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

RehabJP

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I know this is a known issue I guess though I was under the impression that it had been fixed after the 2019 model year. Checking my oil today. Just under 500 miles on the Earth Dreams 1.5T 4 Cyl GDI. Oil had fairly strong odor of gasoline. I do not know how diluted it is exactly the oil it takes is so thin anyway and it did not appear overfilled but there is for sure some gas in the engine oil. Considering bringing it to the attention of the dealership if for no other reason than to have it on record that I did say something even if they tell me its normal or there is nothing they can do but am wondering if anyone has had similar issues with the 2020 models with this engine and if they brought it to the attention of Honda and if so what if anything was done about it?

Also, and not sure if it is a related issue but in my experience I think it could be. I hooked my Autel 906 up to the car and monitored the live data while it was idling and while I was driving it. It is showing misfires in every cylinder. Not many 1 or 2 ever couple of minutes. Not enough to trigger a MIL light but its still a bit concerning to me. Again wondering if anyone has ran into any similar issues either together with the gas in oil or separately.
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DRUSA

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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.
 

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It is NORMAL to have some gas in the oil with a Direct Injection fuel system. Gasoline has an overpowering odor. I wouldn’t freak out. Take it for a 30 minute drive every once in awhile.
 
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RehabJP

RehabJP

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It is NORMAL to have some gas in the oil. Gasoline has an overpowering odor. I wouldn’t freak out. Take it for a 30 minute drive every once in awhile.
I have been driving the hell out of this thing. I am not totally freaking out yet I did make an appointment with the dealership but the crake care does not seem to be overfull but if as I mentioned it does have a strong odor of gasoline. Maybe they have "fixed" the problem from the 2017/2018 but it just seems weird I have had other GDIs that did not get the oil smelling like gas at all but being a turbo and a GDI I am sure makes the problem of unburned fuel in the combustion chamber worse.
 

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Almost every 1.5T has this Honda has a issue here yes but what you can do is just don’t ever idle it long and on cold start don’t warm it more then a minute just drive it off slowly till the engine warms up these engines shouldn’t be idled most of the gas enters the oil during idle especially During cold start idle also try to avoid short distance drives so the engine gets to full temp and the entered gas has a chance to evaporate
 
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Almost every 1.5T has this Honda has a issue here yes but what you can do is just don’t ever idle it long and on cold start don’t warm it more then a minute just drive it off slowly till the engine warms up these engines shouldn’t be idled most of the gas enters the oil during idle especially During cold start idle also try to avoid short distance drives so the engine gets to full temp and the entered gas has a chance to evaporate
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?
 

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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?
Yep, you should drive it slowly after a cold start instead of idling it.
 

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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?
Yeah, 3-4 minutes is too much idling. Just wait like 45 seconds to a minute max. The RPM will start to drop by like 300-400 rpm after oil has completely circulated and started to warm. That’s when you know you are good.

Keep the RPMs under 3500 for the next 5 minutes of driving after that. By then the engine oil should be getting up to temp and the trans starting to get a little warm.

All of this is super cautious advice. Honda engines can take abuse and still last. Really you aren’t hurting your car by doing what you are doing. But if you want to baby it, what I have said above is the procedure to follow.
 

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just start the car and wait 20-30sec so rpm starts to drop then drive off gently until engine gets to temperature, dont forget when engine is warmed up, engine oil and transmission oil still need some time to get there... no need to wait 3-4min it is to much, dont WOT until everything is nice and warmed up
 

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Thank you guys! @zspeed @Zodd @SDAlexander8
I used to have scion TC which has 2.4L Toyota engine. And that guy has common issue which is Oil Consumption. It was burning oil due to wrong piston ring design.
then I told myself I won't get a car again which has common problems. I made my search I ended up with Honda. Mostly impressed by exterior design and color tho ? anyway after all I joined this forum and found out that 1.5L engines have oil dilution issue. I checked couple articles they were saying before driving car iddle engine couple minutes. Sh*t I've been doing since I got the car(February 2020)...

Anyway I talked a lot. Thank you guys again!
 


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I thought the oil dilution issue was for cold climates. I can't imagine it's very cold in Costa Mesa right now. There's got to be more to this story.
 

Joe1986

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Almost every 1.5T has this Honda has a issue here yes but what you can do is just don’t ever idle it long and on cold start don’t warm it more then a minute just drive it off slowly till the engine warms up these engines shouldn’t be idled most of the gas enters the oil during idle especially During cold start idle also try to avoid short distance drives so the engine gets to full temp and the entered gas has a chance to evaporate
People honk and get mad when I drive slowly in cold winter
 

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Oil level good? Then the engine is fine. Don't worry about it.
 

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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??
 

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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.
not just turbo cars, pretty much every car with both inlet and exhaust camshaft control. Its more noticeable on cars with non oem exhausts.

I work for corning who makes exhaust substrates (the cat in hondas is a corning unit), the first 90 seconds of a cat warming up let by more HCs in that time than it does going 70 mph for an hour. crazy huh.
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