, sleep loss, and disinterest in amour as well.

[illegal]

if a car that new was burning that much oil with that few miles, there was a problem to begin with. Sounds like burnt rings.

[jimbo]

Dear Chaps
Thanks for you messages of support. Just some additional info the car is a diesal. It is a lease (company) car so technically i am not the owner of the vehicle just the hirer!
Mine has oil check reminder stickers and I will admit that I haven't checked the oil level as frequently as I should have done...valuable lessson learnt, but issue is that the big end shouldn't have failed with the oil level just above or at the minimum mark.
Anyway my 2007 es doesn't have an oil level light only an oil pressure indicator. At no time did th eoil pressure indicator suggest that there was a problem. I understand that all 2008 models across the Honda range have oil level warning lights!!!!!.

Thanks again for your comments they are very helpful and have suggested that I am not mad!.

The issue is now in the hands of my fleet company and my leasing company...as I have accpeted no liability in the failure of th ebig end.
Regards
Jim