The oil dilution problem with the 1.5L turbo is well known. Honda should have never gotten away from the naturally aspirated 2.4L. That was a great engine.
@@DavidGarcia-oi5ntthe k series is still used today in civics, CR-Vs and some Acura products. While it has been modernized(with GDI and a turbo in some cars) it is still a very reliable engine. If I was buying a modem Honda I would avoid the 1.5T at all costs.
This engine failed becasue the plastic was left on the head gasket blocking the oiling gallery, not because there's some kind of issue with the design.
I’ve seen this happen before. Being a honda filter they are packaged in air tight plastic wrap. im sure whoever did the oil change unwrapped the oil filter by jamming their finger in the hole that threads into the block. This can result in plastic wrap falling into the filter and once on the car the plastic will clog up an oil feed line and usually toasts the camshafts usually the intake side. Honda later sent out a tutorial video on how to unwrap their oil filters. We kinda chuckled but hey for those who didnt know now they know.
This is exactly what happens. Usually you can see the plastic at the head gasket oil orifice. Not able to tell in the video if this is what is causing the obstruction.
wow, I'd say if a tech doesnt know how to take plastic wrap off of an automotive part, they probably should find another line of work. What a lazy simple error that can have catastrophic consequences.
110k mile update on my crv with this exact same motor. Runs like a Swiss watch. Engine has high compression and burns no oil. Has been very well maintained by myself. I'd say it passes my test for durability
@@betoib1504 my point is that it is a GOOD motor. most other vehicles i've driven has given me all kinds of crap even at only 30k miles. This is a fantastic motor that honda has built. it just works.
I’m not a motor or engine guy, but I find your videos very therapeutic. And I always learn something, so I can chime in when my friends that are mechanics are talking about things I shouldn’t know.
The water cooled integrated exhaust gas manifold actually serves double duty, it helps the engine/cat warm up faster, but it also allows for much lower EGTs at operating temp, which allows for a leaner/hotter burn without cooking the cat. Drastically improves highway fuel economy.
Read my mind. Brand new oil filter on the engine with no oil in it. My gut tells me the car was sent out of the Honda quick lube lane without any oil in the pan.
Likely in this case. Most the time Honda requires you to pull the head off any engine with any suspected lubrication issues to inspect for plastic in the headgasket from the oil filter packaging. The tape on the headgasket was likely a RO or techline number to get the okay for a long block.
15:45 That's an offset crankshaft, which reduces thrust loading (and thus, friction) on the power stroke. It's similar to when you pedal a bike with a more direct force by moving your body forward vs. directly over the crank centerline - so you can push on the pedals more directly vertically instead of reaching forward.
At a glance, it looks like you'll get more out of that than I'd have expected for a "forgot oil" special. As for why it was only "partially" trashed, you said it. "run briefly" sounds about right. They forgot the oil, ran it, made a racket, panicked, didn't turn it off fast enough, and trashed it. Was probably free "we f'd up" work if they were in for one of those "free" oil changes that some places do to sell you the farm on other unnecessary work, as I suspect.
This is called the Jiffy Lube special. Likely didn't make it very far before the engine was shut off with no oil pressure, or the engine shut itself off because no oil pressure was detected. That filter was probably put on brand new, and likely never had any oil run through it
I was a dealer tech for 30 years and left the Honda dealer earlier this year. That engine does not like being ran without oil. We had about 30 in a years time that came in toasted from either loose drainplugs or oil filters.
Is this because low level lube techs just don’t care or are they rushed? I always change my own but when I had a wok van I went through a valvoline lube. I thought they were a bit much with the military like operation but I guess it saves buying engines
@@MegaHollywood1971 that makes no sense at all. If you add more fuel and air its gonna make more power. If i onky add more fuel its gonna be too rich if i only add more air its too lean. If you add both to keep air fuel ratios right its gonna make more power more reliably. I ran it for 100k miles like that no issues. Explain to me how your logic makes sense.
2018 Accord Sport 1.5t 6 speed manual owner here. Mine has 8500 miles. Oil changed twice a year, one before winter, one before summer. Runs like a champ.
I'd say the engine is pretty good. Uncles close friend drives alot for work, I saw his odometer and he had 205k on the 1.5 turbo civic si and the only thing that broke in that time was the ac system had a leak. The biggest problem is oil dilution with the crv for some reason. The civic doesn't really show it but he did short oil change intervals to not risk it. I'd say in the civic si form this is a dam near perfect turbo gas engine.
@Steven Strain honestly yeah, my neighbor has a crv which was the peak model year for that issue and honestly they just warm it up a little while and it's been doing fine in below freezing temps.
My wife has an orange 09 Honda fit 5 spd sport, 200k and it runs like new, it's barely needed anything but maintenance, I did tierod ends, and stabilizer links last year, and a battery, which I think was the original one. Other than that. It's just been maintenance, everything works too. Power windows, locks, ac ,cruise, ect. Even still has the original clutch. We love it. And I have an accord 5 SPD w 231k, it's also barely needed anything but maintenance, also even has the original clutch, everything works in that, too and it's older than her fit
The oil dilution issue happens more often if you drive in a way where your engine doesn’t get up to operating temperature to burn off the fuel in the crankcase. I’d say avoid any type of direct injection engine from any company if the majority of your driving is short trips.
Here's some trivia on the exhaust manifold integrated into the head casting. Honda did that first on the 2000 Insight hybrid 1.0L 3-cylinder. The integrated manifold let the car warm up more quickly, which reduced the fuel consumption associated with warmup. I'll tell you it's needed, because on a cold day you can sit with the heater on and pull the engine temp all the way to the bottom of the scale at idle. The engine burns so little fuel, the heater core is all the radiator it needs (at idle). With a conventional manifold, I bet it'd take FOREVER to heat the car up in the morning. The integrated manifold is also lighter weight than a separate iron manifold with associated bolts and flanges. Because that car ran VERY lean in cruise conditions, it also had issues meeting NOx emissions (same thing as dieselgate). The integrated manifold allowed the cat to be placed closer to the combustion chamber, lighting it off quicker and making the EPA less grumpy. However they still had to make a dedicated California model which got WAY worse mileage in order to meet the stricter CARB targets. Eventually the whole country adopted standards that made lean-burn effectively illegal, which is why the old Insight's ECA1 engine is still the most thermally-efficient gasoline car engine ever sold in North America, even though it's over 20yrs old now. I can tell you mine still gets 70mpg+ on the regular and sometimes into the 80s, with the hybrid battery deactivated (yeah, you can do that).
I would like to testify to my many problems encountered with my Civic 2020 Sport Plus with the 1.5T L15BA engine in France. I bought this car new in February 2020 with 0km. Currently I have 20000km (12500 miles). According to Honda France, my Civic was not affected by the fuel pump problem but unfortunately no brand recall. And indeed I had power loss and idle problems. The pump had to be changed at 16,000 km (10,000 miles). I'm not talking about paint problems on a rally red on the rear bumper. But even more serious when I realized a little late that my Civic was drinking coolant. The maintenance garage didn't know where it was going. So we were regularly filling up the expansion tank, until one summer day this year when it was particularly very very hot, the Civic found itself in extreme engine overheating. The Civic had starting problems and seemed to run on 2 or 3 cylinders. The garage still did not ask questions, despite my concerns. So he refueled and 500km (300 miles) later, the jar was empty again. The garage therefore decides to open the engine in 2 and was able to see that my cylinder head had a big molding problem from the factory. So since buying my Civic, my 1.5T engine was drinking coolant through cylinder 2 and smoking white out the exhaust. The cylinder head had to be changed at 19500km (12200 miles). Since the idle is not terrible and I like tremors in the engine. Unfortunately, I no longer trust this car and Honda. I have problems reselling it because of this defect and Honda France doesn't care !
Just got a new 2023 this week. Traded in my wife’s escape that was burning oil in it’s 1.5l turbo and at some point will have coolant intrusion issues. (Thanks Ford, wife bought it before I met her). Have you had any oil burning that you have noticed? I doubt you have from everything I have read.
@@PaulNaylor3 my thoughts as well. Have an 07 accord with 115k miles(I know it’s not a lot of the age) with zero burning, so that’s what I expect of Hondas with regular maintenance. Ford….crap as you would expect.
My Uncle had a Fairmount from about 1981 or 1982. I went to visit and the first evening I was here we drove from his NE. Pennsylvania home to Binghamton, NY. An hour drive (?) in the mountains which had a funny sound coming from the engine - out and back. It was still a fairly new car so the thought that it might be a bad speedometer cable seemed implausible because of its age. Also it changed with engine RPM... The dealership had changed the oil a day or two before I arrived so he thought NOTHING should be or could be wrong. Once we got home, I pulled the dipstick and it was DRY. Not even a drop on the end of the stick. We put in two quarts he had in the garage and the dealer received a visit the next day. He had that car for several more years with no problems. Was he lucky!
My took my 2018 Outback to the dealership for it's first ever oil and filter change @ 5000 miles. They rounded off the plug. I always change it myself ever since
Great video! I’ve been searching for these L series engine tear downs but realize that they’re so relatively new that it would take some time. But now you have one. Anyway, my 2018 Civic EX-T 1.5 turbo (bought new) currently has 94,800 trouble free miles averaging 33.3 mpg. I drive about 60% highway. I maintain everything earlier than the scheduled maintenance. I change the oil/filter every month (between 3,800-4,200 mile intervals). I flushed the coolant once. I changed the transmission fluid twice. I had the fuel injectors cleaned. I changed the spark plugs early (around 67,000 miles). I’ll be changing the water pump and serpentine belt as part of the “routine” maintenance at 100,000 miles. I plan on keeping my 10th gen Civic until the proverbial wheels fall off (hopefully 300,000 miles or more). I love this car.
Hey if you ever get the chance, go on the CivicX forums and post a how-to on those bigger maintenance items like coolant changes and belt replacement! Would be great for those of us like you who want to run this engine until it dies! ;)
That's superb maintenance! The turbo won't last that long, so you will need one of those, along with a HPFP and LPFP, new injectors, suspension, etc. I would suggest doing the standard drain & fill of the transmission closer to every 26-30K miles though and you are due to open it up and change out the filter as well (if you want it to remain trouble free).
UPDATE: In five days (June 18 2022), I’ll have had my Civic for four years. I currently have 111,000 trouble-free miles and averaging 33.9 mpg. I’ve changed the transmission fluid three times and continue to change the oil/filter early (every 3,800 miles). I haven’t replaced the water pump and drive belt yet but I plan to this summer. I’ve never redlined and rarely even exceeded 4,000 rpm. The car is running as smooth as when I bought it new. Not a single repair yet. I was offered above market value for it and a great price for the new 11th gen model but not a chance. The new 11th gen Civic pales in comparison to my 10th gen in nearly every way.
@@txmoney I've got 74k on my 2018 Civic Hatchback, 1.5 Turbo, 6 speed, LX Hatchback and it's been great! Bought it brand new, never any problems except one A/C service under warranty. I go 5k on the oil changes, don't smell gas in my oil, no oil level changes either. The American Honda Spec sheet says this engine needs NO SERVICE until 100,000 miles, so I've done nothing except air filter changes and oil changes. I love the car!
When I was about 14, I once mowed our lawn in TX with no (well- very little) oil in the 4 cycle Briggs & Stratton motor, and it was apparently none the worse for wear. My Dad had drained the oil and left the new quart sitting on top. I moved it and mowed. Lesson learned, fortunately not expen$ive. Car engines not so forgiving.
One of the biggest problems we have at Honda is technicians tend to push the plastic wrap from the new oil filter into the filter, causing a blockage and then oil starvation. We have seen oil ports in the head gasket have pieces of plastic stuck in it. I have also seen these engines fail the exact same way, starting with the intake cam failing closest to the high pressure fuel pump..
My 2020 Civic SI just failed with the exact same failure mode. Honda is saying the oil wasn't changed enough by the previous owner, but all the other CAM journals look good, just the last two on the oil distribution line are like this.
Your tear downs are very interesting, like engine csi :) I’m a Honda tech and I haven’t left a drain bolt ,filter or oil cap loose, or double gasketed a filter in 2.5 years aka never, I just mark down on the repair order with a pen with two slashes confirming they’re tight, one for the filter one for the drain bolt…. Job done lol. Oil changes are childs play lol doing bigger jobs is so much more interesting..
you sound sus, i think this motor was your doing. Thy who smelt it hath be the one that delt it. jk, ive been a tech for 7 years now and i highly recommend double checking plug and filter tightness no mater how long it takes...
The dealership I bought my 2017 Civic Touring at did not properly tighten my drain plug bolt, and it came out while driving, luckily I have a clue what I am doing and noticed the momentary flashes in my gauge cluster about low oil quickly enough to pull the car over while the oil was still draining out of my engine. That dealership got incredibly lucky because I obviously saved them thousands of dollars by preventing the destruction of that engine
He does a fantastic job and I find these videos very interesting. I like how he talks to the engine, with a stuck part he says: “Come off now, you know you want to.” When I work on my engine I talk to it too…. But it’s just a lot of swearing.
My K24 has 180,000 miles on it and burns almost no oil… that is why I like Honda. Interesting to see how simple the 1.5 is. Guess when I finally get a new Honda this is what I’m in for lol
I recently got a 2020 TLX 2.4, in large part because it was the newest car you could get a K24 in where I live and I want to keep it for a good long time. It was also the same price used as a base Accord of the same year.
Thanks for posting this up! The moment I saw this about that Honda, ahem "earth dreams" 1.5L engines I had to see this video and its design. I gotta say, I'm not of fan of them and look at the size of that piston! Esh! No wonder these large heavy AWD suvs can't move out of their way under their own power without the assist of a turbo! You briefly mentioned the oil/fuel dilution issue on these engines. It's a comman issue that Honda will ignore, and deny that it's a engineering problem. Here's the thing: it is NOT normal for oil to mix with fuel! Everytime I do a oil change on my customer's CRV, the oil dipstick is always past the full mark and when you smell it, yeap it diluted alright. I told my customer, if you want this engine to last, you better do your oil changes every 3000 miles, or sooner! Not at 5k-7k as recommended from Honda or else that engine is going to be looking like that lightweight boat anchor you had on the stand..
Currently having issues with our 1.5t. They do not like cold weather. Constant fowling of spark plugs and oil dilution is a problem. Had spark plugs and oil changed in January and already the engine is missing and oil is up 1/2 a liter
Earth Dreams technology focuses on making Honda vehicles more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly without losing performance. the key is "environmentally friendly", hence "earth dream".. that's what my take on that name.. i might be wrong tho..
Though the piston is smaller, the rod is quite long.. good to know it since it reduces lateral load against the cylinder wall which turbo engines generate lots of it.
Ever see inside a ford ecoboost 1.0 3 cylinder engine? I'm working on one and it has a timing belt inside covered in oil. Oil pump also has a rubber looking belt inside the oilpan...
@@Dcc357 They are not. The tensioner for the wet timing belt likes to self-disassemble under 20k miles. If not that, then the cogs of the tiny wet belt for the oil pump wears out prematurely. Also under 20k miles. I'm no longer a Ford tech. It's been two years since I changed careers. So I can't say what the failure rate is currently.
Honda dealership shop foreman here this is not a Honda defect but a common issue. Honda oil filters come wrapped in plastic lube techs poke there finger in the hole and the piece of plastic gets jammed into a new filter and gets stuck in a small oil passage in the head gasket intake cam is always fried. That's the story of that engine.
I am surprised to see a 4 cylinder that does not have a balancer assy . I have one of these engines in my '21CR-V Im surprised by performance of this little guy . Performance is surprisingly good and fuel mileage is fantastic ! 🌵
I had civic for 2years with this motor and i can tell it is a good one, around 40mpg normal driving 182 horsepower decent enough for overtaking, only complain i have is the long time for engine to warm up :)
This guy is very lucky in the end. At first glance, seeing this empty oil pan, I was 100% sure, the crank bearings are messed up. Now there is "only" the head to replace, which still is expensive, but cheaper than a complete new replacement engine.
