Excessive oil consumption on the 2013 Honda Accord
When excessive oil consumption gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Honda Accord report excessive oil consumption at a median of 55,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 17th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 78,125 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
13% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37,875 miles | 42,650 miles | 54,500 miles | 71,054 miles | 116,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $900–$6,500 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 55,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 2008 carries the most reports, with 72; the 2013 has 26. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Oil lamp indicator light began blinking and heard noise from the engine. The car was taken to the dealership and they did an oil consumption test and basically the engine is burning oil about 2 quarts are burning around 3000 miles and oil lap indicates oil change is not due for another 70 percent. I did the test many time and they are buying time. If I don't check oil and keep driving then the engine will burst. The dealer wont help me its a manufacture default vehicle and they keep says its normal. Its not normal for oil lap light to come on a brand new car and the oil change was not even due. Its a lemon and needs to be taken care of. *tr
My 2013 4 cylinder accord at approx. 35,000 is burning oil. I have taken to local honda dealership for routine servicing per the maintenance minder system, last visit was 4,000 miles /3 months ago. I checked the oil level and it was below the mark on the dipstick to indicating to add oil. I called honda corporate who suggested I take in to the dealer. Appointment is in two dyes from now. I surely hope I am not told this is normal as no engine this new should burn oil at this rate; fortunately I am still under the bumper to bumper and powertrain warranty.
Check engine light keeps going on since the car hit exactly 60,000 miles. Code said it is related to the fuel system. Changed the sensor; light was off and now back on. Continuously occurs while driving the vehicle on the highway or city streets. All gauges are fine and car is maintaining gas mileage. Could it be that the o-ring and fuel tank are only slightly better than that on the original 2013 honda accords (built with faulty fuel tanks) causing the o ring to wear out? How can this be checked. Also just want to note that my wife had a 2009 pilot that kept needed spark plugs and had excessive oil consumption--she got rid of the car because she kept arguing that something was wrong with the vehicle with the honda dealership--honda admitted to the problem and extended the powertrain warranty right after she got rid of the car.
Also reported on the 2013 Honda Accord
Other steering problem
Other electrical problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
Other engine problem
ABS module or sensor failure
Steering rack, gear or tie rod failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 26 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does excessive oil consumption happen on the 2013 Honda Accord?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 55,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 70,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is excessive oil consumption on the 2013 Honda Accord?
26 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed