Brand new 2020 Si Oil already smelling like gas already after 500 miles.... I thought they fixed this?

[FC1_BUILTBOOST]

So I have 2018 civic sport MT. I'm driving like 15-16 miles to work. Before I go to work I start the car and wait 3-4 minutes before I start driving. Should I stop doing that? Only 1 minute enough? I mean I really wanna drive this car for a long time. Even winter season 1 minute will be enough?

Many do just 30 seconds I do too that should help keep that oil delusion at its minimum and doing more driving

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[RehabJP]

As a tech for all my life I will try to clarify a few things. One auto manufacturers don’t use break in oils anymore. Break in oil contains high zinc concentrations which cost the inside of the engjne and with today’s materials you don’t need that. They lowered zinc due to emissions. If you warranty a motor it doesnt come with special oil. Bearings and camshafts use special coatings that no longer need high zinc fir a barrier. They do recommend you take it easy for the first 500 to 1000 miles.

The only thing that will fix this issue is a software reflash. The gas smell is from cylinder wash down from way too much fuel being used. It reduces the oil coat the cylinder walls and makes it easier for gas itself to get by piston rings. All cars due this to some degree. Oil turns black from carbon. If a cold sfart rich condition caused this it would smell even with the catalytic converter. Not to mention it’s not as much fuel at idle. What the most likely culprit is the catalytic protection fuel table. This kicks in dumping more fuel when the gasses are considered too high of a temperature and can damage the catalytic converter. This happens under load condition which higher rpm and pressure push more fuel passed the piston rings. Faulty egt calculations could cause this.
If this isn’t the case then something is causing it to continue to run rich possibly from getting stuck in a catalytic heating cycle which Depending on manufacturer adds more fuel, changes cam timing and retards ignition to allow more flame front to heat the converter. It’s often noticeable on turbo cars with an exhaust will have a louder cold start fir approximately 30 seconds and up to a couple minutes. Some manufacturers do it differently.
it could be running rich all the time. No matter the reason it’s definitely software related. You wouldn’t have this many critical part failures. Supposedly some people have said with 2019 they had software flash that fixed this.
Do not think that it’s ok to leave your oil full of gas. Gas breaks down the film tension of the oil wearing bearings out. Many people back in the day stuffing to big a carburetor or too big of jets ruined engines this way. if you run higher ethanol content you require more fuel and this can degrade oil faster but not at the rate people are saying.
This is way too fast.
There are a few other possible causes but all lead back to software.
I would not hesitate and keep running it on gas soaked oil. You will either create premature wear or damage the engine. If you still think break in oil is used what good is it soaked in gas which is a solvent??

Yep I am a tech myself and this is why I had concern about the gas in the oil. I am taking it into the dealership tomorrow to see what they say and I did buy the extended protection offered by AutoNation where I bought the car. Bumper to bumper including all powertrain components for 100K or 7 years. It is a design flaw for sure in the L15B7 engines and I know in 18' they did a software fix when people were literally getting there crank case flooded with gas to the point it was showing almost .5 to 1 qt over full and that turns that 0w-20 motor oil they recommend into basically water. Seems the engine is too efficient and is not getting hot enough even under heavy load plus its GDI and with the Turbo its douching the gas hard under heavy boost so I am sure a lot of gas is getting by the piston rings. Maybe Honda could beef up the PCV a little to get some of the unburned gasoline back into combustion quicker and tune the engine to run a little hotter which I think they kind of did already but seems like not quit enough.

I like the car its fun to drive but I should not have to track it or go on a road trip to make sure the oil is not diluted with gasoline Honda needs to figure something out and roll out a fix

 

[RehabJP]

If you have the ability to with your scanner, check fuel trim. With our HDS (honda scan tool) I would be checking fuel trim. "Normal" would be 1.00, tolerances would be 0.95 (rich) to 1.05 (lean). We had only seen one Si that was very high mileage with a high pressure fuel pump failure leaking into the engine oil, in that rare instance it was running pig rich at like 0.80.

I would monitor it, but you are still on the break-in oil from the factory.

Fuel trim is fine. I am not a Honda tech just a general mechanic but the misfires did somewhat concern me. I am gonna let the Honda tecs at the dealership hook it up to the HDS which I do not have access to and see if they are seeing the misfires I am seeing. Could be a software issue with the Autel since it basically emulates dealer scanners sometimes it reads false positives on stuff like that.