More than likely the Honda dealer messed up. The owner of the civic got a free new engine from this. Hopefully the dealer replaced the turbo and all the lines feeding it since more than likely the Turbo was starved as well.
Funny coincidence that I’m replacing this exact engine on a 2021 Civic Si. Mine only had one cam bearing trashed on one of the intake journals. Honda actually does not have an assembled replacement engine yet. The dealer had to build a short block and head for us. Now I’m wondering if failing can bearings are going to be a common problem.
The engine in the video wasn't a manufacturer defect. It was trashed bc someone at the dealer forgot to put oil in it. But that 1.5L L-series is kind of trash. Better off getting an older Si with the k20 or save for a type r imo
@@hak2297 Ahhhh lmao. My sister recently started working at a Honda stealership. She INSISTS that there were no problems at all with their engines. Like it never happened. And apparently, all other brands had no issues with their turbo'd engines either...
I know exactly what happened to that engine. Somebody pushed a piece of the plastic cover into the oil filter, it got stuck on the oil passage to the cylinder head and it starved the head of oil while the rest of the engine had enough
The plastic was FLAT to the gasket. That was from the replacement that was done previously and the mechanic (whomever) didn't remove it. A tech wouldn't miss that, but a leary owner would when doing the work themselves.
These engines have had issues because of oil dilution and the first few years of this engine they extended the coverage of the 1.5T. The parts that they did cover were repairs for camshaft, rocker arm assemblies and spark plugs. It seems some of those issues are what show up on this engine however it running low on oil is the likely culprit. I know personally with my 2017 I have had issues since new but I run my oil no more that 5k then I change it. I don't burn oil but its always above the fill line by the time I change the oil. I personally have no faith in this engine series being super reliable as it ages.
Just to note: this engine, from what I have learned, doesn't handle repeated short trips well. It's one that you need to get it fully heated up long enough or it can suffer oil dilution.
@Steven Strain I'm still seeing oil dilution on the Honda 1.5T and Hyundai 1.6T when frequently babies or all short trips, bo katter the model year. Fyi Broken Arrow, OK region.
@Steven Strain maintenance is but one factor of wether this will result in engine failure. Sometimes parts changes pr additions are nessessary but I've dealt with this issue before in a Dodge Turbo 2 engine. Hamd in hamd with maintenance executed on a schedule correct for your particular application and taking the vehicle onto a highway and getting it hot enough to make the crankcase reach full operating temperature will cause the gas accumulated in the oil to vaporize and pass through the PCV system where it will be burned off in the engine. So in conclusion oil dilution is not nessessarily fatal to an engine. Its how you respond to it in most cases. That said, i would buy a 10th gen Civic SI and enact correct care of the car.
@Steven Strain depending upon the environment in which the vehicle is used in, how the vehicle is used/driven, oil dilution can occur in warm weather as well. Also, i have seen no evidence that the EMS can tell if there is oil dilution therefore i will check the engine oil regularly. As i mentioned in a prior reply, i had to deal with oil dilution on an older, unrelated engine so i know how to respond to it.
Same engine in the 2017+ Honda CR-V w/ a CV-T. In that vehicle, they're rated at 190HP. Echoing the TSB remark for oil dilution due to excess fuelling. We barely drove that car for a variety of reasons (had other cars, change in family health), so I sold it less than 3 years later with very low miles - partially to get away from any potential engine carnage down the road.
Honda was so irresponsible that they refused to remap the 2016 and 2017 vehicles with fuel dilution unless you had major issues already and unless you lived in North Dakota, Michigan, or Maine. They threw the dice that extended warranty as settlement in the Hamilton vs Honda class action lawsuit was sufficient. I will not share my real sentiments. I still drive a 1.5 Civic.
Possibly when oil change was done, tech did not remove plastic cover correctly and plastic clogged head gasket orifice and starved head from lubrication, check head gasket.
This suggestion is completely out of my ass but i suspect the 'Earth Dreams" designation comes from the characterization that the engine is Environmentally friendly.
@@dylanandersen9318 It tolerates slightly higher compression and boosted compression at that but it burns dirtier than port-injected and really is only about 7% more efficient. It has poorer cylinder head flow than K series so it has less power than a turbo K series would have with higher flow efficiency. The 35 mpg mixed efficiency is no better than Civics 20 years ago achieved.
I agree ,I think someone drained the oil and changed the filter and forgot to refill the oil and started the engine dry. It does not take long to ruin a motor with no oil.
Had this engine in my 17 Civic, oil changed every 5k or every 4 months at most. Could smell gas in the oil every time I changed it. Honda wouldn’t do anything so I traded it in for my Tacoma and never looked back 👍🏻
I bought my 2020 Civic Sport Sedan with the 2.0 naturally aspirated port injected engine (K20C2) as well as a manual transmission as it’s the most reliable way to buy a modern Civic. However, I have seen MANY 1.5T direct injected Honda engines with well over 100,000 miles on them. Highest on my forum thread is 187,900 miles. As long as this engine warms up and you don’t take many short trips, (especially in colder climates) and do oil changes frequently (I’d do 3,000 miles to be safe) oil dilution will not be a major issue. 👍🏻
When I saw the inside of that head I thought it was crazy clean. Amazing how clean it is when you don’t use oil 😂 That owner could have slapped on a head and been ok. They may have been able to get them from the wrecker. Do a B20z please!
