- Joined
- Mar 22, 2026
- Messages
- 14
Interesting about direct injection and the oil dilution issue. We want to encourage people to burn less fossil fuels, drive their ICE less, but we are sold cars where we are told that normal use should be getting them to operating temp for at least 15 minutes per drive etc, that's a lot of emissions and extra oil changes the world doesnt need, and not an issue we have with an EV
Would a solution be(expensive) to provide both styles of injection to a modern car? manifold injection and direct injection where it would use the manifold injectors at low temps?
And/Or would the solution be for the emissions regs to weight what happens at lower temps more so that manufacturers are forced to redesign how the direct injection system operates at those temps(im assuming the emissions nasties have to be greater if we have liquid fuel getting past the rings).
My advice for the large number of us that dont need to drive large mileages, for winter at least: run your engine oil level right on the low mark of the dipstick. The system will have ~ 1 litre less of oil in it and actually get to a higher temp on shorter trips, allowing more of the moisture to evaporate. Now some may say the lower volume of oil would absorb the same amount of moisture and hence become more % diluted, but I would say, not if its hotter.
I have seen the results on my own system where I run it on 4 L rather than 5 L and the oil gets hotter more quickly(cant remember the rate). Have had an oil test to measure the dilution when I was running 4L and it was within the acceptable limit for everything, including dilution after 18 months and only 3000 miles, but havent compared with how it would have done with 5L.
Of course take that advice(running on the low mark) responsibly, if your engine uses oil between changes you'll need to top it up more often and when summer comes and you are doing extreme work, then want the highest volume of oil in there.
Would a solution be(expensive) to provide both styles of injection to a modern car? manifold injection and direct injection where it would use the manifold injectors at low temps?
And/Or would the solution be for the emissions regs to weight what happens at lower temps more so that manufacturers are forced to redesign how the direct injection system operates at those temps(im assuming the emissions nasties have to be greater if we have liquid fuel getting past the rings).
My advice for the large number of us that dont need to drive large mileages, for winter at least: run your engine oil level right on the low mark of the dipstick. The system will have ~ 1 litre less of oil in it and actually get to a higher temp on shorter trips, allowing more of the moisture to evaporate. Now some may say the lower volume of oil would absorb the same amount of moisture and hence become more % diluted, but I would say, not if its hotter.
I have seen the results on my own system where I run it on 4 L rather than 5 L and the oil gets hotter more quickly(cant remember the rate). Have had an oil test to measure the dilution when I was running 4L and it was within the acceptable limit for everything, including dilution after 18 months and only 3000 miles, but havent compared with how it would have done with 5L.
Of course take that advice(running on the low mark) responsibly, if your engine uses oil between changes you'll need to top it up more often and when summer comes and you are doing extreme work, then want the highest volume of oil in there.
Last edited: