My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

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cshell2
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by cshell2 »

Are you kidding me? I start thinking about buying a newer to me vehicle for the first time in many years, fall in love with a 2017 CRV Touring and a 2018 CRV EXL on the lot today, come home to do a little research and find this 24 page long thread. :oops: I keep my vehicles forever and don't want to buy a known chronic issue. I currently have a 2005 Odyssey with 220K miles that is starting to have some engine problems and a 96 Camry that is a tank.
tibbitts
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by tibbitts »

cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:05 pm Are you kidding me? I start thinking about buying a newer to me vehicle for the first time in many years, fall in love with a 2017 CRV Touring and a 2018 CRV EXL on the lot today, come home to do a little research and find this 24 page long thread. :oops: I keep my vehicles forever and don't want to buy a known chronic issue. I currently have a 2005 Odyssey with 220K miles that is starting to have some engine problems and a 96 Camry that is a tank.
Are you shopping at a Honda dealer? If so what do they have to say about the situation?
cshell2
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by cshell2 »

tibbitts wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:14 pm
cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:05 pm Are you kidding me? I start thinking about buying a newer to me vehicle for the first time in many years, fall in love with a 2017 CRV Touring and a 2018 CRV EXL on the lot today, come home to do a little research and find this 24 page long thread. :oops: I keep my vehicles forever and don't want to buy a known chronic issue. I currently have a 2005 Odyssey with 220K miles that is starting to have some engine problems and a 96 Camry that is a tank.
Are you shopping at a Honda dealer? If so what do they have to say about the situation?
No. One is at a Toyota dealership and the other at a Chrysler place. I haven't spoken to anyone about it yet because I just read this tonight. Thinking about calling someone at the Honda dealership, but I'm not sure how honest a salesman would be to me about it.
FlamePoint
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by FlamePoint »

I have a 2018 CRV EXL and so far so good. I was made aware of the oil dilution problem about a year ago so am always on the look out for any potential problems. I just hit 22k miles on it, which means I drive it mostly on short trips and it spends a fair amount of time in the garage.

Because of the potential OD issue and the high number of short trips I make, I make sure to get my oil changed more frequently than recommended. It’s a minor extra expense in the overall scheme of things.

I did get the warranty extension letter from Honda, but hoping I don’t need to use it. Overall I love the car and plan to own it for a long time.
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rh00p
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by rh00p »

cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:05 pm Are you kidding me? I start thinking about buying a newer to me vehicle for the first time in many years, fall in love with a 2017 CRV Touring and a 2018 CRV EXL on the lot today, come home to do a little research and find this 24 page long thread. :oops: I keep my vehicles forever and don't want to buy a known chronic issue. I currently have a 2005 Odyssey with 220K miles that is starting to have some engine problems and a 96 Camry that is a tank.
IMO the only remedy is an engine redesign. Software updates are often bandaid repairs to hopefully reduce a symptom. The combination of high fuel pressure, boost pressure, compression ratio over 10:1 and low friction piston rings (for economy) is the problem.
Preparing for the worst. Hoping for the best.
smitcat
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by smitcat »

cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:05 pm Are you kidding me? I start thinking about buying a newer to me vehicle for the first time in many years, fall in love with a 2017 CRV Touring and a 2018 CRV EXL on the lot today, come home to do a little research and find this 24 page long thread. :oops: I keep my vehicles forever and don't want to buy a known chronic issue. I currently have a 2005 Odyssey with 220K miles that is starting to have some engine problems and a 96 Camry that is a tank.
FWIW - no problems with oil tests or any issues with performance or repairs on our same vintage Honda engines.
UpperNwGuy
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by UpperNwGuy »

Glad to see this thread reappear. I had been planning to buy a Forester, a RAV4, or a CRV last spring, but then the pandemic hit, so my purchase will now likely be in late 2021 or early 2022. In my mind the only argument against the CRV is the oil dilution problem.
scifilover
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by scifilover »

