I’ve only used Shell 93 Octane purely for the high detergent additives (to mitigate carbon deposits). In the four years of ownership, I haven’t had any oil dilution symptoms on my 2018 Civic EXT, 1.5 liter, turbo, GSD, CVT. I live in Westchester County, NY so the winter weather is not too bad (as compared to upstate or Canada). I rarely take short trips. I drive about 60% highway. I’m averaging 34.1 mpg. I also maintain my vehicles aggressively, changing the oil/filter early (every 3,800-4,200 miles).
Hey bud, have fun spending extra money but if you go to gas stations that are top tier, all grades have more detergents. Also detergents do not solve oil dilution issues. Just keeps your cylinders clean, and if port injected(intake valves)
All of the above plus let engine idle in park for approximately 30 seconds to a minute before shutting off. My mechanic told me that this will allow the bearings on the turbo to significantly cool down before you shut it off there by extending the life of the turbo charger.
Hello, Do you still drive the CR-V 1.5? I recently bought a 2019 Honda CR-V 1.5 173ps, manual transmission. I'm interested to know how many miles you have on it and if there have been any issues? Thank you very much.
I've been telling everyone to up the octane to fix the oil dilution problem. Everyone called me crazy. I don't own a CRV 2017, but it seems that it did the trick for you as I expected.
Thanks for your efforts. Good work. Premium gas may do the trick but it's not a cheap date. Kinda defeats the purpose of getting good gas mileage. I noticed that the worst gas dilution readings were taken in February during a cold winter. The second worst was in May; also after driving mostly in the winter. Your best readings were taken after summer driving. Might this be as or more relevant than using premium gas. I too, live in Wisconsin (Whitewater) and drive a 2019 CRV that I intend to get 250,000 miles out of so your videos are extremely interesting to me.
I just sold my 2019 CRV. Have you seen the oil just 3000 miles after the change? Black with gasoline smell and not to mention higher level. I highly doubt that this engine will last much more than 100,000 miles.
@@richardli5530 I just checked my oil since it just reached 3000 miles since the last oil change on July 29. My wife usually drives over 1/2 hour per trip. I didn't notice a gas smell and the level and blackness weren't unusual. The oil does seem thin but I'm not used to 0W-20 so that may be normal as well. I think and hope that the hwy miles make a big difference in burning the gas out of the oil because we like our CRV. Hope you enjoy your new ride, Richard
@@MrKvpluym Is your CRV 1.5 turbo? I was kicking myself for not selecting a LX trim. That one had a different engine and no OD Problem, I heard. Good luck.
Yes it's the 1.5L. If/when the first signs of trouble appear, especially gas smell in the cabin, it's gone. So far so good though. It's got good pickup and we're getting over 30 mpg so we'll keep it for now.
I solved my fuel dilution problem on my GM GDI engine by switching to Top Tier 93 octane, non ethanol. It went from 5-8%, down to around 3%. I still see a drop in viscosity. So I switched to Amsoil 0W-40 oil. It drops in viscosity to a 30 weight and stays there for 10k miles. My iron wear rate dropped from 3ppm/1k miles, down to 1ppm/1k miles. Higher octane reduces engine knock, better combustion, and removing ethanol requires less fuel. Ethanol has 30% less energy. Remember 10-20% of old oil will remain in an engine, so I perform a 3qt engine flush to get all the old oil, fuel and wear metal out. I do this by draining, replace filter, add 3 qts, then idle till hot, drain and put in the preferred oil. This achieves 99% clean oil in the engine.
Been running 93 Sunoco on my 19 civic coupe 1.5t and castrol Ow20 since new. 55,000 miles now and have never had oil dilution. I also change my oil sooner than 5,000 though. Also...honda oil filters are made by fram, so i switch to wix but only the wix made in usa.
With direct injection, both spark and injector opening are probably advanced with premium fuel (based on feed back from knock sensor). Advanced injection may give more time for complete combustion , especially when running rich during hard acceleration or hill climbing, thus reducing oil dilution. Also note that a few percent of gasoline is molecules in the 9 carbon to 10 carbon range with boiling points 150C to 170C . That fraction could build up over time in the oil. Premium fuel might have less C9 and C10.
