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What are you doing about your CRV oil-gas dilution problem?

69K views 279 replies 71 participants last post by  tony22 
#1 ·
I tried to go back to add another post to a prior thread with the same title but it was locked so I'm repeating the title here. I do suddenly have a genuinely new idea that I would like you to comment on. So this is a continuation of the other thread in good intention.

It seems winter is coming and as you know, Honda blames cold engine for the oil dilution issue. So I'm thinking about putting some thing in front of the radiator, like a piece of cardboard, to block off some of it to help warm up the engine faster. This way, I hope it would reduce the fuel in the oil problem.

What I've noticed is that the small 1.5L engine in the CRV with the humongous engine bay, while good for the DYI like me to fix things later, is bad for holding heat. In the recent days in WI where temperature is in the 40s, I observed that the car's temp gauge dropped significantly after merely parked for 10-15 minutes.
 
#144 ·
I just had my recall done. I have 2 issues. First they charged me for the oil filter. They changed the oil (it was contaminated enough to be at the top of the plastic on the dip stick but apparently they don't feel they should change the filter as part of the recall. BS... Also I cant seem to find any information on just what the heck the extended warranty covers. The service clerk read me something that was less than vague. It is mentioned on the recall notice but just barely. As far as results are concerned I hope I am not being overly optimistic when I say it did seem to warm more quickly and hold its eng. temp better but it was only -9C today. Not that cold. There was no rise on the oil stick after a 100 mile trip home. So I remain hopeful.
 
#146 ·
Thank you for posting this, CRV-Owner! The document you posted includes the following notice:

"...Please note the following conditions after the prescribed updates are completed:
1. when operating the heater you may feel increased temperatures at the vents during the engine warm-up
period;
2. you may periodically notice that the engine is operating with the oil level above the “upper” mark when
checking the oil by the dipstick. This is a normal condition for this class of engine and will have no adverse
effects on engine performance or long-term engine durability...
."

I wonder if the owners who have had the fix done, and contend that it did not work, have read this comment from Honda Canada... before they trade it in at a big financial loss?

Many have stated here that Direct Injection engines are subject to oil dilution, and that the turbo adds to this condition.

Not all of us have agreed with this. Honda has validated the comments of the first group.

While I have no reason to believe Honda based on my (so-so) personal experience with them, I believe they are working in the right direction, and will mitigate the issue to acceptable levels in the effected vehicles. I also believe that it might take another round of fixes, as has been rumored here.

For a number of reasons, (many that are not related to CR-Vs) I am glad I don't live in a cold climate! :nod: But that doesn't give Honda a pass card in my mind. I am disappointed in the time it has taken for them to address the issue publicly, and even more disappointed in how Honda USA has addressed it. This doesn't mean I totally give up on Honda. They designed and built one of the best SUV/Crossovers available at the time we all bought them.
 
#147 ·
My is 5 Door EX (AWD/E.LIBERTY). Not have oil Dilution, yesterday had checked oil dipstic and the level of oil was between LOW and HIGH.
Not have issue with heating, temp is right now 24F.

I'm following such way after morning start:
1) start vehicle
2) set 70F temp, AC is off
3) set fan on a minimum speed
4) set "cabin circulation air" button
... after 7 minutes driving on D I feel that heated air is getting, then set fan speed to 3-4 speed , in 10-15 mins hot in the car and need to turn off the "cabin circulation air" button.

Lets follow it every time in cold weather and you will never have issues with heating and oil Dilution .
 
#150 ·
I just want to share the way I use in all my current and prior cars in Winter.

As example my another current car Audi A3 2.0 diesel heating also not quickly, however above actions can make it faster.

"7 Minutes is a Long time to start feeling heat" - I had never seen a car which can heat faster than 7 minutes when temp is less that 25F.
 