I smell Honda dealership service tech “lube tech” oil change mistake all over this engine. Basically brand new motor, blue OEM filter. We hear about it occasionally on the civicX forums. Lazy, rushed jobs that are absolutely the result of the broken systems that dealership service departments run on these days. Not just Honda Because the Journals furthest from the oil pump were torn up the worst, this tells me that it was refilled, but oil was leaking out due to the oil drain plug letting loose. The oil filter was on tight and you didn’t mention any double gasket. SAD My Dad worked at a Toyota dealership for a little while shuttling vehicles between dealerships. He said this happens surprisingly frequently. If you are capable of doing your own basic maintenance on your vehicle and you actually care about your car, it’s highly recommended that you do this work yourself. Nobody cares about your car as much as you do.
honda "lube tech" here, you are right in how the service department works us to the bone and promises customers specific deadlines while knowing full well that we are understaffed and that we need to get through possibly 3 or 4 cars before we can get to theirs. about the drain plug thing, we do 'multi-point inspections' which force us to focus our attention on certain areas and point out possible issues (cracked cv boots, bad tie rod boots, rusted out exhaust, present fluid leaks, etc.), sometimes we end up putting in the plug but forget to torque it cuz we forgot to inspect tire tread or brake pad wear or something else and then proceed to focus our attention on that. i always try to double or triple check a torqued drain plug but sometimes when you're being told that you need to get this car done in 7 minutes while you're only halfway through a tire rotation, you forget real important things real easy. i do believe that if the deadlines were more lenient and service advisors actually paid attention to the fact that 3 techs cant do the job of 6, dumb stuff like this wouldn't happen as often as it does
Honda Master Tech here. I had a customer drive their 2019 civic hatchback from Northern California. They had an oil change preformed at a dealer up there. They were complaining of a rattle noise when the engine is running. I checked the oil level it was good. I started the car and the engine rattled like crazy. I was able to pin point the noise to the hi pressure fuel pump housing. When I removed the valve cover the entire intake cam had metal shavings in each cam tower except the one closest to the cam gear. The engine was contaminated with metal shavings. I got authorization to pull the head and I found a small piece of plastic lodged in the head gasket where the oil comes up from the block to lube the cams. The lube tech that did the oil change did not open the filter properly. I ended up putting together and installing a new L15 engine and turbo into the customers car at no cost to them. Cost the dealer nearly $20000 in parts. Dumb mistakes cost a lot of money.
Stock, They're perfectly fine engines. Unfortunately people think a 1.5L economy engine built for fuel economy is a race car and they push them way too hard. Use quality oil, change it often and don't beat the shit out of it and it will treat you fine.
Worked as a tech at a Honda dealer for a couple years and these engines are pretty good and super torquey. Only thing is with the 0W-20, the oil gets diluted pretty fast. If you do 5k oil change intervals the oil will be watery and have a strong fuel smell. I suspect it’s a combination of thin oil, boost, and direct injection
@@meegssan5716 It doesn’t. Same engine as the one in this video. When you look at the intake and exhaust camshafts they only have 1 lobe each per cylinder. On a VTEC engine they will have additional lobes that are larger so when they are engaged it changes the valve lift events. When they’re engaged it changes the engine sound which is what Honda guys refer to as vtec crossover. These engines do have cam phasers though which is known as VTC. It change change valve timing but it’s not like vtec which can change valve lift and duration. Hope that helps, but I think the K20C in the newer type r’s have vtec but only on the exhaust camshaft
@@brandonsiniawski4619 oh wow that is very helpful. It has a vtc 🤔 So it is similar in a sense to vtec but not as good im going to assume. I wonder why they didnt made it vtc instead of vtec. Ill have to google some more thank you 🙏
@@meegssan5716 VTEC and VTC are different I’d recommend watching videos on how they affect the valves. An animation will help give you a better understanding than me writing it out
Engine set gap. Ok. New vocabulary, thank you sir. Also, not the first DI engine I've seen with an oil consumption/ fuel dilution issue, regardless of make. 0W16/0W20 oil viscosity is probably partially to blame.
My buddy had an F150 with the Triton motor. He had the oil changed by the local Lube shop and they put a non OEM oil filter on it that does not have a built in check valve. Every time her started it the cams starved for oil until pressure built up. His cams looked exactly like that. This engine was clearly run with either no oil or low oil pressure. I didnt see any tremendous leaks, its possible someone changed the oil and didnt fill it up before starting the engine.
They cast the exhaust into the head to reduce heat loss to turbo, reduce distance from exhaust port to turbo as much as possible to improve efficiency and remove another section of exhaust that could leak to make packaging smaller and more reliable. It's both a great and horrible idea at the same time.
Shared this video on CivicX forums. Hopefully it gets some traffic. Hope you can get your hands on one from an Si to compare with. The L15B7 has slightly better internals. Thicker rods, higher compression ratio, sodium filled valves, slightly differen’t turbo to make a few more lbs of boost… etc. The 11th gen civic version of this engine is slightly revised. Apparently now has VTEC on the exhaust side. I’d love to see what else is different that Honda doesn’t reveal on the stats sheet. But I doubt we’ll see an easily acquirable motor from a 2022 model for quite some time.
