New owner advice/tips to prepare for AC failures or oil dilution

[NeedThatHatch]

Hi all, new owner hopeful for a 2021 Sport Touring Manual here. I've discovered the 1.5T oil dilution issues and AC condenser and whatever the hell else this car generation has going for it. This thread is nice to look through when it comes to seeing how people handle their AC repairs and dealership warranties, but tell me, what is the best way to prepare for this crap for when it happens?

Which warranties should you be looking for? Normally extended warranties are complete BS so I don't know if there are any of those I would want to add on purchase day. I hear there are extended 10 year warranties from the manufacturer given to you automatically but there seems to be a 50-50 issue of either dealerships not wanting to honor them or the specific issue you have in your AC is somehow a loophole to the warranty. I don't think the 11th gen will be for me, so I would really appreciate yalls opinion of what this vehicle requires to run smoothly for what I can only say is forever.

Heck, I kind of wonder if it's even all worth it. So many of these issues are becoming dealership-only troubleshooting and that's NEVER fun. New cars are becoming more and more of a scam to own. Needless to say I am constantly discouraged but also ever-reminded of how much I still want this car. Hope you all can help us with your experiences

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[zspeed]

For the A/C, as soon as you notice that the air is not that cold, have the refrigerant level checked. It is best that you run the whole system during winter time at least once a week to prevent the seals from drying up.

 

[NeedThatHatch]

To add to my own thread, another post reminded me that you should run your AC at least once a week (and obviously, even more would be better) in order to prevent seals from drying up and cracking, causing refrigerant to leak amd destroy the entire system.

Naturally this means making sure to run it as often as possible for a while even during really cold seasons in order to cycle the coolant and keeping it freshly sealed

 

[Habanero]

FWIW Scotty on youtube says you can actually smell gas on the dipstick when this happens. A guy on here said his car was a couple years old and its not a prob but that's NOT when it rears its ugly head oil dilution problem causes cumulative damage many years down the road. If you are leasing or only going to keep the car a few years no prob (like a BMW lol).

 

[2017touring]

2017 Touring with 1.5T. I bought the car used with 21,000 miles in Dec of 2019. Changed the oil with 3.7 qts of Pennzoil Ultra Platinum (0w-20) in Feb 2020 when the car had 24,000 miles. The oil was right at the top hole on the dipstick. Waited for the MM to pop up and the mileage was at 30,350 as of 10/1/2020. I drained all the oil into a 5qt jug and the oil that came out was 4.1 qts. The car is driven 5 days out of the week with a total of 24 miles (12 miles each way to and from work). So yea, oil dilution problem is real.

 

[NeedThatHatch]

FWIW Scotty on youtube says you can actually smell gas on the dipstick when this happens. A guy on here said his car was a couple years old and its not a prob but that's NOT when it rears its ugly head oil dilution problem causes cumulative damage many years down the road. If you are leasing or only going to keep the car a few years no prob (like a BMW lol).

It's interesting you mention that because I was going to add to this post to talk about some other stuff I've picked up while researching the motor this car has. However i'll address it all by comparing it to what you said.

Sure the oil dilution issue can obviously lead to engine damage down the road, however people in the community say that there are no current examples of a civic dying because of it. In a way, you can say that even if it is that bad, it's quite possible that most of them can be managed by doing oil changes every 3k miles and running the car decently for hopefully longer than 10 minutes at a time. Sure it's just jargon when Honda says it, but they have some merit. The cooling efficiency of this engine is apparently spectacular (and it had to be, since it's a Direct Injection + Turbo), but because of that it also becomes particularly difficult for the engine to heat up and let other things function properly if you just take it out for short runs. Either way it's annoying but lets move on.

What I AM concerned for is another 100% end-game fatality of this engine, and ironically you mentioned BMW as a joke which is funny because it actually relates to these civic engines. Just like how BMW is known for being kept a few years only (in your words), their problems can translate to the Civic 10th gen as well. Why? Well because BMW's apparently share a common design flaw that lots of other manufacturers got around, and that's using exclusively Direct Injection in their engines and not a mixture of Port Injection + Direct Injection.