#155 ·
Please take these data with a grain of salt as there may be many factors affecting the results (even if the data is accurate which may not be).
From http://carsalesbase.com/china-car-sales-data/honda/honda-cr-v/
I added the first 9 months of 2018 and 17 and got the following:
2017 China CR-V Sales - Jan-Oct: 119,108
2018 China CR-V Sales - Jan-Oct: 83,594 A 30% decline from 2017 YTD.

According to Reuters (a far more reputable source) Honda sales OVERALL (not just CR-Vs) were down in China after the recall (not surprising).
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...s-drop-for-fifth-straight-month-idUSKBN1JT0IH

Honda USA has not said much officially. They responded to trade publications and published a video (not much there IMO). They are aware of the sales hit in China, no doubt, and are trying to avoid it here. Again not surprising but from a customer perspective the lack of official information is not helpful.
 
#157 ·
If you change you own oil - you would see there is more than enough room to put a wider (not deeper) oil pan - there is enough room for 3 times as much oil pan in the engine compartment without blocking anything. There is at least 4 inches between the radiator and the engine oil pan that would not cause any loss of cooling to the radiator and 9 inches from the oil pan to the firewall that would leave 3 inches of clearance on both sides and I could fit 15 quarts of oil without going any farther right or left of the oil pan.

The only negative to this is it would take 15% longer for the engine to warm up as you have more oil to heat up.

10% fuel dilution in 3.5 quarts of oil is 5% in 7 quarts and 2.5% in 9 quarts - the bad news is $60 oil changes instead of $40. But your engine will still be running at 250,000 miles ( maybe not your turbo ).
 
#165 ·
It appears it can affect all 5th Gen CR-Vs, under the right circumstances. The fix is being applied to all 2019s before sale, and to 2017-2018 models that report the issue, although at first only in cold weather states.
 
#167 ·
larryr said:
... the bad news is $60 oil changes instead of $40..
With 5 qt capacity and dual remote filter setup (adds 1.5qt), we run several late model year CRV's on 0w30,5w30,10w30 oils purchased on clearance at Autozone (cleared out multiple stores).

Total cost of 5qt synthetic oil = $10 and Mahle OC707 $4 = $14.00

Same goes for our Ridgelines, Civics, Accords.
 
#169 ·
I have an appointment this Saturday to get 'the fix'. My VIN number brought up the recall for my 2017 CRV LX AWD. I have 25,000kms on it. I've never seen the oil within the normal range since owning it. Somtimes do smeell the gas-type smell, especially if I really step on the pedal to increase speed. I've noticed at times the CRV does idle a bit rough. I am located near Vancouver, so not super cold, but can hover around 0 degrees Celsius in Winter time. Heating of the vehicle - engine-wise & heat through the vents doesn't seem to be super quick - not sure how to compare. Not sure if the speed of the vehicle seems slower. With 25,000kms and probably all the time of having the engine oil near the end of the orange marking on the dip stick, not sure what the outcome will be Other than that, pretty damn happy with the vehicle.

When I bought the vehicle, I did get the extended warranty - 7years, 130,000kms.
 
#171 ·
Hello jtuber. Honda knew about the oil problem in 2016. I have an engineering background. This is a problem that will not go away for honda. Everything will be a patch; and nothing will truly work.
I have zero faith in this engine. It sure looked good on paper. My solution......i dumped the turbo honda and bought a new rav4. Peace of mind, problem solved.
 
#172 ·
That's surely one way to deal with this oil-gas problem. What year of RAV4 did you get? I can't make a decision to get a RAV4 because the 2018 sucks (mpg and ride quality) and the 2019 is first year model (bugs?). I heard the CX5 also has a GDI engine. Otherwise maybe I have to go back to a sedan like the Camry but this is my wife's daily driver and she indicated that she wanted an Audi if we swap. Coming from owning a BMW, I don't trust German cars.
 
