My pistons and rings are being replaced

TJ___90 said:
will the oil level on the dipstick be higher when the engine is cold or warm?
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The oil is going to be about the same hot or cold.................
"But what you need to know", is when the engine is cold, that will give the oil more time to drain down to the pan, off of all the engine parts, so when you check the oil it's going to give a higher reading.

Vise/versa when the engine is warm it will read lower.......... The correct time to check the dip stick is 5 mins. after you shut the car off, and don't fill over the top line/hole, (mine has a cross patch pattern and keeping the oil on the pattern is the goal with out going over the top).
 
So if it reads higher cold and it's really low, YOU'RE REALLY LOW!? And REALLY SCREWED, I love my Si but I'm not made to worry like this about a "new" car, my OCD will get the better of me, not sure what to do. For now I think it's fine?!
 
skyfox23 said:
So if it reads higher cold and it's really low, YOU'RE REALLY LOW!? And REALLY SCREWED, I love my Si but I'm not made to worry like this about a "new" car, my OCD will get the better of me, not sure what to do. For now I think it's fine?!
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It's better to check it(daily if you have to) and add oil if it needs it than not checking and letting it get to low. Especially if it's burning more oil than it should.
If you check it once a week and see no lose then go to two weeks than three, but you want to check till you get a long range average.
 
That's exactly what I've been doing. But now is when I've seen some drop-age on the dipstick so back to square one with going back to checking it more often. Also can't do anything about it now to begin with as the stupid dealership over filled it to begin with so now it's at the full mark 6 months and 2500 miles later. Wonder if it has to do with the engine working harder now that its colder weather, especially when vtec is engaged, granted I may vtec literally ONCE a week for ONE shift!! Really that's it, I don't vtec at all really, I drive in the city mainly I can't really vtec plus it's cold and my commute is SHORT so never really any opportunity to do so, but by some chance if I'm on a country road I'll maybe redline 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. That's what I did last week for the first time in weeks and NOW is when I noticed a drop on the dipstick, couple that time together with colder weather, I don't know, just pulling at straws at this point trying to figure out what the hell is going on, I thought my Si was spared the oil consumption issues as I've never really had problems other than 1/2 a quart on factory fill which took from 1300-5447 miles and stayed there the whole time!
 
Unfortunately, I think I'm still burning oil. I've driven 322 miles since I had the replacement. I took this pic the night I came home after letting it sit for 10 minutes.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1356221280.579201.jpg

I took this one tonight, in the same spot in the garage, after letting it sit for 10 minutes.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1356221333.379290.jpg

Not drastic, but certainly noticeable, and its only been 322 miles.
 
Some oil consumption will occur when you rings are new. After some time the should seal against the cylinder walls. If that happens after your break in and oil change I would be concerned.
 
Bulkybear said:
Some oil consumption will occur when you rings are new. After some time the should seal against the cylinder walls. If that happens after your break in and oil change I would be concerned.
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Just keep checking it the same amount of time after turning the engine(5 min). to be sure it doesn't get too low, that's te main thing at this point........... run the rpm's up and bring them down slowly, repeat a few times in a row....... they'll need to seat since they'r new.........even though some other ppl's cars may seat right off, every car is different(as per Bulkybear)............. You don't need to be easy on it, they just replaced the pistons and rings.
 
Just thought I'd update this here, and say that at 9600 miles today, when checked in the same spot after the same 10 minute cool-down from hot, the dip stick level is pretty much the same as my second picture above
 
Didn't know if I should start a new thread or add to this one, but add me to the list o' people who have gotten new pistons and rings thanks to the TSB.

I got new pistons and rings a few weeks ago while my Si was in for some routine maintenance (the B1 notice). They finished 1 Feb 2013 so it's too soon to say if it'll fix *my* oil consumption problem but I'm REALLY happy that they came through for me. It took me a couple of tries and, probably most importantly, working with a different service adviser than I have in the past (but at the same dealership). He started to take me down the same path the other guy did--it's not really burning that much oil for a performance engine (about 1 qt per 3500 miles), Honda says anything less than 1 qt per 1000 miles is normal, have we done an oil consumption test, etc.

I let him take me down that path and once he told me it sounded normal I told him that: (a) I wasn't going to let go of this issue because I've NEVER owned a new car that used ANY oil, and (b) there was a TSB out regarding excessive oil consumption that my car's VIN fell under. At that point, he said he'd go look into it and call me back because the TSB was new information to him. He called back a few hours later and told me that he'd had to make a couple of calls (sounded like he escalated on my behalf) and that, after being initially turned down, the district-level manager approved replacing my pistons and rings under the TSB.

As I said, they shot me down the first two times I brought it in and made them look at it. I think that, for me, what made the difference was: (a) having history because I complained every time I brought it in for service, (b) finding a service adviser who really cared vs. someone who's just putting in time and punching the clock, and (c) politely but firmly telling him that I wasn't going to let go of the issue. (I think he took the hint, which was that I was prepared to escalate it myself if they didn't replace the pistons and rings.) The nice thing about the TSB is that it's really vague--it doesn't say much more than if I bring the car in for service and the oil is low, replace the pistons and rings. So I could avoid the whole discussion about what is normal--I just had to keep adding just enough oil to feel comfortable running it low (but not too low) until I brought it in for service.

P.S. Checked my ECU when it got back just for grins, too. Unfortunately, no bonus reflash for me--it's still at -030. Rev hang might be a little worse after the work but it's hard to know if it's really worse or if I'm just paying closer attention to it again.
 
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webby said:
How many miles do you have on the car?
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14,175 when I picked it up on 1 Feb. 14,586 sitting in the garage tonight. Looks like about 1000 miles/month so far (I purchased the car Dec 2011).

I should have also mentioned that, when I asked them about (re)breaking in the engine, they told me not to worry about it because the bearings, etc. were already broken in--so just keep driving it like I've been driving it. (Which means a lot more vtec'ing than during the initial break-in for me).
 
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When I read that the first time, I thought you meant you bought the car at the beginning of Feb. Like you bought it 2 weeks ago. Makes way more sense now.
 
Just did a little editing on my first post--hope it makes more sense for everyone else now, too. :)
 
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