When you have Direct Injection only, and ESPECIALLY with turbo, the engine suffers from carbon buildup that supposedly can't be cleaned (easily, I think). BMW's are a fan of this type of motor and ironically that's exactly what this 10th gen has as well. The videos I watched not only said this, but I also ended up discovering an owner in another video that might have even suffered from this and he was none the wiser. I found this one youtube kid who had a 10th gen Si of some kind and his video was talking about it having a misfire start twice in a row. He didn't know what it was. He also mentioned that his car only had like 30k miles I THINK. Too lazy to check again. However the irony with this is that the last video I saw that talked about BMW DI engines and their carbon build up deaths, it was mentioned that a symptom of this plague was misfires, AND at around the 30k-50k miles range. Fascinating.

TL;DR: I would like to add to this post by saying that the long term life of these cars would be greatly improved if Oil Catch Cans were to be added, so that these highly unfortunate carbon buildup issues can be postponed for as long as possible. Unlike Oil Dilution (which is an issue we can CORRELATE to engine damage, but not point examples for at the moment), carbon buildup IS ACTUALLY a confirmed end-game death issue for Direct Injection engines like the 10th gens (and in particular because of the turbo) and sometimes not even far along down its life!

 

[Habanero]

It's interesting you mention that because I was going to add to this post to talk about some other stuff I've picked up while researching the motor this car has. However i'll address it all by comparing it to what you said.

Sure the oil dilution issue can obviously lead to engine damage down the road, however people in the community say that there are no current examples of a civic dying because of it. In a way, you can say that even if it is that bad, it's quite possible that most of them can be managed by doing oil changes every 3k miles and running the car decently for hopefully longer than 10 minutes at a time. Sure it's just jargon when Honda says it, but they have some merit. The cooling efficiency of this engine is apparently spectacular (and it had to be, since it's a Direct Injection + Turbo), but because of that it also becomes particularly difficult for the engine to heat up and let other things function properly if you just take it out for short runs. Either way it's annoying but lets move on.

What I AM concerned for is another 100% end-game fatality of this engine, and ironically you mentioned BMW as a joke which is funny because it actually relates to these civic engines. Just like how BMW is known for being kept a few years only (in your words), their problems can translate to the Civic 10th gen as well. Why? Well because BMW's apparently share a common design flaw that lots of other manufacturers got around, and that's using exclusively Direct Injection in their engines and not a mixture of Port Injection + Direct Injection.

When you have Direct Injection only, and ESPECIALLY with turbo, the engine suffers from carbon buildup that supposedly can't be cleaned (easily, I think). BMW's are a fan of this type of motor and ironically that's exactly what this 10th gen has as well. The videos I watched not only said this, but I also ended up discovering an owner in another video that might have even suffered from this and he was none the wiser. I found this one youtube kid who had a 10th gen Si of some kind and his video was talking about it having a misfire start twice in a row. He didn't know what it was. He also mentioned that his car only had like 30k miles I THINK. Too lazy to check again. However the irony with this is that the last video I saw that talked about BMW DI engines and their carbon build up deaths, it was mentioned that a symptom of this plague was misfires, AND at around the 30k-50k miles range. Fascinating.

TL;DR: I would like to add to this post by saying that the long term life of these cars would be greatly improved if Oil Catch Cans were to be added, so that these highly unfortunate carbon buildup issues can be postponed for as long as possible. Unlike Oil Dilution (which is an issue we can CORRELATE to engine damage, but not point examples for at the moment), carbon buildup IS ACTUALLY a confirmed end-game death issue for Direct Injection engines like the 10th gens (and in particular because of the turbo) and sometimes not even far along down its life!

Sorry didnt mean to sound like oil dilution was -inevitable- for these cars just meant that when it does happen... I'm sure they are probably outliers. I'm still kicking myself for not getting a stick I like the CVT but I'm not optimistic about it lasting as long as the engine. I did read that repair/ replacement costs are going down though.

 

[DRUSA]

Lots to address here so let me try:

1) You are looking to purchase a '21 1.5T model and are worried about 2016-2019 run failures. These parts have long since been updated for 2021 model years, so anything you buy today will have a fix performed on it or have updated parts already installed. The condenser will be the "repair" version along with any other parts, the software for the engine (oil dilution) will be the latest version available as well. This is why you never purchase the first model year of a remodel, like the 2016 civic or the 2006 civic etc as it will surely be plagued with recalls and product updates. This is true for literally all manufacturers. Buying the last year of a 10th gen before they make the jump to 11th gen is the best purchase you can make.

2) Warranties. Your choice of warranty depends on your long term goal for the vehicle. Will you be owning for 3yrs, 6yrs, 8+yrs? The factory warranty usually breaks down as follows: 3yr/36k miles....anything on the car is covered, 5yr/60k mi....essential things covered, wheel bearings/engine/trans/etc your sunvisor and trim stuff not covered anymore...some emissions parts go 10yr/150k miles like catalytic converters and smog related parts.