 

[CastorX]

Fuel trim is fine. I am not a Honda tech just a general mechanic but the misfires did somewhat concern me. I am gonna let the Honda tecs at the dealership hook it up to the HDS which I do not have access to and see if they are seeing the misfires I am seeing. Could be a software issue with the Autel since it basically emulates dealer scanners sometimes it reads false positives on stuff like that.

Did you see misfire only when idling? Does it do the same when the car is parked but the RPM is above 1500 or so?

 

[REBELXSi]

My oil smells like fuel to me but my oil analysis results say 0.5-0.8% which is below the threshold of 2%. Get an oil analysis done if you're freaked out. Monitor for rising oil levels.

 

[RehabJP]

My oil smells like fuel to me but my oil analysis results say 0.5-0.8% which is below the threshold of 2%. Get an oil analysis done if you're freaked out. Monitor for rising oil levels.

I send all my oil into Blackstone Lobs so yea we shall see. No point in sending in the first couple of changes since the levels of copper and other metals will be artificially high due to the wearing in but after the third change I will see how much gas is in the oil.

I am not freaked out mainly because I know if the engine blows and it is due to oil dilution Honda is gonna pay for it I am more curious and maybe a little concerned but not enough to regret getting the car...yet anyway.

 

[REBELXSi]

I send all my oil into Blackstone Lobs so yea we shall see. No point in sending in the first couple of changes since the levels of copper and other metals will be artificially high due to the wearing in but after the third change I will see how much gas is in the oil.

I am not freaked out mainly because I know if the engine blows and it is due to oil dilution Honda is gonna pay for it I am more curious and maybe a little concerned but not enough to regret getting the car...yet anyway.

Yeah I just got my results back from them and after 7k miles on my oil at 50k, my fuel dilution was 0.5%. They told me I should consider running it to 9k next time.

 

[RehabJP]

Yeah I just got my results back from them and after 7k miles on my oil at 50k, my fuel dilution was 0.5%. They told me I should consider running it to 9k next time.

Thanks, that's good to hear.

 

[Zodd]

didnt said that before but i am running 0w-30 Castrol edge titanium A3 oil and never seen any oil levels rising. i change it every 5-6k... 0w-20 was in only when i got the car with brake in oil. i do drive hard sometimes thats is why i prefer 0w-30, and winter gets here it is like down to -15C and summer gets to +38C

 

[CastorX]

didnt said that before but i am running 0w-30 Castrol edge titanium A3 oil and never seen any oil levels rising. i change it every 5-6k... 0w-20 was in only when i got the car with brake in oil. i do drive hard sometimes thats is why i prefer 0w-30, and winter gets here it is like down to -15C and summer gets to +38C

Are you using an A3 oil in a 2018 EU civic?

 

[Zodd]

yes. Acea A3

 

[CastorX]

yes. Acea A3

Your car then probably doesn't have a particulate filter. I just thought it was mandatory from 2018 in Europe.

 

[CastorX]

Mine has, so the dealer has to put C2/C3 oil in it. But A3 or maybe A5 would be better. Motul for example. Maybe after warranty I put Motul 0w30 C3 in it instead of the Shell 5w30 C3.

 

[Zodd]

as far as i know 1.5turbo petrol engine dont have diesel particulate filter, so i dont see why i would use oil for DPF filter, i just use Castrol edge titanium 0w-30 ACEA A3 oil witch has higher HTHS rating than oil what service is using (shell helix ultra 0w-20) HTHS rating is how strong oil film is....
so i got lower wear with A3 oil, but consumption got up a little maybe 0.2l/100km...
and weekly i do some spirited driving where oil gets hot and oil gets even thinner when hot, and i plan to keep this car for 10-15years thats why i will never miss any service

 

[DRUSA]

Fuel trim is fine. I am not a Honda tech just a general mechanic but the misfires did somewhat concern me. I am gonna let the Honda tecs at the dealership hook it up to the HDS which I do not have access to and see if they are seeing the misfires I am seeing. Could be a software issue with the Autel since it basically emulates dealer scanners sometimes it reads false positives on stuff like that.

If your fuel trim is fine, i wouldn't trip about it then. Honda released a bunch of Service News articles back in the day about break in oil and your first oil change etc and to not be scared about the oil differences. Your fuel trim will pick up any fuel dilution in the oil if it's not safe.

I really wouldn't worry about this.

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