Wrong type of oil?

[nofatchickscarwillscrape]

My coworker took his prelude to CT to do an oil change and even though his oil cap says 5w30 on it they put in 5w20 in the car... he drove to t.o and back and the oil light came on... 4 litres gone.

Could the change of oil cause it to burn so quick? The oil light came on for a minute could there be any damage? Is CT responsible if it's f'd?

hes worried!

Marcos

[NoLimits]

5w20 is used on most 07 and up cars to meet govt fuel standards for a manufacturer's total product line, it should not have allowed the motor to burn 4 liters in that time frame.
What milage is on the car to begin with? A plugged crank vent might have allowed it to pump that much oil, was a pcv valve changed at the same time?
Did it burn oil before the change?

[nofatchickscarwillscrape]

Didn't burn oil before. didn't change the pvc valve.. was going to change it today. The car has 109 kms the change was done at 103...

[hybrid hatch]

switching to 5W20 oil instead of 5W30 will not cause a car to burn 4L of oil if it was not burning any before. The difference between the 2 in minimal at best. Honda has stated that 5W20 oil is safe for there older cars as well so you can't really blame CT for using it. Are you sure there are no leaks on the car? Possibly oil filter or drain plug leaking slowly after oil change.

[Musclecar]

I suspect the problem lies with having an oil change done at crappy tire.

They probably forgot to put oil back in.

[nofatchickscarwillscrape]

ah well... it was the first oil change done on the car since buying it

you think the dealership did the lucas oil trick? if so.. it's got waranty can he get a new motor

[TeamCivic]

I have had acura put 5w20 in my rsx instead of 5w30. The difference is 5w20 oil is thinner and burns quicker, but will not harm your vehicle.

There is no way to loose this much oil in that time period. Check your piston rings.

A friend took her mazda in to a dealership. They replaced the brakes and the car still wasn't stopping that well. I looked at them and discovered that they hadn't been touched. She pointed this out to them and they weren't willing to do anything. So she left them a business card and said they'd be hearing from her. Suddenly they called her, took the car and did the entire job with a refund for the price she'd been charged. Their explaination - there was a mixup and the workorder accidentally got marked as being done. Personally i think her business card (she's a lawyer) did the trick...

So your friend - maybe they forgot to tighten the drain plug. Maybe they didn't fill it all the way. Hard to say as it wouldn't go to TO and back on no oil whatsoever. If the vehicle calls for 5w30 and they put in 5w20 then a call to a lawyer may end up seeing the work paid for. I'm not convinced that the difference in oils would have caused that severe a problem but then again I've never tried putting in thinner oil - especially on a honda.

-Michael

[Petey!]

Those preludes are notorious for burning oil... could be the thinner oil burned, but it must have been burning some oil before that.

[Spiderman]

if you want something done right, fuckin' do it yourself. You can by an oil catcher for 5-6 bucks at Canadian Tire. Stock up on some oil filters and you're all set.

[Deuce_Bigalow]

My coworker took his prelude to CT to do an oil change and even though his oil cap says 5w30 on it they put in 5w20 in the car... he drove to t.o and back and the oil light came on... 4 litres gone.



4L of oil GONE? Was there any oil left in the engine at all?!

[evil haze]

CT won't put 5W20 in your car unless you tell them to put 5W20 in your car. if you just go in for an oil change and don't specify what you want, they fill your oil from their bulk tank. they only got 2 bulk tanks a 10W30 and a 5W30,
BTW how do you know they put 5W20 in your buddies car, did you see the empty jugs?

[CRXZC]

And how did it burn 4L of oil? WTF... the light goes on after around 2L because there's no oil pressure..

I could see if the oil was low or slightly off the dipstick after a trip at 4k rpm's all the way to toronto and back, my integra used to burn more oil on long highway trips, but it's still weird... holes in the story..

[paulypaul]

I bet you a fiver that CT didn't put enough oil back in.

[mightymousetech]

Those damn Preludes will burn 2-3L of oil between changes even when you are using the proper 5W30. Dump in 5W20 and that thing will drink oil like a diesel.

Put in some GOOD 5W30 and accept the fact that you should never go to CTC again....LOL

In my original D15 that came in my civic it burned oil at a furious pace. Once I ran it so low that the light was coming on when I went around corners. It took a full 4l to bring it up to full. I've never taken the engine apart to see how badly pooched the bearings are but it still ran when I pulled it out.

-Michael

[BrettR]

In my original D15 that came in my civic it burned oil at a furious pace. Once I ran it so low that the light was coming on when I went around corners. It took a full 4l to bring it up to full. I've never taken the engine apart to see how badly pooched the bearings are but it still ran when I pulled it out.

-Michael

Welcome to the wonderful world of D15s...

Old D15 was 330k on the clock, ran 20w50 365 days of the year when I was feeling rich, ran people's oil I had drained doing oil changes when I wasn't, and I would fill it up when the oil light came on when I hit the brakes too hard.

It still runs.

[CRXZC]

LOL

Same with my current D16... 20w50, when the light comes on just top it up... they never seem to die...

[JDM EG6]

I suspect the problem lies with having an oil change done at crappy tire.

They probably forgot to put oil back in.

I was so gonna say that LOL.