My wife has a 2000 Accord EX 4-cyl manual. Today while driving the check engine light came on and my scanner pulled up code P1259 which I understand is a VTEC system malfunction. I got home and checked the oil level and it appears there is nothing there. This is the second time in the past two years this has happened with identical situations. As best I can tell the car isn't leaking or burning oil - no spots on the garage floor, no messy undercarriage, no burning oil smell and I've never seen any smoke.

So...what could possibly be happening to cause the oil to get so low????

Thanks in advance,
-Scoot

 

Welcome new member!

Headgasket? Check for mucky oily gunk under the radiator cap.
Burning slowly so it doesn't smoke? Check oil dipstick weekly.
I can't think of anyplace else for it to go...

 

Check PCV valve for function and clean the PCV hose. Blocked hose or PCV can cause oil vapor to be pushed into the engine through the crankcase air inlet to the air inlet duct.

good luck

 

Yeah, the evidence for that would be oil inside the rubber air duct upstream of the throttle body.

 

Thanks to all for your responses. I followed up on your suggestions and haven't seen anything out of the ordinary.

Since my initial post I've done a lot of research on this issue and it sounds like for whatever reason the VTEC engines tend to consume oil - apparently up to a quart every 1000 miles depending on how you drive. My wife tends to be a pretty "spirited" driver so I'm sure that's not helping. I've spoken to two local dealers who have confirmed that these engines consume oil - having to do with the pressures in place when the VTEC kicks in. The part that remains a mystery to me is how oil can just vaporize without a trace.

As a side note I have tried to find out the RPM that the VTEC kicks in for these engines and the answers I've seen/heard range from 2800 RPM to 5400 RPM to "it depends on the throttle position". Bottom line is that I/she/we just need to be more vigilant about checking the oil between changes to make sure this doesn't happen again. So far there have been no negative effects to the engine but the car lover in me just feels guilty about letting it happen in the first place.

Cheers,
-Scoot

 

how often do you do an oil and filter change ??? ,, should do it no longer than 3000- 3500 miles ,,trust me your engine will like you.. :-)

 

I change the oil every 3000-3500 miles religiously. The low oil episode that inspired this thread showed up ~3200 miles after the previous change.

 

If no leaks, you are burning the oil due to one of following; PCV malfunction as explained above, past oil control rings or valve stem seals.

First check PCV system to be sure this is not the problem.

Have your wife drive the car while you follow in a 2nd car and observe exhaust under heavy acceleration. If you get steady smoke under acceleration, this is oil control ring bypass.

After engine is fully warmed watch the exhaust during a prolonged idle. If you begin to see some light smoke puffs from exhaust, this is likely due to leaking valve stem seals. Stem seal leaks will sometimes, after a long idle, deliver a brief large billow of smoke upon initial acceleration.

Oil is going somewhere, and it will take a bit of investigation to locate source of consumption.

I don't think Vtec has any bearing. There is very little difference between the Vtec and non-vtec engines except for the valve train assy.

FWIW, my 94EX w/ 230k miles consumes perhaps 1 qt/3000 miles, mostly leakage by a distributor oil shaft seal, which I recently repaired. I haven't added any oil since last change. However, all cars consume some oil. My speculation is that for many cars w/ low/no oil consumption, the fuel and moisture absorption offsets a small oil consumption. Smell your oil next time you change and you will notice the strong smell of gasoline.

good luck

 

I also don't think VTEC just "consumes oil". I've had 4 VTEC engines, listed here.
95 Integra GSR B18C1
98 Accord F23A1
03 Accord i-VTEC K24A4
07 Civic i-VTEC R18A1

None of them used enough oil that I had to add any during 5000 to 7000 mile intervals.

 

I have an '01 Accord EX with the 4 cyl manual with about 110k miles on it, and it is having the same problem. It runs fine, but every couple weeks the check engine light comes on, invariably for a VTEC malfunction, and when I check the oil it is always low. It still drives ok, although the first time it happened I didn't know it was oil related till the oil light finally came on a few days later and the engine started to buck in high rpms. I checked the PCV valve which was indeed very clogged and replaced it, which seemed to fix it temporarily, but it has now started happening again, just not as frequently. I'm really hoping it's not the valve stem issue, as I don't want to spend the time and money repairing that. I spoke to a friend of mine who is a mechanic and he tells me it is a common problem with these particular engines, and sometimes is something serious like a head gasket(though according to him then one should be losing coolant which I'm not). Anyway, it's becoming enough of an inconvenience where I'm about to take it in for diagnostics and hopefully it will be something I have the tools to fix myself. Before I do so though I'm hoping someone on these forums has some little trick they know for diagnosing/fixing the problem. Any luck there?