No. The SI engine is not different in those ways. It has lower compression ratio 10.3. The rods are identical except for a harder alloy used. Same piston oil squirters. Different oil pan. Different cam. Different type of Mass Airflow sensor. Same valves. The video of teardown SI engine is online I believe and GenX forum has images of all engine parts as taken apart by MA Performance.
I’m very surprised at how Honda has avoided carbonized intake valves like other direct injected engines, even without installing port injectors like Toyota & Ford.
@@poprawa - I don’t know, my brother owns a 2014 Honda Accord with the 4-Cylinder engine. He drives like a grandmother all of the time, & there’s no sign of any engine carbonization (engine stumbling etc).
@@poprawa you mean people driving “hard”? I have a brother with a 2014 Honda Accord, & drives like a grandparent. I’ve never seen his 2.4L 4-cylinder have any problems after all of these years related to carbonization.
I watched dozens of these come in for a recall, there was a batch of them shipped without wrist pin retainers installed. Some made it to the first oil change without failure, but some grenaded very quickly
That intake cam had some "high quality H2O in it" ... I see what you did there, Waterboy! Just about sprayed my drink all over my screen, thank you very much! Took me a second to figure out you weren't looking for a 12.8mm socket too... smh
I actually see a lot of these engines having oil dilution issues with the fuel washing out the oil. It sludges up, smokes the turbo, all sorts of stuff. It’s usually from shitty and infrequent oil changes.
These engines can go in the shitter quick if oil change interval goes over 10k miles. The oil takes up carbon and gets very dark. We know it takes up some fuel as well that is driven by variables. The good thing is the pistons and cylinder bores are very well made and my oil consumption is very low.
I was told to use Honda 0W-20 especially in the winter. Apparently it has additives that will stop water in the crankcase/oil pump freezing and starving the engine of oil at startup. I wonder?
Have always been fond of these 1.5s, very nice layout in the engine bay and were easy to work on. Very good engines most definitely one of the better turbos on the market. Have always been curious to see what they looked like internally, never knew they were offset crank
I need one of those heads to mess with. Looking at the exhaust port, there’s a shit ton of meat to remove to port match it. I bet there’s power to be had and a reduction in lag too.
@@rileyneufeld7001 i have one of these 1.5 turbos, 3-5k at most the small engine and high pressures with turbo and heat need the oil changes quicker. Everytime i used 0-20 the oil came out like water, i use 0-30 or 5-30 now and change around 3-5k. I use full synthetic to
@@rileyneufeld7001 i bought it new has 33k miles now when i used 0-20 it vibrated more, 0-30 its smoothed but il switch back to 0-20 in winter its a decent engine i do push it tho since its manual and fbo.
Loved the "quality h2o" reference from Water Boy. Well done. I think this poor engine had an oil port blocked going to that one cam. all the other parts seemed well oiled, and there was no component failure.
Person who drove this probably pronounced the ride as a Hon-duhh..... Perfect example on why you need to do your research and understand the importance of maintenance with any engine especially a Turbo charged engine. I had a D16A6 in a 92 hatch. My buddy had a turbo kit made specifically for that however after a falling out I decided to get a 2004 VW Passat 1.8T 5speed wagon and I still have it today. Runs solid.
Might have run the oil too long and then tried to fix it with an oil change. The oil in these direct injection Honda's is super thin and reeks of gas at 5K.
Looks like either the oil dilution recall that Honda has reprograms for the fuel map and that never got done OR cause this has been apart already as evidenced by the loose manifold, loose cam cap, tape on the head gasket....a lube tech used his finger to remove the plastic covering that Honda wraps their filters in by sticking his finger in the threaded hole and then tearing the wrapper off. This can sometimes leave a piece of plastic inside the filter on the filtered oil side. That piece of plastic can go up through an oil gallery to the head and get trapped at a point near the head, restricting oil flow to the cams and demolishing the caps as we see and causeing a misfire. The intake was likely removed cause of the misfire/no start and the tech threw injectors at it but oops, didn't fix it. Just my thoughts on it.
Ok, so about those small pistons and connecting rods---this particular engine is all about efficiency, so Honda wanted to make the reciprocating assembly as light as possible. I'll bet it was also balanced to tighter tolerances than a standard Honda engine
Working out quite well on paper and excel, not so much in reality. Prefer the Mazda - way with the 2,0 and no turbo. A part what is not present has no weight, causes no cost and can never fail...
I had a ton of fun when it came time to rebuild the engine on my 1987 Honda CRX. Fun fact, that was the first year of the Honda D series (D15A2 (or A3)). Prior to 1987 it was the EW series engine. Super simple design and even after 350K miles on it, most of the inside of the block was immaculate looking. Did need new rod bearings, but was such a fun engine to work on because of how simple it is.
Another great video, thanks Eric. The Chrysler Pentastar V6 that is available in just about every Stellantis (Yucky name) product uses the same kind of one exhaust outlet per head. It means you don't have to manufacture a cast iron header for each application, just a pipe and flange. Cheaper, easier to package. But sucks for performance.
Also responsible for higher highway fuel economy since it allows you to have lower EGTs, meaning you can have a leaner mixture without cooking the cat.
tubular steel welded exhaust manifolds (not cast iron) are good for an interference manifold with better torque and low speed light throttle. My 1.7L with VV and 4-2-1 manifold has lack of power at 35-45mph due to small displacement engine and that transmission keeps shifting into top gear. Suzuki engines are setup for 3,000 rpms max torque not 4400 Honda.
Never thought I'd get taught an automotive class from Adam Sandler.
No resemblance what so ever
lmfao
@@dennispark2992
There is some resemblance
high quality h2o
Im dead bro.. best comment ever
The oil dilution problem with the 1.5L turbo is well known. Honda should have never gotten away from the naturally aspirated 2.4L. That was a great engine.
The 2.2 and 2.3 we're good also
Emissions was the issue with K series even though I agree with you.
@@DavidGarcia-oi5ntthe k series is still used today in civics, CR-Vs and some Acura products. While it has been modernized(with GDI and a turbo in some cars) it is still a very reliable engine. If I was buying a modem Honda I would avoid the 1.5T at all costs.
This engine failed becasue the plastic was left on the head gasket blocking the oiling gallery, not because there's some kind of issue with the design.
They should have done a clean sheet 2.5L NA inline 4 from block to heads. Same reliability as the 2.4L but more fuel efficient and lower emissions.
We have tuned afew of these engines and have been running around 22psi on them stock for afew years now and no issues
I’ve seen this happen before. Being a honda filter they are packaged in air tight plastic wrap. im sure whoever did the oil change unwrapped the oil filter by jamming their finger in the hole that threads into the block. This can result in plastic wrap falling into the filter and once on the car the plastic will clog up an oil feed line and usually toasts the camshafts usually the intake side. Honda later sent out a tutorial video on how to unwrap their oil filters. We kinda chuckled but hey for those who didnt know now they know.
Nice comment.
This is exactly what happens. Usually you can see the plastic at the head gasket oil orifice. Not able to tell in the video if this is what is causing the obstruction.
omg what a nightmare
Jesus...
wow, I'd say if a tech doesnt know how to take plastic wrap off of an automotive part, they probably should find another line of work. What a lazy simple error that can have catastrophic consequences.
110k mile update on my crv with this exact same motor. Runs like a Swiss watch. Engine has high compression and burns no oil. Has been very well maintained by myself. I'd say it passes my test for durability
110 is not that much
@@JacobTheGunNut compared to what cars where in the past 100k is a good metric for general reliability. The L series is proven
110k miles is about 175k km. Teetering on high mileage, even tho 250k on a Honda is effectively 0 km
Bro I have a 7.3 power stroke with 460k miles in it, my 1.5T has 30k is not even braked in
@@betoib1504 my point is that it is a GOOD motor. most other vehicles i've driven has given me all kinds of crap even at only 30k miles. This is a fantastic motor that honda has built. it just works.
I’m not a motor or engine guy, but I find your videos very therapeutic. And I always learn something, so I can chime in when my friends that are mechanics are talking about things I shouldn’t know.
The water cooled integrated exhaust gas manifold actually serves double duty, it helps the engine/cat warm up faster, but it also allows for much lower EGTs at operating temp, which allows for a leaner/hotter burn without cooking the cat. Drastically improves highway fuel economy.
My vote is the oil lube “tech” forgot to put in oil after the oil drain.
Bingo !
Read my mind. Brand new oil filter on the engine with no oil in it. My gut tells me the car was sent out of the Honda quick lube lane without any oil in the pan.
"That almost looks like a brand new filter...like nothing's been run through it" Is a rather sad, yet ominous hint there.
Pin it for truth.
Likely in this case. Most the time Honda requires you to pull the head off any engine with any suspected lubrication issues to inspect for plastic in the headgasket from the oil filter packaging. The tape on the headgasket was likely a RO or techline number to get the okay for a long block.
15:45 That's an offset crankshaft, which reduces thrust loading (and thus, friction) on the power stroke. It's similar to when you pedal a bike with a more direct force by moving your body forward vs. directly over the crank centerline - so you can push on the pedals more directly vertically instead of reaching forward.
Toyota nz series engines have this too
thanks for the info! I had no idea
Super dope info!
Would that increase torque also?? Sorry if this is a stupid question
@@ihadtotaketheredpill Incrementally, yes - due to reduced piston skirt friction.
Dude, you made my evening... you started saying the weird socket sizes required to complete this. Thank you so much
At a glance, it looks like you'll get more out of that than I'd have expected for a "forgot oil" special.
As for why it was only "partially" trashed, you said it. "run briefly" sounds about right. They forgot the oil, ran it, made a racket, panicked, didn't turn it off fast enough, and trashed it. Was probably free "we f'd up" work if they were in for one of those "free" oil changes that some places do to sell you the farm on other unnecessary work, as I suspect.
This is called the Jiffy Lube special. Likely didn't make it very far before the engine was shut off with no oil pressure, or the engine shut itself off because no oil pressure was detected. That filter was probably put on brand new, and likely never had any oil run through it
I was a dealer tech for 30 years and left the Honda dealer earlier this year. That engine does not like being ran without oil. We had about 30 in a years time that came in toasted from either loose drainplugs or oil filters.
Is this because low level lube techs just don’t care or are they rushed? I always change my own but when I had a wok van I went through a valvoline lube. I thought they were a bit much with the military like operation but I guess it saves buying engines
lots of aluminum which is great thermally but not great without lube eh?
Not sure I know of any engine that likes running without oil…lol.
There is never a video of yours where I don't learn something about engines of all varieties, and their demise for one reason or another. Thanks~!
I used to own one of these with a 6 speed manual. I tuned it pushing 24 pounds of boost. Made a decent amount of power with no issues whatsoever.
24psi on the stock turbo isn't making any more power than you would get from 20.5-21psi, you were just pushing the turbo harder than it needed to be.
