Actual damage from fuel dilution?

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Are there any actual reports of damage from fuel dilution? All I can find is people taking precautionary measures. Has fuel dilution actually resulted in a broken engine, especially for DI Honda's? Seems like there's not any actual stories of damaged Honda's, which makes me think the engineers accounted for fuel dilution.
 
There were some, but taken care of under warranty, if memory serves. I seem to recall that Honda xtended the warranty for some cars, but am not certain.
 
Originally Posted by dave1251
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
If fuel dilution kills an engine, it will be a slow death.
Much like age.

Well, call it an accelerated death. Like smoking a pack a day.

It will shorten your life, and may cause a catastrophic failure.
 
It will also give the inside of your engine a good cleaning before you get that fuel diluted oil out of it.

Do something like fill the crankcase up with diesel fuel or kerosene, and it attacks every oil seal in your engine. Too much for too long, you may have problems where you did not before. Replace all oil with diesel or kerosene and let it idle a half hour as some say is probably the maximum aggressive tactic to clean out an old engine, then refill with oil, but did you damage the engine? Only if you damaged those seals.
 
According to Honda, damage from fuel dilution in the GDI engine is "a real thing":

https://www.wardsauto.com/engines/h...mp;elq2=31a505e3bfbd482e808a9f825fb38c41

Take a good look at that picture! I hope what was for effect and NOT as a result of the issue for them.

I think the issue is poor lubrication as the oil gets loaded up with gasoline byproducts to the point of greatly accelerated bearing/piston ring wear that eventually results in significant engine damage.
Honda has apparently had several "updates" to attempt to address it for their 1.5L engine. Don't know how effective that has really been as I don't own one.
 
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Shorter OCI's with DI engines and following the severe schedule with DI "short trippers" will help protect you from the affects of fuel dilution .
 
Originally Posted by WhizkidTN
According to Honda, damage from fuel dilution in the GDI engine is "a real thing":

...
I think the issue is poor lubrication as the oil gets loaded up with gasoline byproducts to the point of greatly accelerated bearing/piston ring wear that eventually results in significant engine damage.
Honda has apparently had several "updates" to attempt to address it for their 1.5L engine. Don't know how effective that has really been as I don't own one.


Well here's what Honda thinks, taken straight from your linked article

Quote
Honda spokesman Chris Martin says abnormal oil dilution remains "extremely rare, especially outside of extremely cold weather areas." The problem occurs when unburned fuel slips past piston rings and mixes with engine oil in the crankcase.


So if you're a member of the Saskatchewan short trippers club, you might be in trouble.

All others need not apply. Especially anyone who drives a vehicle that gets up to operating temperature on a semi-consistent basis.
 
We have had a good number of UOAs posted here with high fuel dilution numbers yet wear metals were still low.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
We have had a good number of UOAs posted here with high fuel dilution numbers yet wear metals were still low.



True, but UOA's are more of a measure of how the oil is holding up, not the engine. I think there was a BMW model a while back that was known for eating main bearings and it did not always show on uoas.
 
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Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Originally Posted by dave1251
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
If fuel dilution kills an engine, it will be a slow death.
Much like age.

Well, call it an accelerated death. Like smoking a pack a day.

It will shorten your life, and may cause a catastrophic failure.



Unlike smoking fuel dilution is not the reason most cars are retired. The majority of cars are still discarded rather then sent to the junkyard because of failure.
 
The damage happens over time and ultimately reduces the engines life expectancy before major repairs are needed. A high fuel dilution % [can] be a sign of other problems like worn rings, leaky fuel injectors or incomplete combustion.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
We have had a good number of UOAs posted here with high fuel dilution numbers yet wear metals were still low.

We had a member a few years back with perfect UOAs and a blown engine. A UOA is a good tool, with limited purposes.

Fuel dilution as others stated can take its toll on an engine. How soon, or how much fuel is up for debate, but it can shorten the life of an engine.
 
Originally Posted by PimTac
We have had a good number of UOAs posted here with high fuel dilution numbers yet wear metals were still low.


BlackStone provided 568 results for GMs 2.4l Ecotec engine from 2006 - 2017, used in a dozen different vehicles. GDI version of the same engine had twice the iron wear rate, elevated chromium levels when compared with the same engine that had port fuel injection. In those engines that were above 3 percent resulted in 3x the wear rate. Extremely high fuel dilution, copper, aluminum, lead were also elevated indicating damage to bearing material. Looking at individual UOAs will not show this trend.
 
Why would "actual damage from fuel dilution" look different from actual damage from using oil of too low viscosity rating?
 
Originally Posted by spasm3
Originally Posted by PimTac
We have had a good number of UOAs posted here with high fuel dilution numbers yet wear metals were still low.



True, but UOA's are more of a measure of how the oil is holding up, not the engine. I think there was a BMW model a while back that was known for eating main bearings and it did not always show on uoas.



Many S54 BMW engines in M3s and M Coupes ate ROD bearings. I did an oil analysis on my 2002 M Coupe at 60,000 miles. Very high lead and copper levels in the oil made me pull those shot rod bearings and saved my engine.
 
Fuel dilution lowers oil viscosity which lowers MOFT, and that can results in more wear, especially if running xW-20 or xW-16 and the fuel dilution is bad. If I had a DI engine I would run xW-30 instead of xW-20, or be doing some relatively short OCIs if the engine was a bad diluter - not all are it seems.
 
I think long term, fuel dilution will become a problem...it's a gradual thing. Fuel will reduce the lubrication properties of the oil - I'd worry about ring and bearing wear. Gradually. Then you'll have your oil burning, excessive blowby, eventual loss of oil pressure, loss of power...all things that eventually happen to an old engine with lots of miles (only sooner).

I think it's going to be real interesting to see how DI engines are long term, like when they reach 200,000 plus. And I know I have "re-thought" my oil change strategies since owning my first DI engine five years ago. I no longer do the 7,500-10,000 mile oil changes. My last DI engine began "using" a lot of oil after it reached 150,000 miles. And when it reached 175,000 it got much worse, to the tune of a quart every 700 miles. Then I traded it in. I'm on my second DI engine now, I keep my oil change intervals to 5,000 miles using a recommended Synthetic and quality filter...will that make a difference? Well it better, rather that or I'll just keep adding oil this time around...I'm tired of buying new vehicle, plan on keeping this one till 300,000k.
 
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