Negative effects of cheap gas?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 28, 2015
Messages
733
Location
MD
Pulled my intake on my 03 Honda 2.4 4 cylinder to replace my starter today. I've literally never seen an intake so sludged up. The runners were literally 1/3 of the way clogged up or worse with carbon build up. I burn a ton of oil too, but oil shouldn't be making it that far upstream. A friend of mine claims it's cheap gas. Unburnt fuel vapors rising back up the intake and building up.

I do use cheap gas. Sheetz, royal farms, etc. not no name gas but not top tier.

I was associating it to my kn air filter. Every time I clean it it's barely dirty. Figured it's not stopping all the exhaust in the air and it's building up in the engine.

Is there any proof this is from cheap gas? I mean the damage is already done to the motor the rings must be shot and I'm pretty sure it's irreversible at this point. Just trying to satisfy some curiosity.
 
Honda recommends using Top Tier fuel in the owner's manual. Cheap gas only contains the minimum level of additives, which can contribute to build up in the long run.

IIRC, those early K24 engines were prone to oil burning. Change the PCV valve and see if it helps. A few treatments of Techron cleaner also isn't a bad idea.
 
Originally Posted By: mclasser
Honda recommends using Top Tier fuel in the owner's manual. Cheap gas only contains the minimum level of additives, which can contribute to build up in the long run.

IIRC, those early K24 engines were prone to oil burning. Change the PCV valve and see if it helps. A few treatments of Techron cleaner also isn't a bad idea.


They are known for burning for sure. Pcv is new it didn't help at all. The intake valves themselves were very clean though. Just the intake itself was disgustingly clogged up.

May try soaking Pistons down again someday. I have once, as well as using bg 109, to no avail. I think it's beyond any miracle cleaning but I'll try a time or two more
 
Last edited:
How many miles on the 03 Honda? Pulled the heads on a Ford 2.0 couple weeks ago that had 179k miles on it and no issue with cheap gas. Very clean over all. If it would not have been cheaper to replace the entire engine with a low miles motor we would have just fixed the bad valve.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: bioburner
How many miles on the 03 Honda? Pulled the heads on a Ford 2.0 couple weeks ago that had 179k miles on it and no issue with cheap gas. Very clean over all. If it would not have been cheaper to replace the entire engine with a low miles motor we would have just fixed the bad valve.


Around 220k now. I've had it since 100k. Oil changed all the time between every 1500-5000 depending on how I felt. Barely ever made it to 3000-5000 oil changes till recently when I realized it's burning so bad and being topped off so regularly.
 
Prolly stuck rings, so it has blow-by and that pressurizes the crankcase and that pushes oil vapors into the intake and you get what you have...

Define cheap gas? I used to haul and most of it is from the same pipeline that pushes name brand gas. Some refineries lease tanks for their product only, but most companies pull gas off the "regular" tank and it goes to XYZ station.

The refiners are on the hook to balance the books by the end of the month, but there is no way to tell who's product was in which tank even by percentage on a daily basis ...

Unless you see that company name on the side of the truck delivering like Chevron on their tankers at their stations, it can be anyone's. Out here the formula's are all controlled and they are pretty much the same. Winter grade Summer grade and no out of state production because they don't use the right mix of additives.

I dunno about your area... But that situation in the manifold is not gas related.

I'd pull the plugs and shoot a big shot of Break-Free (carbon gun solvent) in each cylinder and let it sit overnight with the plugs in loosely to stop evaporation. Take teh plugs out next day or two and spin the motor over to make sure there is no standing liquid in any cylinders. Put the plugs back in, fire it up. Drive around the block and change the oil and filter. Bet the consumption goes down by a significant percentage...
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Prolly stuck rings, so it has blow-by and that pressurizes the crankcase and that pushes oil vapors into the intake and you get what you have...

Define cheap gas? I used to haul and most of it is from the same pipeline that pushes name brand gas. Some refineries lease tanks for their product only, but most companies pull gas off the "regular" tank and it goes to XYZ station.

The refiners are on the hook to balance the books by the end of the month, but there is no way to tell who's product was in which tank even by percentage on a daily basis ...

Unless you see that company name on the side of the truck delivering like Chevron on their tankers at their stations, it can be anyone's. Out here the formula's are all controlled and they are pretty much the same. Winter grade Summer grade and no out of state production because they don't use the right mix of additives.

I dunno about your area... But that situation in the manifold is not gas related.

I'd pull the plugs and shoot a big shot of Break-Free (carbon gun solvent) in each cylinder and let it sit overnight with the plugs in loosely to stop evaporation. Take teh plugs out next day or two and spin the motor over to make sure there is no standing liquid in any cylinders. Put the plugs back in, fire it up. Drive around the block and change the oil and filter. Bet the consumption goes down by a significant percentage...
smile.gif



Cheap just not top tier. Still major chains like sheetz Royal farm citgo

Which break free? Looks like they have a lot of products.
 
Yeah that ^
Sounds like high throughput on your PCV and/or EGR. Credits to Honda engineers for at least distributing it evenly across all 4 cylinders though, but I seriously doubt it's the fuel. The fuel's apparently doing a fine job of keeping your valves nice and clean, it just not commissioned to clean the runner carbon or wash your car
wink.gif
 
I think BrocLuno has the answer of bad rings and the ccase being pressurized and feeding the vapors back into the intake system.
 
I had a 03 2.4 used TCW-3 in the fuel that cleaned it up over time or at least cut the OC by half.
 
The Saturn and Toyota people say that B12 Chemtool is the perfect tool for a piston soak

If you want to go that route, I'm curious if it would actually free up your rings
 
If the rings are warn you're going to get oil in lots of places where it shouldn't be. Might be that your problem is cheap oil or warn out oil.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top