I've followed this thread since it began, and I have long wondered if these cars can be okay for some users and not for others. My oldest son lives in the Midwest and has one of these turbo CRV's. He commutes 35 miles each way every day at highway speeds and is very happy. Even on very cold days the car has plenty of time to heat up and burn any gas fumes from the crankcase. I'm retired, and my use of a car is infrequent short trips where my Forester might drive 2-5 miles. I like Honda, but I don't think a turbo CRV would work for me.
rmdashrfsplat
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by rmdashrfsplat »

More random anecdotes. 2017 CR-V in Minnesota, subjected to short winter drives. Zero issues so far, but I am doing oil changes every 5k miles to make myself feel better. There are millions of these engines on the road racking up a lot of miles. All I've seen pan our from this kerfuffle so far is a higher than normal number of injector issues, a TSB for camshaft wear that may or may not be related and people who have never driven sub 2L Honda engines in the cold before complaining about cabin heat. Things may change but currently lots of smoke and no fire IMO.

This is totally unsubstantiated ramblings, but on the other side of the coin, the 1.5T+CVT is pretty miraculous is daily driving. Up to 30 mpg with excellent acceleration and huge torque band. I feel like Honda had to give up some longevity in this engine to make this work but hopefully that means going from 300k miles to 200k miles. :happy
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SmallCityDave
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by SmallCityDave »

CULater wrote: Sat May 16, 2020 6:46 pm
BeachPerson wrote: Sat May 16, 2020 6:27 pm
CorduroyGivenToFly wrote: Sat May 16, 2020 5:44 pm I have a 2018 CRV and believe my car suffers from this because I smell gas in the cabin when the a/c is pulling in air from outside. As a result of this, i always use recirculate, which works well.

Check engine light (and all the others) came on just past 40,000 miles. Took it in to the dealer and they put in a software update and the lights went off. The next day, they lights came on again and they diagnosed it with a bad fuel injector kit based on the cylinder misfire code. Hondacare (which I bought) paid for it. I asked them if they thought this was related to the oil dilution and they said no because I mostly drove it on non-short trips in California. Haven’t had any other issues with the car before or since then, although haven’t driven it much during the shut down and this isssue happened just before that. None of the oil shops I’ve taken the car to for oil changes said my oil looked or smelled like anything unusual, and I asked a couple of them about it.

I was all so lucky. I was ready to trade my 2013 Honda Accord for the Honda CRV. I am glad that I found this threat two years ago. I bought a RAV4 and it is super!!!!
Good move. I started the thread to give prospective buyers a "heads up" about the CRV and hopefully save at least one person the headaches I've experienced with the vehicle. Mission Accomplished!
CULater we haven't heard from you in almost a year please update.
cshell2
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by cshell2 »

I'm also in MN, so the cold weather talk worried me a little, but I drive a lot. I'm out in the country and it's 30 miles round trip to pretty much anywhere I want to go.

It's making me rethink the 2017 Touring I'm looking at a little though. It only has 19K miles which I thought was a plus, but maybe 4 years of short trips isn't worth paying a couple thousand more over the 2018 EXL with 49K miles.
inbox788
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by inbox788 »

cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:42 pmThinking about calling someone at the Honda dealership, but I'm not sure how honest a salesman would be to me about it.
You could ask, but what use would the answer be? Not too different than calling up your broker and asking if it's time to buy or sell TSLA.

The noise, including this long thread, has somewhat quieted down, so I'm guessing they've dealt with the problem. The only remaining question is, how many problem cars are out there that haven't been fixed, and whether the one you're looking at could be one. I'd avoid those around the peak as unknown used cars (2017/2018), but newer CRVs are back on my buy list (2020+). And if I trusted the previous owner and it didn't have problems, I'd probably be ok with any.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explor ... 20dilution
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2020 ... oved.shtml
JohnF
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by JohnF »

A recent article on the vehicle –

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/honda- ... -1.5960676
Joel
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by Joel »

Random data point, the air conditioning in my 2018 civic hatchback doesn’t seem to be working anymore. I had it cranked down to Lo yesterday and over a 20 minute drive the air never became cool. Not sure if it’s related or what, but my first actual negative experience with this car.
My investment policy statement: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=190093
devopscoder
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by devopscoder »

We have a 2007 Honda CRV EXL with 150K miles on it and it’s still going strong. For Christmas, I changed out the stereo head unit with a new one that supports Apple CarPlay. It makes the case a lot more enjoyable to drive. My daughter will be graduating from college next year so I’m planning to give her this one and buy a new CRV. Is it up for a redesign anytime soon?
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JPH
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by JPH »

inbox788 wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 11:13 am
cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:42 pmThinking about calling someone at the Honda dealership, but I'm not sure how honest a salesman would be to me about it.
You could ask, but what use would the answer be? Not too different than calling up your broker and asking if it's time to buy or sell TSLA.

