Gents:

Had an interesting chase the past few weeks. 2000 ex sedan MT 180k mi was using oil - way more than I though normal. Would go through a qt in about 1000 miles. Looked for leak in vain - no drips anywhere. Watched exhaust at startup and after warmup - no oil smell or blue smoke. Noticed oil around distributor and top area of engine, but no drips on garage floor. Replaced PCV valve, then distributor o ring. No change. Oil still leaking around distributor area. No leaks around valve cover. Only area left on top of engine was the VTEC solenoid gasket - the one that fits against the block. Then a strange thing happened. Oil level dropped 1/3 qt in about 20 mile drive! If its burning, I should be creating a smoke screen. Still no leaks. I topped off the oil, and drove it through another tank, checking it after even the shortest trips. Oil consumption stopped. Next tank, no oil lost. Same after the next tank.

I post this because in my search for a solution, many with similar mystery oil use assumed that the valves or rings were shot. When oil is leaking out the top of the engine, it seems to get spread over a large area and gets dirty and sticks to block, drips on headers, etc and never gets to the garage floor.

 

So what was causing the leak? Did it turn out to be the VTEC solenoid gasket?

 

The oil use stopped after I replaced the solinoid gasket. I suspect that all 3 places were causing some leakage, worst of it being the vtec sol. The mystery was when the oil level dropped 1/3 qt after 20 mile run. No good explanation for this - other than it followed replacing the solinoid gasket. Could have been the vtec finally having been sealed properly, so it sucked up oil? All has been well since. Still checking evry 50 mi or so....