If you don't plan on owning the car long or trading it in, there is no point spending the money on an extended warranty that will only kick in after you have sold the car. For what it's worth, the HondaCare extended warranty is good. If you plan on keeping the car a long time, go for the peace of mind, newer cars are only getting harder and more expensive to fix. 3rd party warranties you should read the fine print, most have a deductible and limited coverage, these usually apply to you buying a used car though.

Paint protection/fabric protection/theft alarms etc. These are all a scam. I work at the dealer, these are a scam. It's a way to add $2000 to the price of the vehicle and make selling new cars "worth it" for the sales team. We've only had like 3 people file a paint/fabric claim in the years we have been providing them. Decline the coverage. They will say it can't be removed from the vehicle (spoiler alert, it's an insurance policy it can be dropped) but decline it anyways, walk away if they still say it can't be removed, they will lower the price or magically delete it guaranteed.

 

[DRUSA]

3.) Oil Dilution. Yes, some DI engines have oil dilution issues. A properly functioning PCV system will prevent this, if you are truly worried, do your oil changes more frequently like you suggested. I do mine every 3k miles, I disregard the maintenance minder completely, it is for people who can only located the gas door.

I have yet to see any DI engine come in with any failure related to DI fuel dilution. I have seen 2016 1.5T civics with 200k miles on them already come through, they are beat to shit, but they run just fine. When you get to that 200k mark the only problems you may run into are misfires due to the injectors being worn out or catalytic converter failures, which is just due to wear and tear on the parts, not necessarily a defect.

 

[DRUSA]

TL:dR....life is short, buy the car and enjoy it, disregard what keyboard mechanics say, the car will be fine.

 

[Fk7_412]

I'd like to add that I just got my AC compressor replaced 2 months ago (52,000 miles). Honda America offered an 80/20 split so my total came out to be just over the part, around $300... I just started experiencing the same exact thing where the AC stops blowing cold air and it sounds like like it fails to fully kick on. Current mileage is at 56,000. Best of luck.

 

[zspeed]

I'd like to add that I just got my AC compressor replaced 2 months ago (52,000 miles). Honda America offered an 80/20 split so my total came out to be just over the part, around $300... I just started experiencing the same exact thing where the AC stops blowing cold air and it sounds like like it fails to fully kick on. Current mileage is at 56,000. Best of luck.

Did you check the refrigerant level?

 

[DRUSA]

I'd like to add that I just got my AC compressor replaced 2 months ago (52,000 miles). Honda America offered an 80/20 split so my total came out to be just over the part, around $300... I just started experiencing the same exact thing where the AC stops blowing cold air and it sounds like like it fails to fully kick on. Current mileage is at 56,000. Best of luck.

I've done so many of them now I don't even have to check the level, you will see PAG oil slinging out of the compressor clutch, front compressor seal failures all day 'er day.

 

[Fk7_412]

I've done so many of them now I don't even have to check the level, you will see PAG oil slinging out of the compressor clutch, front compressor seal failures all day 'er day.

Good news is that it's the condenser, actually in stock, and is completely covered. One thing to note.. I was told that my 18 civic sport being built in England technically doesn't fall under the Condenser warranty, but they will honor it anyways. Is this true?

 

[DRUSA]

Good news is that it's the condenser, actually in stock, and is completely covered. One thing to note.. I was told that my 18 civic sport being built in England technically doesn't fall under the Condenser warranty, but they will honor it anyways. Is this true?

No, that's bullshit. It's TSB 19-091 if you want to google it, covers all 2016-2108 Civic all trim levels. They can do a VIN inquiry at the dealership to check to see if your exact car falls in a production range and is covered, but there is no English made production ban. Service writers are just re-purposed cell phone salesmen, very few know what they are talking about. You can call up any dealer or visit and ask for a VIN inquiry, it tells all pending recalls and product updates for your car.

2 terms to distinguish from that Honda uses: RECALL and PRODUCT UPDATE. Recalls are issues with the car that could lead to a safety concern, such as a seat latch may not fully engage all the time, the seat could unintentionally tip and cause your child in the middle row baby seat of an Odyssey to face plant into the passenger seat, hilarious, but safety issue (real recall for odyssey btw). A product update is something that they have found a trend of failures with and have release a revised, updated part that fixes a non-safety related concern, like the a/c condenser.

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