Dear Car Talk:
I own a 2014 Honda Accord LX, and it has been a very good car. So good that I am thinking about buying a new Accord. At least I was thinking about a new Accord until I started seeing stories about the engine oil being diluted by gasoline.
This does not sound like a good situation, but I am wondering how bad it really is. I would love to hear your take on this. Thanks!
— Joseph
While Honda’s engineering is generally excellent, they seem to have stumbled with their 1.5 liter turbo engine, Joseph.
There are a number of complaints about gasoline diluting the oil. That’s not a good situation. Gasoline is not nearly as good a lubricant as oil is, so this has the potential to shorten the life of the engine. Not to mention, it’ll cause your car to smell like the corner Exxon station.
The gasoline fumes that mix with the oil are supposed to evaporate and be expunged from the crankcase. And apparently, in cold weather — or if the car is rarely driven long enough to really heat up — the gasoline condenses and builds up in the crankcase until your dipstick reads: “Whoa! Drain out a quart.”
Honda says the problem is limited to 2016-2018 Civics and 2017-2018 CR-Vs with that 1.5L engine. They also say that it’s limited to cold weather states. And they’ve offered a fix and an extra year of limited warranty coverage to buyers in 21 states.
But we’ve certainly seen similar complaints from owners of late model Accords with the 1.5L engine. And Consumer Reports says they received complaints of oil dilution in summer conditions from California and Texas.
So we’d urge caution.
If you really want another Accord, Joseph, one option would be to get the 2.0 liter engine instead. It’s a pricey option, but we haven’t seen complaints of oil dilution for that engine.
And as you know, other than the fact that you’d have to join OPEC as an oil producer if you have the 1.5L engine, the Accord is an excellent car.
Dear Car Talk:
I taught auto mechanics for over 30 years to high school students. In the 1980s, when I was explaining how the resistors in the fan blower worked, I compared it to a hair dryer.
That gave me an idea. Why not add a hair dryer type of heating element in the car’s ductwork for instant heat to the passenger compartment? It could reduce or turn off as engine heat increased until it was no longer needed.
I didn’t pursue this idea because batteries back then were overworked beyond their capacity and heating elements draw a lot of power from the battery.
Fast-forward almost 30 years to today, and you have remote starting devices that are installed for hefty prices. These wear out engines, pollute, use gasoline so reduce gas mileage and have too many parts that can fail.
Today you have heated seats, heated rearview mirrors and mega sound systems guzzling up power from our batteries, so they can’t use “the battery can’t handle it” anymore as an excuse.
I would guess that installing my system in the air duct would cost less than $20 at the factory and cost little to operate.
Can it be done?
— Raymond
Anything can be done, Raymond. I mean, look — they let me write a newspaper column. That doesn’t mean it should be done.
A typical hair dryer uses about 1,200 watts. And realistically, you’d need at least a pair of them. So you’re talking about 200 amps at 12 volts. That’s a pretty significant load on the battery.
It wouldn’t kill the battery in 10 or 15 minutes, but if your battery were old or marginal, and it was a cold day (which it obviously would be), you could weaken it to the point that you’d have trouble starting the car. And wouldn’t that stink?
Of course, once the car is running, you could pull 200 amps from the alternator and the battery combined, and that wouldn’t be a problem. So it could be a way to get some heat right away, once you start the car, but before the engine is producing usable heat.
The larger issue is that heating the air is the least efficient way to keep the driver warm.
Take a typical sedan. Say it has about 20 cubic feet of interior volume. You’re taking up about 4 of those cubic feet, and yet you’re wasting a ton of energy heating up the other 16 cubic feet to 70 degrees.
In contrast, radiant heating (seat heaters, steering wheel heaters, rear window defroster) use far less power, and deliver the heat precisely where it’s needed: to your tuchus and key surrounding areas.
But here’s the good news, Raymond: Your idea actually makes more sense for electric cars, which are getting more popular every day. Here’s why. Electric cars don’t have internal combustion engines, which give off heat. So they already use electric heating elements to heat up the cabin.
And on a cold day, with a simple remote control, you could run the heating element while the car is still plugged into its charger. That would preheat the cabin without eating into the car’s battery reserve and driving range.
So it’s a great idea, Raymond. You were just 35 years ahead of your time and working on the wrong propulsion technology.
Got a question about cars? Write to Ray in care of King Features, 628 Virginia Drive, Orlando, FL 32803, or email by visiting the Car Talk website at www.cartalk.com. Send comments to [email protected].
