End of 2002 woes?

[Patrick Martin]

Well I brought my car in for service today. You may recall it's a 2002
SE-R (non spec) 5 speed that was losing 1 to 1.5 liters every 750 miles
or so.

Originally it was losing about a quart per tank of gas, then it stopped
and started again at about 2K when the oil was changed (cause it was
nastied due to a bad O2 sensor and something with the cat).

At any rate, now I'm at 3.5K and it seems to have stopped again (no loss
over the last 300 miles).

Some suggested this may be just the normal SE-R break in, which looks
like it may be the case. Everything else checked out today, no leaks, no
codes, nothing.

While I was there I got the headlight recall dealt with and asked about
why second gear is so damn notchy and "thunky" (especially when it's
cold out). They said they've gotten actually many complaints about
exactly that but there seems to be no actual problem, it's just the
nature of the (new) beast.

So if you get a new SE-R, watch the oil level like a fat man watches the
last piece of pizza (for a little while anyway).

Thanks, hopefully you won't hear me whine any more about this.
-Patrick
www.yardgnome.org/ser