Last November, I traded in my rusted to shit. 04 Tundra, (only 92000 mi!)decided I can live without a pickup. Got myself a pristine certified pre-owned 2019 CRV LX. 42000 mi. Last of the naturally aspirated 2.4’s. I will keep this vehicle for a while. Changed the CVT fluid twice already in 8000 miles to clean it out. These small turbo charged engines, are prone to problems. With a shorter lifespan. Now we are seeing 3 cylinder turbos. As manufacturer are trying to meet EPA requirements that are too strict.
My son-in-law is a Honda salesman & he also said they weren’t getting the oil dilution as much in Canada since their “regular” gas up there is 91 octane & not like the diluted crappy gas we get here in the states. Also he told me Honda was stopping production of the 1.5L turbo in 2024, none for 2025 but he didn’t know what they were replacing it with. Also for “timbraun” below, I’ve never had a bad experience with Honda, You must have had a crap dealership you bought from. They do exist no matter how good or bad the vehicle.
Just bought used 2020 Honda CRV with 50k miles. Do you think buying an extended warranty is wise thing incase of larger repair costs had gasket, motor, etc.
I recommend also using the gumout with PEA often. Been using it for a year now and car has never felt so smooth. Lots of peoples injectors have been going bad, I fully believe that's because of 87 octane.
If you would like to reduce wear in your engine and protect your engine from excessive wear due to fuel dilution try bonding a permanent lubricant to the metal. That way you'll never get metal-to-metal wear. As you're already doing an oil analysis you will immediately spot the reduction in wear: Normally a 50~90% reduction. 🙂
They should have kept the old 2.0 or 2.4 L. engines I would not purchase a 1.5L turbo. Some say the new hybrid is a better engine choice. BTW- Toyota Rav 4 offers a normal 2 liter engine (no turbo) and regular transmission (no CVT). Trying the 91 octane gas is a great idea.
Is there a reason you're not using ow20??? Also I use a catch can to collect oil,fuel and water. And don't use premium fuel, it's just to slow down the ignition.,nothing to do with oil dilution 😅
I personally step the engine oil above grade because the consistent oil dilution moves the oil viscosity out of designed viscosity range - Oil dilution thins the viscosity. Honda has a integrated catch can that works just fine. No reason to use an aftermarket setup. If I use premium fuel I can consistently show less oil dilution. Engineering papers exist on avoiding pre-ignition through timing, but also fuel mapping. The purpose of moving to direct injection was to have precise timing control over fueling. The engines computer can detect fuel's resistance to ignition and subsequently take advantage of 87, 91, or higher octane fuel in the context of engineer's programming. In the case of my CR-V the use of premium fuel greatly reduces oil dilution.
Just change the oil more frequently 4 times a year, I use 87 Octane gas and drive in Sport mode, it holds the rpm higher. But I wonder if using a hotter spark plug would help ?
Would using a 0w40 oil help the gasoline blowing by the piston rings? The 0w40 should be ok at lower temperatures but provide better viscosity to prevent engine wear. Is there any data to support or deny this theory?
Gasoline doesn’t blow by the rings. Fuel stiction is excessive, the fuel will remain on the cylinder wall and won’t get wiped away by the rings and it’ll return to the crankcase. Adjust the tune to remove fuel dumping and it’ll be great.
You mentioned that it was a non ethanol 91 octane. I wonder if it was more for that reason rather than the octane level as 91 octane is less combustible than 87 octane. Something to consider…. I’m not sure that here in Alabama I would be able to find that fuel, because around here the refineries use ethanol to raise the octane.
Hi people, honda says only 1.5t on civic and crv is affected, my 2017 2.4L is affected, my 2019 accord 2.0T sport is affected as well, we get the miss info that it happens in colder climates, or you drive short distances, if that was true then honda should have inform the customers that if you drive short distance, you will have oil dilution problem, it is a design flaw, it is a major problem with these engines and honda and its owners forums are covering it up and blaming us the owners for driving short distances.
Hi there, I want to share my experience with you folks. I own a 2009 Accord. I changed my engine oil after 3000km (I’m from Toronto, Ontario) when I smelled gasoline upon checking the dipstick. So far, I’ve only driven it for 700km and I have already lost most of my engine oil viscosity. I always use Mobil brand of engine oil and filter. A few days ago it occurred to me that why don’t I put shell’s highest grade of gasoline. I think it’s 91. I filled the tank with it and I noticed a huge difference in the car’s behaviour. It’s much smoother now and doesn’t vibrate anymore that it used to do between 80 and 100km. 91 grade is 45 cents expensive then the regular one. I’m going to change my engine oil today. Let’s see what happens. Please shoot me with any useful tip as to how can I get rid of this dilution after just 700km. Thank you
The 91 octane takes longer for fuel to burn so you will dump more fuel inside of your motor Also have the 1.5 Turbo Honda Accord and having same problems
Trading our 2018 CRV touring pretty soon, narrowed it down to the Mitsubishi, Toyota or the New 2022 Tucon. Gotta admit we're really leaning towards the Tucon.
