[Binmonkey]

For those of you who do not have the oil dilution issue, what brand and grade of engine oil do you use? I know it's a long shot but I'm just wondering if one brand of oil may be better at sealing the piston rings than another. Everything else in our vehicles should be the same other than perhaps oil brand and or grade.
I'm donning my flame suit. Fire away!??

 

[crv383]

I use whatever brand is on sale (or is cheapest), is 0W20 and says API SN Plus in the circle.:nod:

 

[jbeachy]

I haven't done an oil change (2600 miles) and have no dilution or heating issues. Northern Virginia USA, manufacture date September 2018.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[JB in AZ]

I've had 2 oil changes at the selling dealer, and no oil dilution. The repair order says 00w20 Honda. First oil change ~7,300 miles second ~14,500 miles. 15% MM both times.

 

[Det97]

After switchng to Mobile1 0w20 the gas seamed to go into the gas slower. I would imagine the API SN+ rating probably was the magic bullet.

 

[gwmorris1959]

I do agree that SN+ is the answer but...Honda is not "tuning" their engines to take advantage. I really don't understand why. SN+ was specially developed to address LSPI (Low Speed Pre-Ignition) and if Honda was mandating it's use, they could tune the Engine to use less fuel (No need to use/spray gasoline into the combustion chamber to "Cool" it, thus preventing LSPI.

 

[gwmorris1959]

FYI...we have 2017 EX-L and 2018 Touring...both suffer from oil dilution...We live next to New Orleans so Cold Temperatures are not an issue. I had the oil changed (Early) about 2 months ago with Pennzoil SN+ oil (no, it won't make a difference) and had it filled to exactly between the high and low marks on dipstick. Went in to Dealer today to show them that after ~1000 miles of mostly Interstate driving, the oil level is about 3mm above the "Full" mark. MM is currently at 85%. I'm sure if I wait until 15%, it will be quite a bit higher. If so, Service Manager is going to talk to Rep and have the current "Fix/bandaid" applied.l. The True Fix is using SN+ oil then reprogramming the engine to not spray/waste gasoline for cooling purposes.

 

[crv383]

Is the CRV really wasting gas?......it has a slightly better mpg rating than other competing small suvs, like the Forester, RAV4 and CX5. Seems like if "the fix" leaned it out, stopped wasting gas, it would be getting much better mpg than those other 3. I don't recall those folks getting "the fix" so far, saying there mpg has increased substantially, if at all.

Are there cold/hard facts that Honda is not "tuning" their engines to take advantage?.....(of what?)

 

[Binmonkey]

I do agree that SN+ is the answer but...Honda is not "tuning" their engines to take advantage. I really don't understand why. SN+ was specially developed to address LSPI (Low Speed Pre-Ignition) and if Honda was mandating it's use, they could tune the Engine to use less fuel (No need to use/spray gasoline into the combustion chamber to "Cool" it, thus preventing LSPI.

I agree 100%! I wouldn't even mind if they had to tune it to use 91 octane or higher either, as long as the oil dilution problem got taken care of. Honda is squeezing 126.7hp per litre of engine displacement on regular fuel. Lexus requires premium fuel in their NX300 which is putting out 117.5hp per litre of engine displacement. Does Honda know how to tune an engine that much better than Toyota does? Apparently not!

 

[crv383]

Honda's more HP/L sounds like they do know how to tune an engine better, no? More HP/L is "apparently not" better tuning? Really? The new Dodge Demon makes 131.3 HP/L......Honda (and Toyota) have some catching up to do, regarding tuning. How did we get to HP/L in an oil thread. Almost looks like the OP hi-jacked his own OP.:confused2:

 

[Binmonkey]

Honda's more HP/L sounds like they do know how to tune an engine better, no? More HP/L is "apparently not" better tuning? Really? The new Dodge Demon makes 131.3 HP/L......Honda (and Toyota) have some catching up to do, regarding tuning. How did we get to HP/L in an oil thread. Almost looks like the OP hi-jacked his own OP.:confused2:

What I'm saying is that the unintended consequence of trying to squeeze that much horsepower out of an engine without using premium fuel means that the computer has to inject extra fuel to cool the mixture to avoid detonation. And we have oil dilution from extra fuel. The Dodge Demon also requires nothing less than 91 octane.