The noise, including this long thread, has somewhat quieted down, so I'm guessing they've dealt with the problem. The only remaining question is, how many problem cars are out there that haven't been fixed, and whether the one you're looking at could be one. I'd avoid those around the peak as unknown used cars (2017/2018), but newer CRVs are back on my buy list (2020+). And if I trusted the previous owner and it didn't have problems, I'd probably be ok with any.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explor ... 20dilution
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2020 ... oved.shtml
How many have been fixed? None! There is no fix. The software update is a scam. My dealership would not even bother to perform the update on my car.
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BeachPerson
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by BeachPerson »

JPH wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 7:16 am
inbox788 wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 11:13 am
cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 11:42 pmThinking about calling someone at the Honda dealership, but I'm not sure how honest a salesman would be to me about it.
You could ask, but what use would the answer be? Not too different than calling up your broker and asking if it's time to buy or sell TSLA.

The noise, including this long thread, has somewhat quieted down, so I'm guessing they've dealt with the problem. The only remaining question is, how many problem cars are out there that haven't been fixed, and whether the one you're looking at could be one. I'd avoid those around the peak as unknown used cars (2017/2018), but newer CRVs are back on my buy list (2020+). And if I trusted the previous owner and it didn't have problems, I'd probably be ok with any.

https://trends.google.com/trends/explor ... 20dilution
https://www.carcomplaints.com/news/2020 ... oved.shtml
How many have been fixed? None! There is no fix. The software update is a scam. My dealership would not even bother to perform the update on my car.
I am so glad I found this thread a few years ago. I was going to buy a CR-V since the Honda dealership I had with my Accord was outstanding! I went with a RAV4 instead. I am glad I did.
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The Stone Wall
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by The Stone Wall »

Joel wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:08 am Random data point, the air conditioning in my 2018 civic hatchback doesn’t seem to be working anymore. I had it cranked down to Lo yesterday and over a 20 minute drive the air never became cool. Not sure if it’s related or what, but my first actual negative experience with this car.
There is a known problem with the air conditioning condenser on the 2018 civic (actually 2016-2018). Look up technical service bulletin 19-091. There is an extended warranty as a result.
Joel
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by Joel »

The Stone Wall wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 8:52 am
Joel wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:08 am Random data point, the air conditioning in my 2018 civic hatchback doesn’t seem to be working anymore. I had it cranked down to Lo yesterday and over a 20 minute drive the air never became cool. Not sure if it’s related or what, but my first actual negative experience with this car.
There is a known problem with the air conditioning condenser on the 2018 civic (actually 2016-2018). Look up technical service bulletin 19-091. There is an extended warranty as a result.
I found that, but apparently my VIN is not covered by the TSB. Either way, I’ve got an appointment on Monday with the dealership to look at it and hopefully get it fixed. We will see if they expect me to pay.
My investment policy statement: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=190093
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jabberwockOG
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by jabberwockOG »

rh00p wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 3:33 am
cshell2 wrote: Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:05 pm Are you kidding me? I start thinking about buying a newer to me vehicle for the first time in many years, fall in love with a 2017 CRV Touring and a 2018 CRV EXL on the lot today, come home to do a little research and find this 24 page long thread. :oops: I keep my vehicles forever and don't want to buy a known chronic issue. I currently have a 2005 Odyssey with 220K miles that is starting to have some engine problems and a 96 Camry that is a tank.
IMO the only remedy is an engine redesign. Software updates are often bandaid repairs to hopefully reduce a symptom. The combination of high fuel pressure, boost pressure, compression ratio over 10:1 and low friction piston rings (for economy) is the problem.
This. 100%. Best to avoid the 1.5 L turbo Honda engine (especially in cold climate areas) until it is replaced with a better design or there is a confirmed and verified hardware fix. Consider a CRV Hybrid instead - it uses a different 2 liter engine.
inbox788
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by inbox788 »