Hi, you have probably heard this before, but Honda recommends using premium fuel in the 1.5 litre turbo earth dreams. At least my 2021 civic sport hatchback says it right on the sticker for the fuel fill. The fuel mileage is very good on this engine, I can get 48 on the highway 37 in town, which is ridiculous, so not following Honda's recommendation of premium is not something I want to do especially since there is a high probability that any warranty could possibly be voided. I never comment on youtube videos because of the high number of "know it all's" but I felt after watching your three videos I would ask if you owner's manual recommended the high-octane premium fuel for your vehicle. Have also been keeping an eye on the oil in my vehicle too, but I only have 7K miles on it, working from home does that. According to Honda the issue was fixed with a system update on newer vehicles but i don't know about the 2017. I hope you find the magic bullet that remedies the problem you are definitely putting some effort. I would have probably traded it off by now. Good luck sir.
Interesting video. Here in Europe we use 96 octain regular and 98 super. When I was in America I noticed that the cars there have a lot of fluid running out of the tailpipe, I do not know if this is water of unburt petrol. This makes me wonder how much is trapped in the exaust system and how much is going into the oilpan. With the DIS and high preasuers in the cylender I would not be surprised there would be Blow By of unburnt fuel, oil contamination and the need for shorter oil changes than what is recommended.
Hi Buddy thank you for your time in regard this issue. I have a 2013 Honda crv and never had any issues with the car. Want to update to a newer model but to be honest heard all this issue I prefer not to buy Honda
I imagine it being a turbo charged vehicle it would prefer the high octane fuel anyway. Not sure what Honda Recommends, but its not going to hurt the turbo lol
Honda recommends premium for my '19 hatchback civic with the sport trim. The LX and EX don't but Sport Touring does. The Sport/Touring is rated at 6 more HP with identical torque, compression, transmission, and redline. The knock control is adjusting the timing based on octane rating. Higher octane definitely helps.
Well did not buy this honda to brun 91 octane or change the oil every 3000. miles.The truth is honda experiment on the public. I can say this is my first honda.What about your vehicle will not reach 60 or 70 thousand mile without failure.
If you are interested in results of Mobil 1 with 91 octane you can see historical oil sample results around 2018 which was showing fuel percentage of 1%. See video - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-9sLhMDkolxw.html A time period passed where we were exclusively using premium and I was exclusively using Mobil 1 during 2018.
Our 2015 Toyota Yaris 1.3 L has an oil analysis done every 10,000 km. We have over 180,000 km of data to date. When fuel dilution increased to 5% we eventually tracked down the problem to E10 (10% ethanol). When E10 was used the fuel dilution increased. When E10 was stopped fuel dilution decreased. Using E10 created waxy deposits that deposited through the engine including on the dipstick. The main reason for the fuel dilution is that the deposits have made the rings stick. The sticky rings don't seal properly and the fuel ends up in the crankcase. The reason the problem took a long time to pick up was that the fuel dilution problem took a while to manifest. After stopping the E10 it then took a while for the fuel dilution to decrease. An engine clean with "Ring Free" helped clean out the engine. We had a similar problem with a 2006 Toyota Yaris 1.3 L which started using oil after prolonged E10 use. Stopping the E10 use didn't reverse the problem. It took a flush with "Ring Free" before the oil use returned to normal. The literature on ethanol shows that some oxidises when burned. This oxidised ethanol then polymerises and deposits around the engine. The low ring tension on new vehicles (to improve fuel efficiency) just makes the problem worse. Older vehicles with higher ring tension are less prone to the problem. High compression engines including turbo's are also more prone to the problem of fuel dilution as the high pressure forces fuel past the rings and into the crankcase. The main problem fuel dilution causes is increased wear due to lubrication failure. N.B. In Australia, most fuel is 91 and premium fuels are 95 and 98 octane. 87 Octane isn't available in Australia. The octane rating is unlikely to make much difference to fuel dilution. However, most premium (high octane) fuels come with more detergents and this will reduce the number of deposits. Synthetic oils will also help keep your engine clean better than mineral oils or semi-synthetic (a mix of mineral/synthetic). 🙂
Just wondering have u done the product update for the oil dilution? I had mine done and my car sounds different its louder on reverse and on park sometimes but when u put it on reverse you will notice a higher noise volumes almost sounds like the engine is struggling