 

[Rusty34]

We've beat this horse a lot on this forum and addressed it in many threads which all had to be locked because they all end up the same... lots of complaining owners who demand a fix for cold cabin heaters and oil dilution when the root cause has been spelled out numerous times but either folks don't believe that or they don't want to hear it. It is true SN+ was developed by oil company engineers to directly address this issue but by itself SN+ is not the complete answer. It will help when used in combination with other measures now being studied but those measures have not been finalized yet. Honda knows perfectly well how to tune an engine and for now our engines are tuned to promote countermeasures against LSPI to help suppress it. Most owners aren't interested in hearing about LSPI because they believe they don't have it, all they know is the heaters don't work right and the oil level is overfilling on it's own somehow and they don't like it. Conditions for potential engine destroying LSPI lurk inside every 1.5T and everybody has it but it's being suppressed for now by countermeasures until engineers can work out practical solutions. This so-called fix is a placebo, it will not address the problem but it might succeed for a while in giving you the appearance something is being done which buys Honda more time to develop the real solution. For now the best you can do is check your oil level more often and get the oil changed when you see it climbing up the dipstick. Honda will change it for free and you should be taking advantage of that to help ensure your engine's longevity. We don't have concrete proof to offer but many of us with some background in the automotive industry believe using premium fuel only, avoid short trip driving and drive in the Sport mode as much as possible work together to additionally help suppress the onset of LSPI. I'm doing these things with our CR-V and I believe it does help. We do have the oil dilution issue but we're going about 3000 miles before the oil level gets to the point I want it changed again. Of course and as they say, your mileage may vary.

 

[Coldhonda]

Yeh but.. I don’t bother driving in sport mode, I don’t put anything higher than 87 in, I take long and short trips whatever is needed, and my oil isn’t climbing.
Just saying.

 

[Coldhonda]

I do agree that SN+ is the answer but...Honda is not "tuning" their engines to take advantage. I really don't understand why. SN+ was specially developed to address LSPI (Low Speed Pre-Ignition) and if Honda was mandating it's use, they could tune the Engine to use less fuel (No need to use/spray gasoline into the combustion chamber to "Cool" it, thus preventing LSPI.

I agree 100%! I wouldn't even mind if they had to tune it to use 91 octane or higher either, as long as the oil dilution problem got taken care of. Honda is squeezing 126.7hp per litre of engine displacement on regular fuel. Lexus requires premium fuel in their NX300 which is putting out 117.5hp per litre of engine displacement. Does Honda know how to tune an engine that much better than Toyota does? Apparently not!

One of my 4 cylinder bikes is 1 liter 140 hp.
87 octane requirement only.
Goes to show you can’t interpret an octane requirement from hp/displacement.

 

[Rusty34]

Yeh but.. I don’t bother driving in sport mode, I don’t put anything higher than 87 in, I take long and short trips whatever is needed, and my oil isn’t climbing.
Just saying.

I don't blame you, if your's is running the way it's supposed why would you be concerned about any of that? Your case proves exactly why Honda is so puzzled and perplexed and has no better solution than stalling affected owners for now on this one. Try convincing folks who are experiencing this problem that there is no problem. I suspect there are many variables involved in this and for whatever reason your location, driving habits, local climate conditions and perhaps other reasons unique to your case may be working together in a way to prevent it for you.

 

[crv383]

I think Honda should buy back/trade for both Coldhonda’s (or ours) and Rusty34’s CRV for serious testing to try to determine why one does and one doesn’t. I know, not gonna happen. Maybe Coldhonda’s and ours makes less than 1.21 jigawatts/L on 87 octane.unno: