Castrol Euro 5W40 | 1672 mi | 2018 CRV 1.5 - High Fuel

[himemsys]

No surprises here. This car is such a fuel diluter that I have isolated a winter OCI of 1500-2000 mi to "capture" the bulk of the fuel and get it out of the sump. The hope being, the oil that goes in for Spring, Summer and Fall won't be contaminated by the additional fuel that is generated when temps are freezing.
Sample #4 is the current sample. Oil was run this past winter, from 11/10/24 to 3/23/25.
Sample #3 was last year's Spring/Summer/Fall OCI, run from 3/17/24 to 11/10/24. This oil was also Castrol Euro 5W40.
Sample #2 was last year's Winter OCI, run from 11/19/23 to 3/17/24. This oil was M1 EP HM 5W30.
Sample #1 was what lead to the current OCI format. That sample was run from 10/23/22 to 9/3/23. M1 ESP 5W30.

I made a change this time. I'm using VRP 5W30 and will stick with it for the foreseeable future.

 

[Klutch9]

No surprises here. This car is such a fuel diluter that I have isolated a winter OCI of 1500-2000 mi to "capture" the bulk of the fuel and get it out of the sump. The hope being, the oil that goes in for Spring, Summer and Fall won't be contaminated by the additional fuel that is generated when temps are freezing.
Sample #4 is the current sample. Oil was run this past winter, from 11/10/24 to 3/23/25.
Sample #3 was last year's Spring/Summer/Fall OCI, run from 3/17/24 to 11/10/24. This oil was also Castrol Euro 5W40.
Sample #2 was last year's Winter OCI, run from 11/19/23 to 3/17/24. This oil was M1 EP HM 5W30.
Sample #1 was what lead to the current OCI format. That sample was run from 10/23/22 to 9/3/23. M1 ESP 5W30.

I made a change this time. I'm using VRP 5W30 and will stick with it for the foreseeable future.
View attachment 270676

Wow that oil thinned a lot. Probably has a lot to do with fuel. I’m currently using it in my Explorer 2.3 btw. I’ve never done a UOA but the oil always smells like fuel.

 

[LazyDog]

Have you check for any leaky injectors?

 

[himemsys]

Have you check for any leaky injectors?

Not yet, but this vehicle/engine combo almost always shows UOAs that look like mine. The main culprit in our case is short trips. We live in a small town. My wife's commute is about 1 mile. The engine never has a chance to warm up, so is constantly running rich. Throw in freezing winters where she auto starts it and lets it warm up for 10 minutes before driving 1 mile...

Earlier in the vehicle's life, it did more highway miles which lead to less fuel in UOAs.

 

[Jetronic]

I'd check for fuel leaks aswell.

This is the easiest/fastest way I've discovered to do a check.

on a cold engine, start and run for a minute, then shut down and monitor fuel pressure with a diagnostic tool. so shut down and turn on power without starting.

the purpose of running a short while on a cold engine is that there's some heat in the block, that will then spread to the injectors and heat up the fuel in them after shut down. If there's no leaks, you will see the pressure steadily rise, if the pressure stays the same or drops you have a small or bigger leak.

I found leaky injectors to be very common. on a 4 cyl car there's no other symptoms besides slightly longer cranking over before catching (and lots of fuel in oil) but on 3 cyl engines it can stop the engines from starting, with a wet plug.

in 1 case i found it was the hpfp that leaked.

no dismantling needed and takes 2 minutes with a diag tool that can read live parameters.

 

[LazyDog]

I know what you mean about the weather, I too live in the Midwest. I have an 04 CRV and do oil changes every 6 months: Lots of short trips just to the stores

 

[fantastic]

You don't need me to tell you... that fuel is awful & it really is hitting that oil's viscosity. It's a Honda so it has that going for it. See if your seasonal changes help. Short trips will still exist so I'm not betting on it. I hope I'm wrong. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

Supertech 5W-40 or what is on sale. 2 months into "winter" OCI, Extract, leave filter, refill. Change in spring with filter as planned.

 

[himemsys]

I'd check for fuel leaks aswell.

This is the easiest/fastest way I've discovered to do a check.

on a cold engine, start and run for a minute, then shut down and monitor fuel pressure with a diagnostic tool. so shut down and turn on power without starting.

the purpose of running a short while on a cold engine is that there's some heat in the block, that will then spread to the injectors and heat up the fuel in them after shut down. If there's no leaks, you will see the pressure steadily rise, if the pressure stays the same or drops you have a small or bigger leak.

I found leaky injectors to be very common. on a 4 cyl car there's no other symptoms besides slightly longer cranking over before catching (and lots of fuel in oil) but on 3 cyl engines it can stop the engines from starting, with a wet plug.

in 1 case i found it was the hpfp that leaked.

no dismantling needed and takes 2 minutes with a diag tool that can read live parameters.

I wonder if my ODB2 scanner would have this parameter. I'll check. If not, any suggestions on a diagnostic tool?

 

[himemsys]

See if your seasonal changes help. Short trips will still exist so I'm not betting on it.

