Oh yeah. Adding 5 dollar qts. of Mobil 1 every 10 days was real cool.....j/k

I love today's cars....they're more problematic, but at least there's always a light on the dash to tell you so.

I think my hood hinges are about to give way from all the use.

 

You burn a quart every 600 miles of normal driving or heavily VTEC engaged driving (like hitting VTEC all the time)? If it is heavily VTEC engaged, you don't necessarily have a big problem. In fact, all 4th and 5th gen. Preludes will tend to burn up to a quart about every oil change. It's nothing new, nothing to worry about, because that's the inherent design of first generation VTEC motors. Now, if you are burning oil under normal (light) acceleration and cruising speed, you have a problem. But even so, at that kind of mileage, you are still doing better than most domestics .

BTW, I have 102,000 on my 2000 base. It burns the same as it did when I had 10,200 on it. That's just the way these engines are.

 

you mean ALL domestics. there is only ONE domestic ive ever heard of running that long and thats a 302.
and while that motor may not have burned oil, i can guarantee that it leaked oil.
100,000 is a full lifespan for most 1980-2000 american made motors

in my mind, its better to burn oil than to leak oil.
and every 302 ive ever seen has leaked oil.

but on the flipside, soot on your bumper could also be fuel, and if your engine is running really rich it could cause it to burn more oil if the fuel is breaking down the oil.

im having that problem right now, ive got an O2 circuit problem, coupled with the fact that my fuel pressure was off the chart for the last week, until my AEM rail+FPR came in. my engine started consuming more oil than normal around the same time, and the oil also started to smell like gas.
after i get rid of this excessive rich situation, im gonna oil flush and change. hopefully it will go back to its 1QT between change habit.

~kris

 

^^ you know you could be onto something...

I had a CEL come again but I assumed it was just for the oil consumption again so I didn't get it diagnosed/extinguished.

There is a "fuelie" smell to my exhaust these days. Might have to get a new O2 sensor, at the least. And how long will the cat last?

 

Where do you get that mileage figure from? Do you have statistics to back that up or did you just make it up?

I had a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville with 160,000 miles and it was running extremely well. It would still be running if it weren't for the drunk driver who hit me.

My mother had a Mercury Sable which had over 200,000 miles before we replaced it with another Sable which has over 185,000 miles and is still running well. Recently we replaced the water pump. Thats the one recurring problem we've found with the Sable.

My father had a Buick LeSabre which also was over 175,000 miles before we replaced it when my mother hit a deer. It was running well. We got another LeSabre which currently has over 170,000 miles and is running well. Its still smooth and quiet.

I dont remember the exact years for these cars, but they are all early to mid-90s models. And not one of them did we get rid of because they were no longer running. We've had virtually no problems with them.

My parents are pretty tough on the cars. My mother puts 30,000 - 40,000 miles a year on the cars and they often use them for hauling all types of things. Occassionally the cars go well over 10,000 miles before they get an oil change.

By no means do I want to detract from that Prelude hitting over 200,000 miles. Thats cool, and I'd like to see my Prelude go that far. But it does piss me off when people make uninformed statements.

 

continue being pissed off, and get used to it

i find it hard to believe that a sable with a ford 3.8L V6 that is prone to head gasket problems made it that far without ANY engine work. in fact i think you should win a prize if you have that many sables with no problems for that many miles.

BTW - any statement made from personal experience cant be mis-informed...because its from PERSONAL experience.

~kris

 

I might believe the Pontiac with 160k on it because the 3800 has always been GM's most reliable engine. But Ford doesn't have an engine that can even compete in reliability terms with the GM 3800.

 

Hey, I've had two 302 Motors in My old Fox Body Mustangs. Not one of the leaked oil.

I just saw the diss and had to put my opinion. and it is only an opinion.

But if you take care of a motor, change the oil, etc. It will last. 302's were prone to rear main oil seal leaks. One of mine got this after 154,000 miles and I just replaced the gasket. No biggie. My other I'm selling right now with 107,000 has no leaks.

Most cars will burn a little oil.

But for the thread starter. If you take care of it and change the oil regularly your car should still run even longer than 233,000 miles.

But I would change the oil every 2000 to 2500 miles. 600 miles a quart does seem a bit excessive. I used to burn one quart in my non v-tec 1.5lt civic with 155,000 miles on it every 2500 miles. And I drove it hard.