Got me a new car:)

Here you go. Tried to edit "lastest" to latest...and no luck.
This is what I meant by opening in the same page...

If this is true about "VCM" engines...and oil consumption around a qt. every 4000 miles is normal...I'm going to have to read up on it.

I'm still used to the oil consumption "rules" for new (non-VCM) engines where oil consumption can be a measure of engine wear (or at least piston ring wear). Where after the engine is broken in...you should have next to no oil consumption between oil changes. Only when the engine starts to get "old" do you start to see oil consumption...and I wouldn't expect to see a worn engine to "eat" 1 quart every 3,000-4,000 miles until is over 100,000 or more miles (depending how the engine was driven & maintained).

In fact...I've seen how some oil change intervals have been extended from the historical 3 month/3000 miles...to as much as 7500 miles. If this was the case with VCM engines...you could be as much as 2 quarts low on a 4-5 quart capacity engine.

Like I said...if this sort of oil consumption is "normal" for these VCM engines...I'm going to have get up to speed on it, and do some research. I'm still having problems with BMW's idea of "lifetime" transmission fluid (no changes/no dipstick/no fill tube)...AND there being no maintenance interval for replacing the timing chain.

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Only when the engine starts to get "old" do you start to see oil consumption...and I wouldn't expect to see a worn engine to "eat" 1 quart every 3,000-4,000 miles until is over 100,000 or more miles (depending how the engine was driven & maintained).
- Nick

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I've read similar things about that too, but it's mostly related to engine that have tightly fitted piston rings. Most GM engines have very tight piston rings, which is why most need a top end rebuild after about 100,000~ miles (especially on the corvette). The thing that scares people about this little oil usage is that the VCM engines can shut the cylinders off from allowing an ignition, varying from running on 3, 4, or 6 cylinders. There very well could be something that causes the cylinders that aren't firing, to use more oil, but in that case, someone who cruises, or drives slow, would be getting more oil usage than someone who floors it all the time. Have you ever noticed this cwa107? I wasn't the main driver of the odyssey, so I don't know about it.

idrinorbarsaku said:

The thing that scares people about this little oil usage is that the VCM engines can shut the cylinders off from allowing an ignition, varying from running on 3, 4, or 6 cylinders.

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As you may know...VCM engines have been around for quite a while. I can remember a variation of it being used as far back as 1981 in a Cadillac Seville.

I've always wondered what the long term impact this sort of setup would have on the wear & tear of an engine...especially on an engine that is driven on the highway a lot...when some cylinders are "shut-down". If it's always the same cylinders being shut down...those cylinders (piston rings, crankshaft, crankshaft bearing, etc.) would have less wear compared to the other cylinders that are active 100% of the time.

I mean...if someone still gets just as many miles out of a VCM engine as they would from an engine without VCM...it really doesn't matter in the end...just seems a little bit of a waste if the cylinders that are shut down have little wear compared to the other cylinders.

- Nick

idrinorbarsaku said:

There very well could be something that causes the cylinders that aren't firing, to use more oil, but in that case, someone who cruises, or drives slow, would be getting more oil usage than someone who floors it all the time. Have you ever noticed this cwa107? I wasn't the main driver of the odyssey, so I don't know about it.

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Yes, indeed. On Piloteers.org (formerly Honda-Pilot.org), it seems that those with the highest consumption are the ones who are driving primarily "highway" mileage. Also, I didn't notice it initially when I first bought the car, but then I was doing a lot more varying of engine speeds and throttle input during break-in. Now that I've found the sweet spots to achieve the best mileage, I'm a lot lighter on the pedals in general - and sure enough, I'm noticing significant oil consumption.

cwa107 said:

Yes, indeed. On Piloteers.org (formerly Honda-Pilot.org), it seems that those with the highest consumption are the ones who are driving primarily "highway" mileage. Also, I didn't notice it initially when I first bought the car, but then I was doing a lot more varying of engine speeds and throttle input during break-in. Now that I've found the sweet spots to achieve the best mileage, I'm a lot lighter on the pedals in general - and sure enough, I'm noticing significant oil consumption.

Click to expand...

Got my 2011 pilot, and just signed up on piloteers. I found you already

Probably should've posted the pic here first. It's a gasohol! Gotta learn to drive a bit slower.