In fact, the topic of increasing engine oil has existed in the field of internal combustion engines for hundreds of years and is an ancient topic. In the technical library of SAE (International Society of Automotive Engineers, originally translated into American Society of Automotive Engineers), the publication time of the special discussion document on increasing engine oil can be found at 1920!
It has existed and been discussed for a hundred years, which shows that the problem of increasing engine oil is not irresponsible remarks such as "only Japanese cars have the problem of increasing engine oil" misled by some keyboard players on the Internet, nor is it that some media directly equate "increasing engine oil with automobile quality defects" in their reports. If you think about it a little, you will know that if it is really a car quality defect, the car technology that has been developed for a hundred years should have found a solution, right?
There are two flowers, one for each table. For the time being, except for the small probability event that the engine oil increases due to design and quality problems (the car company will recall it if there is a problem). In fact, the increase of engine oil is a normal phenomenon in the process of vehicle driving, but we seldom notice it. As long as it is not an abnormal rise in a short period of time or an abnormal phenomenon of the oil warning light, the rise within a reasonable range is not a problem, and it is not necessary to talk about the "machine" color change.
In order to dispel everyone's doubts about the phenomenon of normalized oil increase, today I will popularize why oil increases and how to avoid it.
Why does the oil increase?
The first thing to explain is that the increase in engine oil is not engine oil, but gasoline. To put it bluntly, gasoline ran into the engine oil, which led to an increase in engine oil. Moreover, it should be clear that almost all engine oil is mixed with gasoline, which is an innate phenomenon brought about by the internal structure of the engine. Therefore, the increase in engine oil is not the "patent" of some cars such as Honda and Toyota, which have been hotly discussed recently, but the normal state that all cars will appear under certain working conditions and using conditions.
In the engine, oil and gasoline are bounded by the piston, the combustion chamber above the piston is gasoline, and the crankcase below is oil. Although there is a piston in the middle, it is impossible to achieve a 100% seal between the piston and the cylinder wall, just as there is no world without friction. So sometimes the engine oil in the crankcase will run into the combustion chamber and be burned, which is what we often call the phenomenon of burning engine oil; Sometimes the gasoline injected into the combustion chamber can not be completely atomized, and it will also penetrate into the crankcase through the piston ring gap, resulting in an increase in engine oil.
There is no difference between the two in essence, but the former is more frequent and we are more used to it. The latter is relatively rare. First, because gasoline is super flammable, it has been burned out long ago under normal circumstances and can't penetrate into the crankcase at all. Secondly, the volatility of gasoline is so strong that as long as the engine oil is heated to the working temperature, even if it is mixed with gasoline, it will be "distilled" and then sent back to the combustion chamber for combustion through the crankcase forced ventilation device, and the amount of engine oil will return to the original level. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the increase of engine oil comes and goes quietly, and the owner often does not notice it. Even if it happens, it will return to normal next time.
For those users who do find an increase in engine oil, it is basically caused by the interior environment and driving habits. Especially in winter, when the temperature is low, the engine temperature will be very low when the cold car is started directly, which will cause the fuel to condense into oil droplets immediately after hitting the cylinder wall, forming a "wet wall effect" and unable to ignite. At this time, gasoline will easily run into the crankcase along the gap between the pistons, which will lead to an increase in engine oil, especially in the north of MINUS 30 degrees, which also explains why it is started in cold areas such as Northeast China in many cases;
In addition, frequent short-distance driving makes the engine oil unable to rise to the corresponding temperature (the normal working temperature of the engine oil is generally 70-90 degrees Celsius), and the gasoline mixed in the engine oil cannot be evaporated and separated, which will naturally accumulate over time.
So will the increase in oil definitely lead to engine wear? The answer is not necessarily. Only when the engine oil greatly increases beyond a certain range will it have an impact on the engine performance. I remember that Honda engineers once did an open experiment, directly mixing a certain amount of gasoline into engine oil, and then working continuously for one hour at a speed as high as 6500 rpm, and found that the core components such as cylinder block, cylinder liner, crankshaft and connecting rod did not appear any abnormal wear. It was not until the amount of gasoline increased to more than 30mm that the oil was diluted and the lubrication effect was weakened. When the engine is worn, but the increase exceeds 2 1mm, the engine fault light will give an alarm. Therefore, under normal circumstances, the increase of engine oil will not cause harm. Worried that the oil will be diluted, change the oil to solve the problem.
How can we avoid increasing engine oil? ?
Having said that, you should understand that the normalized oil increase can be eliminated by the operation of the engine. For those oil increases caused by the automobile environment and driving habits, the solution is simple. If the environment in the car can't be changed, change your driving habits.
In cold weather conditions, short-term hot car behavior can be properly carried out;
When the cold car starts, don't step on the accelerator, keep a low speed and drive normally after reaching the normal oil temperature;
When the cold car starts, don't turn on the heating in a hurry to keep more heat in the engine;
Try to avoid long-term high-frequency short-distance driving, especially for hybrid owners, and try to have a long time/distance at least once in a certain period (such as a week) to make the oil reach the normal working temperature and maintain it for a period of time.
In addition, I'd like to say a few more words here in view of the recent heated case of Toyota engine oil increase.
According to the information we have learned so far, there is no abnormal situation that the fault light is on for the models with increased oil. Based on this, we guess that the main reason for the increase of engine oil is that the owner encountered a low temperature and cold climate during the Spring Festival, as well as short-distance frequent driving and frequent start-stop under the epidemic situation, which easily led to the failure of the engine itself and its surrounding indicators, such as water temperature, engine oil temperature, air-fuel ratio and so on. And it is difficult to eliminate the increased "engine oil" by itself.
There is no need to panic in this case. As long as there is no broken fault light, the problem can often be solved by increasing the engine speed or driving at a high speed of several hundred kilometers.
And emulsifying phenomenon, the oil you care about. First of all, we should distinguish a concept here. Emulsification of oil cover does not mean emulsification of oil. It is also simple to check whether the oil is emulsified. Just pull out the dipstick and have a look. If the oil attached to it is milky white with bubbles, it can be concluded that it is emulsified oil, so be sure to check and maintain it.
If not, there is only a little white emulsified oil-water mixture on the oil cover, so don't worry, which means that emulsification only happens at the position of the oil port. This is because when the engine is running at a low temperature for a short distance, the temperature of the cylinder rises rapidly under the condition that the engine has not reached the warm-up state and the combustion does work, but the valve chamber above the cylinder cannot rise rapidly. Under the action of temperature difference, the top of the valve chamber is prone to water condensation, and when it is mixed with a small amount of engine oil, it will produce engine oil emulsifying phenomenon, which is the inevitable result of the combination of engine working process and specific natural environment and will not affect the use of vehicles. The solution is to keep the engine working continuously. When the temperature rises, this phenomenon will disappear automatically.
Write at the end: here we only discuss the problem objectively, not subjectively. Only by understanding the principle of oil increase can we treat the phenomenon of oil increase correctly and rationally. There is no need to be overly nervous within the normal range, and developing good driving habits can also avoid problems. If there is an increase beyond the normal range, you can fight for your rights and interests more reasonably by understanding the working principle.
In addition, we also suggest that you get into the habit of checking the oil regularly, including taking out the dipstick to check the liquid level, opening the oil filler to observe whether there is emulsified foam on the cover, and dealing with the problem as soon as possible. Remember to go to the officially authorized 4S shop for inspection when encountering this kind of problem, and never go to an unauthorized private repair shop to avoid vehicle loss and economic loss caused by misjudgment.
(Note: All the pictures in this article are from the Internet. Please contact us if there is any infringement. )
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.