Litre-ally

In March I bought a new style Honda Civic (petrol). After about 6000 miles, an oil warning light appeared. As I was miles from anywhere I rang the Honda garage, which told me to contact the AA. Their mechanic, having added 1 litre of oil to the engine, found no evidence of escaping oil. He said that the only explanation was that insufficient oil had been added before the car was delivered to me. I contacted my garage to complain and I was told, in writing, “oil usage can be up to 1 litre per 800 miles.”

In none of my previous new cars have I ever had to add oil between services so I find this hard to believe.

Asked on 29 December 2012 by LW, Knottingley

Answered by Honest John

In the old days of common sense you would change the oil at 5000 miles before any oil use became evident. Obviously if engines are supposed to go 20,000 miles between oil changes they will use oil. In some engines the amount of oil they use in 20,000 miles is equivalent to 3 or 4 oil changes.

Tags: changing oil new cars

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