So let me start by telling you that I was drag racing with my brother about ten years ago and learned alot about octane in fuel and lack there of! We had a very high performance engine that was being ran on Sunoco 110 octane fuel. This is what I know about engines and fuel that is required for them.If you own a vehicle that is sports, Sport touring, Or race oriented models you should never! Ever! Put regular gasoline in that vehicle! One of the ways that horsepower is made is by high compression pistons! These pistons have a dome on the top that squeezes the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder into a tighter space and in order for it to properly perform as designed to do you have to use higher octane fuel and here is why! First of all, The regular gasoline of today is crap! And heat causes it to light the fuel before it is supposed to! Causing your engine to fight itself by throwing the timing way off! And the hotter the ambient temperature is outside the worse it does it! Underhood temperatures in the summer are very high! And they call regular gasoline quick burn fuel for a good reason! It doesn't need the sparkplug to light the air/fuel mixture on fire! It does it under compression and high heat!The fuel is supposed to be lit on fire just as the piston reaches the top of its compression stroke and is now going to change direction and start moving back down!It's timed to fire the sparkplug just as the piston is within a few degrees of reaching the top of its one complete 360degree rotation of two of these 360degree rotations of the crankshaft that make up your four cycles of a 4cycle engine. The idea is to have the mixture light on fire Causing a controlled explosion that pushes the piston down with a great deal of energy called your power stroke! If the air/fuel mixture is set on fire while the piston is still traveling upwards it completely changes the design of a gasoline burning engine! It's like clobber gas the top of the piston with a mallet or large hammer! The piston runs head on into an explosion that when concealed inside the cylinder and lit on fire causes it to blow up enstead of just catching on fire. This is a very violent explosion that when lit at the correct time pushes the piston down and creating enough force to turn the crankshaft that is connected to a transmission to cause the power the is what propels your car forward! But when regular gasoline is used in a high compression engine it is squeezed so tight faster then a lower compression that the piston is still traveling on it's upwards stroke not making power but impeding the piston and fighting to push it down but it can't! Because it is supposed to be still squeezing the mixture clear up till it's time to change direction and go down not up! Now throw in the turbo charger force feeding the mixture into the problem and your beating the tar out of your engine! But you got P-diddy cranking on the killer stereo system and can't hear the nasty rattling sound going on under your hood! But what the hell! You just saved enough money on a fill up of regular gasoline that you can purchase a pack of cigarettes that you keep lying about and telling your wife some story about why you smell like an ashtray! And no harm right? The car still starts and drives so why the hell spend the extra 40 cents a gallon on the good stuff? (And don't think you're doing anything better by purchasing the mid grade gasoline! All your doing is diluting your premium gas with shit gas! Ruining the premium ⛽ You didn't just raise your octane! You diluted what would have made your vehicle run way better! Just try this and you will figure out how long you have been shooting yourself in the gas pedal foot! Get that regular gasoline garbage out of your vehicle, And don't just pour good premium gas over top of the regular left in the tank! Pay attention to your gas mileage and how much easier it is to go up hills, Or to punch it and how much faster you'll get to 60MPH from a dead stop! Your going to figure out that your not doing yourself any favors penny pinching at the pump! And I own a 2017 honda sport touring civic with a 1.5L turbo engine in it so I know exactly what this engine likes and dislikes! You should think twice before ever considering putting regular gasoline in the vehicle you are talking about in this video! Come on dude! You look smarter then that man!
There’s no science behind your theory. A fuel’s octane rating doesn’t change how much makes it past the rings. What does make a big difference is the ambient outdoor temps and the length and type of trips. There are people with 150,000+ miles on the early 1.5Ts with zero issues even in cold climates. Many also recommend using the proper 0w-20 which has less viscosity modifiers. Many of the oil forums have reported fewer dilution issues with 0w-20 even if that’s not intuitive to those who don’t understand oil chemistry. So this is just anecdotal nonsense. You also talk about saving a few bucks on cheaper oil but spend a fortune on unneeded premium fuel. It makes no sense. Honda addressed this issue for the 2018 and earlier models. Save your money on premium fuel and change your oil more often.
