Oil Consumption

[NewPilotMan]

I just took my first long trip with the Pilot. Loaded with wife, 2 kids, 12 DVD's, packed for 30 days (for a 9 day trip) to see my family along the East coast. I went a total of 1855 miles, all highway, 70-75mph on average, no stop and go. The Pilot did excellent !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, I noticed I used a quart of oil for this trip. I started the trip with only 3900 miles on her. I had the dealer do an oil change just before leaving on this trip. I check the oil with the car off and sitting for 30 minutes.

To me this seems to be excessive usage. Am I wrong? What have you found your oil consumption to be?

By the way I averaged 23.4 MPG on this trip. No complaints there, very happy with that.

Thanks for all responses.

[krygny]

Originally posted by NewPilotMan
To me this seems to be excessive usage. Am I wrong?

I don't think so. The engine should be well broken in at this point. I don't think an engine should ever lose more than a qt. between oil changes and even that shouldn't happen until the engine has >100K mi. Theoretically, you should never have to add oil.

Of course, that's the anal retentive theory. Who hasn't owned a car that burned oil like a 2-cycle. I'd keep a close eye on it but it could just be an aberration or unusual conditions of your trip.

[dgipalo]

Originally posted by NewPilotMan
But, I noticed I used a quart of oil for this trip. I started the trip with only 3900 miles on her. I had the dealer do an oil change just before leaving on this trip. I check the oil with the car off and sitting for 30 minutes.

To me this seems to be excessive usage. Am I wrong? What have you found your oil consumption to be?

One item I've noticed is that oil consumption has varied with the brand of oil used. For example, on one of my previous cars, I never added any oil between 5K mile changes if I used Mobil 1. At worst, the car was 1/2 quart down when it was time to change oil (I used 5K interval with M1 because I used the car to tow a 4K# boat). Using the regular Mobil, I would be a quart low by 3K miles.

That said, the original oil fill on my Pilot was 1/3 qt down when I changed it at 5K miles. I've only put 750 miles since the oil change, and didn't notice any level movement on the dipstick; it was still full, and I was quite diligent about getting the oil level to the FULL mark.

Which brings me to the other point: Are you sure the dealer filled the car to the correct level? Many dealers employ 'lube techs' who are hard-pressed to find their backsides using both hands. And they don't necessarily fill the oil level to the correct, full mark.

[ck55]

Honda, and all other manufactures, will tell you that using 1 quart between oil changes is normal consumption.

My Pilot, and our other vehicle require little, if any, additional oil between oil changes.