#173 ·
To answer the question posed in the thread title. NOTHING! I have been stressing about it, and checking my oil way too often, without seeing any change in levels, and I have heat when it is cold outside. This week (Dec 8) will mark my 1 year of ownership of the '18 CR-V Touring FWD, and I have traveled over 14,000 miles in it. My overall fuel economy average is 33.37 MPG (calculated). At this point, I am confident that oil dilution isn't a problem on my CR-V.

Actually, I will be doing something else, I plan to significantly reduce my frequency of reading/posting here, as not much has changed. Every few days someone else posts "I'm done, I bought a RAV4, or I am going to buy a RAV4". That's their choice, of course. The forum has been very negative for too long now, and it is no longer enjoyable to me. It's truly a shame, as I really enjoy discussing cars. There are a lot of negative things in the world, some we can't avoid, yet some we can choose not to be part of. One might counter: "then don't read the dilution threads" Hmmm....How many of them are there? And how often is there yet another new one?

I am very happy with my CR-V purchase, one of the best vehicle purchases I have ever made. Great mpg, peppy, roomy, comfortable, amazing safety features and hi-tech options, worthy of a vehicle at least a class above. As I have posted before, I am not a Honda fan. I have had two previous Hondas that have been less than satisfactory, but I guess the third time is the charm, at least for me.

I hope you all get the peace of mind you desire. We all know Honda will not let their top selling vehicle get a bad rep.
 
#179 ·
I recently took my 2017 CRV EX-L in for it'a first oil change. I took it to an AAA Auto Care shop and just asked for an oil change. When it was done I asked if there was anything unusual about it, and was told "Nope, just an oil change." I have 3772 miles on it; mostly short trips but some highway driving. I live in Buffalo, NY so we get our share of cold weather. Heat comes up normally and no smell in the cabin. With several hundred thousand of these on the road it seems like a lot of angst over what might happen, but I'm not going to worry about anything until I see a lot of posts about breakdowns that are really occurring, not what might happen.
 
#180 ·
i didn't see an issue till after my first service.. the reason some don't experience an issue is more geographically and usage based. search youtube knocking 2017 crv. it's the tip of the iceberg my comrade.

my plan is to make a decision mid summer. keep it or send it. once the word gets out even if a repair has been established we won't be able to give these things away.
 
#182 · (Edited)
That's about the way ours looks. The color of the oil reminds me of the old '85 Dodge conversion van we had way back when. It had a Rochester quadra-slurp carburetor. It turned fresh oil black in 500 miles. Ran like a top at 137K miles when we traded it in.
 
#184 ·
I've never positively diagnosed whether my car is affected. Checked the dipstick once and it looked high. Warming up the car seems normal so far. Really have no idea what to look for other than smells.

Probably won't do anything meaningful until my first oil change, which hopefully aligns with the January fix rollout.
 
#191 ·
As mentioned before oil seems to rise from the full mark to the top of the dipstick in about 2K miles of varied driving conditions in southern california. As for the gas? smell getting into the cabin some have noted, the last dealer oil change must have spilled oil on the engine as I was gagging on the fumes coming in after a few miles from the dealer. Opened the hood at home and saw the fumes rising off from somewhere back of the engine. Got back in and drove it about twenty miles to cook it off. Sloppy oil change by the tech at the dealer, but did not see excess around fill hole. Can changing the filter leave some spilled oil behind?
 
#194 ·
One thing I have done once and will be trying to do every time is to remove the oil filter cap and the dipstick after every drive in hope that the gas in the oil will evaporate off. My reason is that gasoline evaporate quickly while oil I think does also evaporate but much slower. I don't know if it's going to help but logically it makes sense.

The other thing I'm going to do is to put some cardboard to block off some of the air coming into the engine and also use fiberglass insulation to insulate the hood and all the possible cavity in the engine compartment. This should help speeding up the heating of the engine and also help retaining the heat for the 1.5L.
 
#195 ·
About a year ago, I put an extra layer of foam insulation under the hood and foam pipe insulation on the exposed heater pipes. I know, desperate times requited desperate measures while still waiting for fix. It does seem to help on slowing down the heat loss while parking, but nothing while driving- to be expected. It also help to not park into the wind.