If Honda had addressed the issue my 2017 1.5T would work as it should as it was first in line for the "fix". The "science", thrown around so very much these days as a 'don't look over here', shows the 0w-20 makes no difference in the oil dilution only that it runs out of viscosity spec (cST) faster than a thicker oil. Fuel making past the rings is fuel making it past the rings. The take away here is premium fuel is observed by the computer by its resistance to knock. Having less resistant to knock fuel clearly changes fuel mapping...Regular fuel mapping promotes oil dilution - premium fuel mapping greatly reduces oil dilution....with my 2017 1.5T engine.
I run 0W-20 and my last oil analysis showed 9.2% oil dilution with petrol. Don't think the oil makes all that much difference if you have got an engine prone to this disgraceful issue from Honda producing a flawed engine.
Change oil every 5k miles or 6 months and use 87 octane or above. You won't have to worry about oil dilution problems unless you're one of the morons that do 10K mile oil changes.
Is there the possibility of fuel pump have faulty seals? . So when the fuel pump is being driven via gear from the engine block there is a minor fuel leaking into the engine block. The lighter components of gasoline evaporated back to intake when engine is hot. The C8 and xlenes components in gasoline having boiling point greater than 140 deg C then accumulate in the engine oil. Regards.
If it were that simple, Honda would've found it. It's too much gasoline, under turbo compression, blowing by the rings. It's universally reported to be worse in cold climates/winter season and that's because that's when the engine has to run richest gas mixtures. I'd do what the video producer did- try high octane and never over-extend oil change intervals. Multiple ppl are indicating that the higher octane helps. If you don't live in a cold weather place, then you may never have the issue at all
I run 89 on my 2020 Civic Touring here in the U.S because my mom put that in mostly. Why? No idea. But…beings I’m kinda concerned about what would be best for this type of engine should I do 87? Keep 89? Or go to premium? (It’s 93 Octane where I am)
Right from the CIVIC owners manual... Fuel Information Models without SPORT mode Use of unleaded gasoline of 87 octane or higher is recommended. Models with SPORT mode Use of unleaded gasoline of 91 octane or higher is recommended. owners.honda.com/utility/download?path=/static/pdfs/2020/Civic%20Sedan/2020_Civic_4D_Multi-View_Rear_Camera.pdf The CR-V fuel recommendation is 87 octane or higher. However, as described in my video, heavy oil dilution is experienced with 87 octane vs. light oil dilution utilizing 91 octane in the CR-V 1.5T. I am not able to confirm if this is repeatable with every CR-V or any other 1.5T, only what I have experienced.
@@factotumlife I have confirmed your work using Shell Nitro 91 (top tier) but I use it also with SAE 0w-16 engine oil (ILSAC GF-6B approved). So far I noticed no increase. Sorry I don't have time to prove it with a video as well, don't have the time really. I have a 2018 CRV and I'm very much happy with the overall performance despite this minor setback. Perhaps Honda declared using 87 octane to achieve the best fuel consumption among its competitors. Well during this winter time I would say using S mode on short trips (which also makes the engine hotter faster as well) will do the trick with 91 octane and 0w-16. Come spring and summer, i might shift to 87, 89 and 91 alternatively
Honda Europe requires premium fuel with alternatives only to be used briefly for emergencies. This in the non turbo 1.5. It’s a high quality engine so why not? I’ve used premium fuel in a turbo Suzuki for five years and the car is like new. Using good fuel and oil is like eating good food, it pays in the long run, and anyway, why buy a quality product and then not care for it?
I take 94 octan 0w20 oil and i ave no problem whit my 1.5 turbo whit full syntetic the change oil every 10000 km honda whit the 1.5 turbo say to use premium gaz only .
Hello, Do you still drive the CR-V 1.5? I recently bought a 2019 Honda CR-V 1.5 173ps, manual transmission. I'm interested to know how many miles you have on it and if there have been any issues? Thank you very much.
@@dragoaugustinovic9596i have 2017 154k miles possible having this issue. Thinking of switching to 5w30 and 93 octane to see if it will stop. I smelled gasoline in the dipstick
You deserve a PhD degree. Honda should hire detail oriented people like you to prevent future design failures such as “oil dilution”. BTW, I think you should listen to your wife and just get ride of it. Honda should pay for lab analysis and not you.
@@ChiliPumpTheFunk honda made the engine so yes Honda's fault I have a Honda Accord 1.5 turbo with 3000 miles and it's doing the same thing I'm changing the car on Friday @#$% honda