devopscoder wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 6:48 am We have a 2007 Honda CRV EXL with 150K miles on it and it’s still going strong. For Christmas, I changed out the stereo head unit with a new one that supports Apple CarPlay. It makes the case a lot more enjoyable to drive. My daughter will be graduating from college next year so I’m planning to give her this one and buy a new CRV. Is it up for a redesign anytime soon?
Yes, 2022 if they maintain the 5 year upgrade cycle. Model years 1997–2001, 2002–2006, 07-11, 12-16, 17-21?, 22-??

A couple of youtube videos I came across appear to be old or fake.

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/113 ... -spy-shots
https://www.edmunds.com/car-news/next-g ... -know.html

Hopefully they change the new engine designation sufficiently so it's easy to separate out the potentially problematic cars in the future (in additional to keeping track of model years (GEN5)).

OT, I've got the same generation (GEN3) as you and I'm actually considering another for my new teen driver, so I've looking around. I thought I found this info in one of the craigslist listings, but now I can't find it anymore, so maybe they sold it. Anyway, I was saving it as a list of potential maintenance and repairs I'd have to look forward to as the car gets higher in mileage.
Feb 2016 (144K miles) - New Starter
September 2017 (165K miles) - New Rear bearings
March 2018 (177K miles) - Fuel Injector Flush Power Steering Flush, Brake Fluid Flush, Coolant Flush,Transmission Fluid Flush, Oil change, Filters changed
November 2019 (191k miles) - Replaced Front brakes, transmission oil flush
Feb 2020 (194K miles) - CV boots replaced at all four wheels
March 2020(195K miles) - Timing Belt replaced, Water pump replaced, spark plugs replaced
May 2020 (197K miles) - New Radiator Fan
August 2020 (199K miles) - New motor mounts replaced, New Car Battery
What got me was there's no timing belt on these, and I'm hoping the chain lasts a lifetime. Mine has much lower mileage, so I expect it will. Looked up video the rear bearings, and not too big a deal. I've heard more about replacing alternators than starters in other Hondas.

How are your shocks/struts holding up?

No mention of the headlamp lens cover, but every crv of that generation around here has them cloudy and glazed over. I've got a repair kit sitting around that I have to get around to using. Again, not a big deal, but an annoyance.

Hopefully all the CRVs have the potential to make it to 200k, and I've seen more than a few GEN1 and GEN2 listings with more than 200k, and even came across a deal I thought at first was a scam because the asking was so low, but had 300k miles, which explains the low price. And some of those are in better condition than mine.
jbog
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by jbog »

IMO the only remedy is an engine redesign. Software updates are often bandaid repairs to hopefully reduce a symptom. The combination of high fuel pressure, boost pressure, compression ratio over 10:1 and low friction piston rings (for economy) is the problem.
This. Honda claims they fixed it with an ECU flash. That caused other problems for those in cold climates. Still not fixed
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uberme
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by uberme »

Not only does our 2017 CRV have the extended warranty for this gas-dilution issue but the $800 body control module just broke! Car will randomly turn on into accessory mode and drain the battery. Been waiting almost 2 months for the part (at least Honda is covering the majority of the cost but not having your single car stinks). Car only has 30,000 miles!! Don't recommend and will never buy another Honda, quality is not there!
prd1982
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Re: My 2017 CRV is a victim of the dreaded oil gas-dilution issue

Post by prd1982 »

uberme wrote: Wed Jun 14, 2023 9:36 am Not only does our 2017 CRV have the extended warranty for this gas-dilution issue but the $800 body control module just broke! Car will randomly turn on into accessory mode and drain the battery. Been waiting almost 2 months for the part (at least Honda is covering the majority of the cost but not having your single car stinks). Car only has 30,000 miles!! Don't recommend and will never buy another Honda, quality is not there!
Sorry for your problem. However, if you will only buy a model which never has a part break, you will never buy a car. The part shortage affects all manufacturers. Sounds like Honda is doing good by you. As to the oil dilution issue, doesn’t sound like you have actually been affected by it.
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