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F18b2 losing oil, help? Engine swap?

KyleF18Martin

KyleF18Martin

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Location
Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Car
'02 Accord 1.8 Sport
Hi all, I own a 2002 sport with the F18B2 engine, ive recently noticed its started to lose oil but from where? Its had a recent oil change w/ filter and there is no oil on my driveway or parking space at work, i also changed out the coolant and thermostat and there was no oil in the old stuff either. Its not leaking from a gasket on the engine because the engine itself is clean and ive had it on ramps. Its also not burning it by blue smoke out the back.. soooo, ive narrowed it down enough to think its maybe using oil when vtec is engaged? could this be the case?

The engine itself has just hit 113k, so could I potentially swap it out for an F20? Is it the same running gear i.e gearbox, driveshafts, ecu etc..

Any help would be greatly appreciated! (Its using a litre of oil a fortnight)

Thanks :D
 
It could be slow leak when hot so you might not always see traces, did you tourque the oil filter and filler bolt when you changed them? Also have you inspected your sump? Could be leaking from some corner or somewhere.

Also VTEC uses oil, if you use it alot and often then it will drink oil a lot. Perhaps run the car for 2-4 weeks with no VTEC engagement and see if there is a difference in consumption.
 
exec said:
It could be slow leak when hot so you might not always see traces, did you tourque the oil filter and filler bolt when you changed them? Also have you inspected your sump? Could be leaking from some corner or somewhere.

Also VTEC uses oil, if you use it alot and often then it will drink oil a lot. Perhaps run the car for 2-4 weeks with no VTEC engagement and see if there is a difference in consumption.
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The filter and sump bolt were both torqued up to spec and the cars been on ramps and no signs of oil leaking :(
 
That is too low, the recommended oil is 10/40w if you want fully synth go 5/40, I would change the oil.
 
exec said:
That is too low, the recommended oil is 10/40w if you want fully synth go 5/40, I would change the oil.
Click to expand...
Ah i see, could it be that the oil is obviously thinner and getting used through vtec? I'll have to change it out and see whats what :)
 
no it couldn't be the oil too thin in vtec... seriously??? the oil is fine... that would not be a cause that its losing it somewhere...

EXEC - VTEC DOES NOT DRINK OIL in a matter of weeks.. its suppose to last a year... just because your in vtec does not make it any different from not being in it so that's just complete nonsense..

no car should be going through a litre every 2 weeks... I bet yours is ****ing out somewhere... which is the most likely case... you might not get any oil deposits on the road.. have you really checked the engine to see if its leaking from any areas at the front/rear/sides of the engine? because that oil has got to be going somewhere... and if theres no massive clouds of smoke... them you ant burning it..

Get it up on a ramp and find your leak..
 
An oil leak should be obvious and - if it isn't leaking - then the lost oil must be getting burnt, usually via worn rings or valve guides... a thicker grade of oil can often mitigate this problem.

Synthetic oils often don't create a lot of blue smoke when burning.
 
I might add that its semi-synthetic 5w/30 oil but the exhaust is a straight through system (with de-cat) so theres alot of white smoke to start with, which disappears under load, but ive had freinds follow me numerous times to try and spot blue smoke but still nothing.. i might try 10w/40 and see what happens, if not for the sake of £150 ill go out and buy an F20B6...
 
Maybe a 5w-40? Not much point in raising the cold viscosity. Like I said, the synthetic content won't cause much blue smoke.

What was the HC reading on the last MoT? That might be a better indicator of oil burning.
 
Actually Simon, VTEC does use more oil as the oil pressure gets higher when engaged, and more oil is then guided directly onto the camshaft and then the excess fumes are blown out the PCV valve. So in summary, Exec is pretty much spot on.

OP, I would definetely prefer 10w/40 in there instead of 5w/30. My H22A7 doesn't use a drop out of VTEC when using 10w/40, but would use half a litre every 1k on 5w/30, and it was the same story when it had the F20B6.

I would try a thicker oil first, and then try a compression test just to see what sort of condition the internals are in.
 
As above really, I have had 2 Type R's with K20 engines that used between 500-750ml of oil every 1k miles.

Its due to the increased oil pressure when in vtec that the oil is burnt and is fairly common but if driven out of vtec they hardly use a drop.

As far as I know the vtec solenoid is oil activated which in turn acts upon the different lobes on the camshaft.
 
Simon one thing I would agree with you is that it definitely should not use a litre of oil in just 2 weeks unless Kyle has done megamiles in that period or is VTEC-ing in 1st in every journey :p

I serviced my car around 8-10 months ago (with 10-40w castrol magnatec oil), and my oil is on the low mark, that is with some sort of leak in the sump (full of oil residue underneath!), using VTEC at least once every journey and doing less than 1500 miles.
 
Surely the VTEC solenoid is electrically activated by the ECU and so opens to allows oil pressure to be transferred to the camshaft ***embly?
 
Jon_G said:
Surely the VTEC solenoid is electrically activated by the ECU and so opens to allows oil pressure to be transferred to the camshaft ***embly?
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Half correct. The car constantly reads AFR's, RPM and Oil Pressure and then "decides" on whether VTEC is safe to operate or not. For example, VTEC will not engage with a low oil level because as said, VTEC relys on oil pressure. Of the oil is low, the ECU will read the oil pressure at its current "non-VTEC" stage and decide not to engage the solenoid, as there would be a risk of internal damage once the oil pressure rises when in VTEC mode.
 
One thing to add, if we are comparing vtec from sohc 6th gen to a DOHC vtec then its comparing apples with pears. The two are different in the sense that the 6th gen f20 engines are built with vtec and economy where as the DOHC versions are performance. There is hardly any cross over feel with the f20. The k20 or a H22A is another bit of kit totally and the oil consumption is higher. Honda dealers tell you to keep an eye on the oils when you buy a CTR from them as they know they go through oil. TBH most powerful engines do, Beemers and Audis are worse for it.
 
I think what i will have to do is change the oil and see what happens then, I do a fair few miles in the car and mess about in vtec quite often so it could probably explain the high consumption, still a litre every fortnights abit much.. Maybe getting it back onto my friends ramps and having a look will be next thing to do, then change the oil while its up there and see whats what.. if it keeps loosing oil, then maybe F20 or H22 swap... or maybe turbo it until it dies.. :p
 
My 2.4 absolutely drinks the stuff. Serviced in late February. No leaks, engine is working perfectly. In my MOT last week (late May), it had lost 2.5 litres of oil :eek: !!! That's almost a litre a month!

Basically, if you boot it and like to run the revs high from time to time (I normally treat myself to one or two squirts a day), then you really want to check your oil every month.
 
Yours is a 2.4 steve... The whole point is... It should never be using a litre in 2 weeks lol i have the same engined car thats never out of vtec and am no where near using that much oil... Am sorry but that engines got to either be losing it.. Either slow leak so you dont notice deposits or the internals are shot
 
I may not own a Honda VTEC, but I do own a Toyota with the very similar VVTi engine and I'm finding it hard to believe that VTEC engagement should cause so much oil to be consumed (this isn't an issue on my Toyota, which I've owned for 11 years). I feel it's more likely that the engine is worn and is burning oil via the oil control/piston rings... this will be far more noticeable when making use of VTEC because the engine will obviously be under far greater load.
 
Look in your handbook as Honda say these engines can use up to 1 liter of oil in 1k
From what iv seen on the Honda front some drink oil and some don't.
Try a thicker oil and see if it makes any differance.
My 8th gen uses about 1L every 4k from the day iv had it
 
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