You can see for yourself! Compare sample #3 to samples #2 and #4. They all have high fuel, but the wear metals per mile on sample 3 is much lower.

 

[himemsys]

Wow that oil thinned a lot.

Almost 20%. Virgin Castrol Euro 5W40 starts at 13.3

 

[KCJeep]

I have used Castrol 5w40 many times and had good UOAs despite it being somewhat looked down upon here.

We have a small fleet of CRVs at work, several have had injector issues so definitely possible you have an injector making the dilution even worse.

 

[scoot]

Best solution is a used EV ,

 

[fantastic]

You can see for yourself! Compare sample #3 to samples #2 and #4. They all have high fuel, but the wear metals per mile on sample 3 is much lower.

I understand what you're saying but those 2 & 4 were lower mileage runs w/half the mileage. You know that can easily throw off the wear rates b/c lower mileage runs seem to have higher wear particle numbers in many UOA I've seen. I would consider your 2 & 4 very short runs. Too bad they weren't the same mileage to more easily compare. I appreciate you're trying to test to see how it can fluctuate though. #3 "summer" is still greater than >5% & that was mainly what I was trying to convey that even your summer run still doesn't get fuel below 5% unfortunately (short trips still exist). The wear rates look lower on the summer runs due to the PPM averaging out more as the mileage doubled. Do you have comparable mileage runs during winter vs summer?

Best solution is a used EV ,

I don't think OP has any intention to get rid of it. Still seems to be serving them well overall.

 

[JavierH19]

Is the fuel dilution enough to where you can see the oil level going up?

 

[Jetronic]

Is the fuel dilution enough to where you can see the oil level going up?

that would depend on how much oil consumption there is. I assume no leaks.

 

[himemsys]

Is the fuel dilution enough to where you can see the oil level going up?

Oil level on the dipstick was still right below the full mark when I drained. IIRC, it was about 80% between low and high mark at the beginning of the OCI. So if it went up, it was only 1-2mm on the dipstick. But like Jetronic said, if there's oil consumption, then that could hide a rising oil level.

 

[himemsys]

I understand what you're saying but those 2 & 4 were lower mileage runs w/half the mileage. You know that can easily throw off the wear rates b/c lower mileage runs seem to have higher wear particle numbers in many UOA I've seen. I would consider your 2 & 4 very short runs. Too bad they weren't the same mileage to more easily compare. I appreciate you're trying to test to see how it can fluctuate though. #3 "summer" is still greater than >5% & that was mainly what I was trying to convey that even your summer run still doesn't get fuel below 5% unfortunately (short trips still exist). The wear rates look lower on the summer runs due to the PPM averaging out more as the mileage doubled. Do you have comparable mileage runs during winter vs summer?

Here are the first 3 UOAs I did on this vehicle.

8/22/21 was from 11/6 to 8/22, so it had a bit of every season. It was driven a lot more and with longer average trips than current.

3/19/22 was from 8/22 to 3/19, so again, a mix of all seasons.

8/6/22 was from 3/19 to 8/6, so this was the most "summery" run. But also in this run was a 2500 mile vacation, so tons of highway miles. Look at how low those wear metals are, even with a 355 degree flashpoint.

Unfortunately, all of these are through Blackstone, so no real fuel dilution numbers.

 

[fantastic]

Here are the first 3 UOAs I did on this vehicle.
View attachment 270708

8/22/21 was from 11/6 to 8/22, so it had a bit of every season. It was driven a lot more and with longer average trips than current.

3/19/22 was from 8/22 to 3/19, so again, a mix of all seasons.

8/6/22 was from 3/19 to 8/6, so this was the most "summery" run. But also in this run was a 2500 mile vacation, so tons of highway miles. Look at how low those wear metals are, even with a 355 degree flashpoint.

Thanks for the link image & I remember seeing it before now...Thanks for the reminder! Yeah, with those x3 intervals at least it can be somewhat compared since it was the same viscosity at the same lab regardless that they don't do GC. The 4264 mileage sample that was low wear shown is a good example of highway use. For context short runs have been my argument here. I think that may be the greatest contributor to that sample was what you've stated...a long highway drive. However, It is great that there was some relief seen from your previous samples. I hope that shows up for you in this next interval but other than the wear metals PPM potentially showing better due to a longer summer run I still doubt there is much relief to be seen on your short mileage trips for fuel dilution. We need to push for OA to show higher than >5% ha! That could help a little here. All in all you know you're trying your best for your situation based on the information shown & I can't argue with that too much. I know you mentioned R&P but what filter are you going to use & looks like just about any standard filter would suffice w/your low mileage?

 

[himemsys]

I know you mentioned R&P but what filter are you going to use & looks like just about any standard filter would suffice w/your low mileage?

I'm reusing the Fram Endurance that was on there. It only has 1672 miles on it. I've been going every other oil change on the filter for a couple of years now. On my Civic as well.

All in all you know you're trying your best for your situation based on the information shown & I can't argue with that too much.

Yeah, I wouldn't be coming up with these weird, elaborate OCIs if I didn't think it might improve things. LOL