I just noticed the post about the guy with the Corvettes and the Metros. Yeah, the Metro is definitely a fun little car and reminds me of an oversized go kart. The fuel economy is just crazy, especially for a car that old. I understand the XFI model of the Metro is the most fuel efficient gas car ever made.
One of my friends and neighbors got a Metro recently and I am helping her with the basic tune-up stuff. Next on the list is the water pump and timing belt as I have no idea when they were last done… At least one seal is leaking as oil is dripping from under the timing cover so that will all be done at the same time. This car is a little red convertible. She has always wanted a convertible and was on the lookout for a good gas car on my suggestion. She found this one on Craigslist and had to have it. She didn’t even know they made a convertible version.
I see 90’s Civics all the time on the road and haven’t noticed them – by looking at their tailpipes anyway – burning oil any more than any other car myself. Maybe it the Calif emissions testing required here; maybe it makes it difficult or impossible to keep a car on the road that is burning a lot of oil,. so the ones that burn oil get sent to the crusher or flatbedded to another state.
If I saw a used Civic I like and it only burned oil during the warm up phase, I might consider it as it is probably just the valve stem seals leaking oil that accumlates when the engine is turned off. On a lot of econoboxes, replacing the valve stem seals, while a big job, can often be done without removing the cyl head and the engine can remains in the car.
I drive through Lawrence MA a couple times a month…and there are a plethora of 90’s Civics around. I can’t say I ever saw even one burning oil. But it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a few of that era with well over 200k or even 300k miles that had some oil burning issues.
@MikeInNH There probably aren't many "tuners" in that area then.
I don’t know if they are or not. All I know is there are a LOT of them…and don’t see too many burning oil. They are very good and very very reliable vehicles. Probably one of the most reliable vehicles on the road today.
I would agree with the poster above that made note that the most smoking vehicles by brand are anything made by Chrysler/MOPAR. Having known several people who have owned them and working on a few, I would not own one. I have seen various models with major problems such as the engine and transmission. Look on Craigslist and I bet you will see lots of otherwise good cars with a blown up Chrysler 2.7L. I know several people who have had these in Intrepids and such, taken excellent care of them and used synthetic oil, only to have them blow lots of smoke and use oil, then throw a rod through the side of the engine. Major engine problems and oil burning extend to many models of these vehicles. One friend of mine is a cop and is one individual who owned three Chrysler products in a row and will never personally own another one. His parents gave him a van when he was young and the engine blew up. I then got a 2.7L Intrepid and the engine blew up. He then got a 3.7L Jeep Cherokee and spent more money on the repairs than the car payment so get rid of that and went to a Nissan which he never complains about. Well, they issued him a HEMI Dodge Charger patrol car and the engine exploded as he drove down the highway patrolling. He wasn’t running it hard or anything and it only had 4600 miles on it. It turned out a valve seat fell out of the head, causing the engine to eat a valve and then the rest was history. This is a known problem on these engines, plus the connecting rods are barely strong enough to hold together under max load. Come on people, other car makers have been making solid and reliable engines for quite some time.
I have a 1997 Ford with almost 300k, a 2000 Chevy with well over 100k, and a 1994 Geo Metro (essentially a Suzuki Swift) with 160k would trust any of these more than I would trust any of these on a long trip much more than I would a Chrysler. Mitsubishis are also good smokers but many Mitsubishi/Chrysler products use common engines so that makes sense.
Besides the fact I feel Chryslers are junk, I think that Honda makes a very good product. They have well made engines that run forever if taken care of. Now if you get a tuner that puts a massive spoiler and fart can on their Civic, you might want to avoid it as these cars are “all show and no go”. They have probably been run hard and maybe maintenance hasn’t been done well. As for the rest, the fact that they are still running well 15-20 years later with so many miles says a lot about their quality. Also, these don’t seem to just rust out like many cars do after a while.
My son-in-law runs a salvage yard. I have heard him talk about the 2.7 Chrysler engine sludging up and causing problems and I know that the 3.0 liter chrysler/Mitzobitshi engine used to have problems with the valve seals leaking and causing smoke. But I drove one of them to 328K miles by watching and adding oil. It was a Company van and I drove it many months with the engine missing and the engine was still running but the radiator burst and it had had a lot of parts replaced, so they retired it. I might add that I did not baby it, IK was driving around 260 city miles per day.
They used what is called alumasil engine technology that allows aluminum blocks to be made with no cylinder sleeves…The piston rings ride directly on the aluminum cylinder walls. A high silicone content in the casting material allows a chemical machining process to etch back the aluminum a little so the rings ride on the exposed silicone…It took a while to perfect this process…If it breaks down and the piston rings dig into the aluminum cylinder walls, you can expect some oil burning…Rebuilding these engines is very expensive as they must be bored out and sleeved…
A high silicone content in the casting material allows a chemical machining process to etch back the aluminum a little so the rings ride on the exposed silicone..It took a while to perfect this process....If it breaks down and the piston rings dig into the aluminum cylinder walls, you can expect some oil burning..Rebuilding these engines is very expensive as they must be bored out and sleeved.
Sounds EXACTLY like the 70’s Vega engines. Aluminum blocks with silicone lined cylinder walls. When I rebuilt my Vega engine I had it steel sleeved lined. GREAT after that. Why they don’t steel sleeve line these engines is beyond me. It added less then 10lbs of weight to the overall engine.
If all these mid 1990s Civics are burning oil, and I am not willing to concede that point, it might have something to do with the fact that they are 18-year-old vehicles with more than 200,000 miles on their odometers.
My 1998 Civic is losing a little oil, but I think it is leaking oil more than it is burning oil. I guess I’ll find out when I get my oil pan gasket replaced.
The 1946-47 Dodges developed a reputation for burning oil at a young age. Part of the problem may have been that the Dodge and Plymouth blocks were the same, but that the Dodge had a longer stroke. The Plymouth did not have this reputation. Problems with oil consumption on these Dodge engines showed up by 1950 or so.
However, this was many years ago. If a 90s Civic uses oil, I would attribute the cause to old age and high mileage rather than the design of the engine. In fact, with a couple of exceptions, most oil burning on today’s cars is due to high mileage, neglected maintenance or overheating. Basing oil consumption on a small sample of a particular model is probably not accurate. For example, I owned a 1947 Pontiac 6 that used a quart of oil every 250-300 miles. My uncle had a 1947 Pontiac with the same 6 cylinder engine that did not use oil. My Uncle bought his Pontiac as a used car in early 1949 with very low miles. I bought my Pontiac in 1962 and it may have had the odometer rolled back numerous times. I have a friend that just sold her 1990 Honda Civic with 110,000 miles and it used no oil at all. This car had belonged to her mother before she inherited the vehicle. Had this Civic racked up 10,000 miles a year as is average, it would have had 220,000 miles and would have every right to a drink of a quart of oil every so often. The biggest problem with my friend’s Civic was that the rust was getting bad.