This has come up several times lately and I was wondering what everyone's thoughts were. Can running relatively rich actually leech oil past the rings? This is an interesting theory to me and I do notice the reverse, a slight fuel smell in my oil, more so than in other cars I've owned. My '01 runs great but does burn some oil (like virtually every other 5th gen it seems).
I do notice my car seems to run a bit richer than I'm used to and I'm trying to figure out why Honda would do this by design (I find it hard to believe 5th gens all run rich due to some chronic problem). Running richer usually means running somewhat cooler, and with greater emmisions (leaner=hotter and generally fewer emmisions). If Honda chose to make 'ludes run rich it would hurt their emmisions standing and also affect mileage, so there must be some very good reason. Could it be for engine protection? Leaner running cars have less margin for error and detonation is easier, so maybe given the RPMs the H22 will see it is "safer" to make it run a bit on the rich side?
If this condition is by design, is it wise to "correct" it by the installation of a VAFC?
Just thinking out loud; please post any feedback.
KrautLude
I do notice my car seems to run a bit richer than I'm used to and I'm trying to figure out why Honda would do this by design (I find it hard to believe 5th gens all run rich due to some chronic problem). Running richer usually means running somewhat cooler, and with greater emmisions (leaner=hotter and generally fewer emmisions). If Honda chose to make 'ludes run rich it would hurt their emmisions standing and also affect mileage, so there must be some very good reason. Could it be for engine protection? Leaner running cars have less margin for error and detonation is easier, so maybe given the RPMs the H22 will see it is "safer" to make it run a bit on the rich side?
If this condition is by design, is it wise to "correct" it by the installation of a VAFC?
Just thinking out loud; please post any feedback.
KrautLude