When really cold for an extended time, I do put Gorilla black duck tape on the lower radiator grill. That does seem to help, but I have to monitor via OBD2 to make sure I don't overheat during warmer weather.

Of course, it I could get a fix from Honda, this hopefully all would not be necessary. Meanwhile----- still hoping for a fix. Sound like a addict more then what should be happy car owner. Sigh........
 
#196 ·
I bought my new 2017 CR-V in March of 2017. I currently have approximately 25,000 miles on it. To be honest I have not noticed any of the problems mentioned here. If not for this forum I would not even be aware there is a problem.

I am retired and not in the best health and I bought this to be my “forever” car. After research and trying out Toyota and Suburu, I settled on this based on articles and personal preference.

Now I am concerned! I live in Northern Michigan so it seems my car is at risk. How do I determine if I have a problem? Should I be in contact with my dealer and demand regular inspection? If nothing appears wrong now, am I living with a ticking time bomb? I do love the vehicle but I wonder if I should consider trade in for Rav-4.

This is my first post here. Thank you for any insights, expertise and wisdom you can share with me.
 
#198 ·
I know it's hard to be patient, especially if you like to tackle stuff head on like me but.... we really need to do our best to be patient. I didn't realize i had a problem till after last winter, the first winter for the car.

I'd say give it a full winter. Figure out your concern in the context of severity. meaning I don't consider slow/lack of heat or even less than desirable mpg's to be a deal breaker per se. but the rising level on the dipstick is something that i won't tolerate.

I'd say you would determine if you have a problem by checking the oil for rising level bi-monthly. If you can't go the recommended intervals without the level rising, imho, you have a problem.

from research and oil manufactures info i have established a rudimentary check. this is for me, i'm not suggesting it's without flaws etc.

oil analysis company recommends less than 5% fuel dilution in oil while oil manufactures say at 10% you start to increase wear.

so lets say the crv has 120ish oz of oil capacity. 5% dilution would be roughly 6oz (unremarkable on the dipstick) of gas and 10% would be 10oz. I have a oil level 1.5 times the distance between low and full on my dipstick. knowing between low and full is 1 qt, i'm guessing i have about 1.5 qt's of gas in my oil resulting in an approx, ish, hillbilly calculated 40%. that to me is a serious problem.

people can feel free to destroy my theory, i just came up with it so i'm not too attached. :sweat:
 
#197 ·
I have a 2017 (20K miles) that i brought in for yearly inspection/Emission check and a few other items and they stated there was a recall that they would perform to replace the A/C control unit. I asked if this was related to the dilution issue and they said "no" and that they were not notified of a fix yet. The recall work was listed as:
57HOZ-18-114 CRV update with AC: Perform product update 18-114 reset maintenance minder, update the PGM-FI and TCU softwar, replace oil, A/C control unit and perform the throttle position reset and PCM Idle learn procedure.
Prior to this, i never saw my oil level rise, have any issue with heat, or driveabilty; but it did have a slight smell of gasoline in with the oil when i checked.
 

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#201 ·
I have a 2017 (20K miles) that i brought in for yearly inspection/Emission check and a few other items and they stated there was a recall that they would perform to replace the A/C control unit. I asked if this was related to the dilution issue and they said "no" and that they were not notified of a fix yet.
You'll pardon my being crude, but bullish!t. The service manager at my Honda acknowledged this was for the reported oil dilution issue.
 
#202 ·
I’m confused.....the a/c control unit affects oil dilution?
 
#204 ·
@tony22.. agree, "bull" is what i thought when the service advisory told me "no" it wasn't related. I wasn't in the mood to battle out what I knew on the topic because ultimately what was it going to prove. I did receive a followup call to check to see how my service was and if i had any questions. I may just call back and ask again about it just to see what I'm told.
 
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