@@MegaHollywood1971 that makes no sense at all. If you add more fuel and air its gonna make more power. If i onky add more fuel its gonna be too rich if i only add more air its too lean. If you add both to keep air fuel ratios right its gonna make more power more reliably. I ran it for 100k miles like that no issues. Explain to me how your logic makes sense.
A teardown right when I start the BBQ? I am truly blessed
I do the exact same thing. I watch car videos everytime I start BBQing.
Hilarious.
2018 Accord Sport 1.5t 6 speed manual owner here. Mine has 8500 miles. Oil changed twice a year, one before winter, one before summer. Runs like a champ.
8500 miles without any issues, wow dude 😂
8500 miles, that Accord isn't even broken-in yet
@@chuckycheese84 traded it in yesterday for a 22 Civic Si. Had 10,600 miles. Damn good vehicle.
I'd say the engine is pretty good. Uncles close friend drives alot for work, I saw his odometer and he had 205k on the 1.5 turbo civic si and the only thing that broke in that time was the ac system had a leak. The biggest problem is oil dilution with the crv for some reason. The civic doesn't really show it but he did short oil change intervals to not risk it. I'd say in the civic si form this is a dam near perfect turbo gas engine.
@Steven Strain honestly yeah, my neighbor has a crv which was the peak model year for that issue and honestly they just warm it up a little while and it's been doing fine in below freezing temps.
My wife has an orange 09 Honda fit 5 spd sport, 200k and it runs like new, it's barely needed anything but maintenance, I did tierod ends, and stabilizer links last year, and a battery, which I think was the original one. Other than that. It's just been maintenance, everything works too. Power windows, locks, ac ,cruise, ect. Even still has the original clutch. We love it. And I have an accord 5 SPD w 231k, it's also barely needed anything but maintenance, also even has the original clutch, everything works in that, too and it's older than her fit
The oil dilution issue happens more often if you drive in a way where your engine doesn’t get up to operating temperature to burn off the fuel in the crankcase.
I’d say avoid any type of direct injection engine from any company if the majority of your driving is short trips.
The ac system is a known issue covered by the company, they sent out recall orders and claim coverage letters for them.
Had this engine in my SI. Wonderful motor.
I guess they needed the oil and coolant for the new car too.
The integrated exhaust manifold at 8:49 also helps make the engine more compact, manufacturers pack more stuff in small spaces
That’s what it was truly designed for. The engine bays these engines come out of are very small.
Here's some trivia on the exhaust manifold integrated into the head casting. Honda did that first on the 2000 Insight hybrid 1.0L 3-cylinder. The integrated manifold let the car warm up more quickly, which reduced the fuel consumption associated with warmup. I'll tell you it's needed, because on a cold day you can sit with the heater on and pull the engine temp all the way to the bottom of the scale at idle. The engine burns so little fuel, the heater core is all the radiator it needs (at idle). With a conventional manifold, I bet it'd take FOREVER to heat the car up in the morning.
The integrated manifold is also lighter weight than a separate iron manifold with associated bolts and flanges. Because that car ran VERY lean in cruise conditions, it also had issues meeting NOx emissions (same thing as dieselgate). The integrated manifold allowed the cat to be placed closer to the combustion chamber, lighting it off quicker and making the EPA less grumpy. However they still had to make a dedicated California model which got WAY worse mileage in order to meet the stricter CARB targets.
Eventually the whole country adopted standards that made lean-burn effectively illegal, which is why the old Insight's ECA1 engine is still the most thermally-efficient gasoline car engine ever sold in North America, even though it's over 20yrs old now. I can tell you mine still gets 70mpg+ on the regular and sometimes into the 80s, with the hybrid battery deactivated (yeah, you can do that).
I would like to testify to my many problems encountered with my Civic 2020 Sport Plus with the 1.5T L15BA engine in France. I bought this car new in February 2020 with 0km. Currently I have 20000km (12500 miles). According to Honda France, my Civic was not affected by the fuel pump problem but unfortunately no brand recall. And indeed I had power loss and idle problems. The pump had to be changed at 16,000 km (10,000 miles). I'm not talking about paint problems on a rally red on the rear bumper. But even more serious when I realized a little late that my Civic was drinking coolant. The maintenance garage didn't know where it was going. So we were regularly filling up the expansion tank, until one summer day this year when it was particularly very very hot, the Civic found itself in extreme engine overheating. The Civic had starting problems and seemed to run on 2 or 3 cylinders. The garage still did not ask questions, despite my concerns. So he refueled and 500km (300 miles) later, the jar was empty again. The garage therefore decides to open the engine in 2 and was able to see that my cylinder head had a big molding problem from the factory. So since buying my Civic, my 1.5T engine was drinking coolant through cylinder 2 and smoking white out the exhaust. The cylinder head had to be changed at 19500km (12200 miles). Since the idle is not terrible and I like tremors in the engine. Unfortunately, I no longer trust this car and Honda. I have problems reselling it because of this defect and Honda France doesn't care !
Perhaps you should have found one with the 2.0L engine instead. I haven't had any problems with the one in my 2019 LX yet.
My 2017 CR-V has this engine and it is not only reliable but also plenty of power for daily driving and I get 30 mpg with AWD. 95,000 miles so far.
Just got a new 2023 this week. Traded in my wife’s escape that was burning oil in it’s 1.5l turbo and at some point will have coolant intrusion issues. (Thanks Ford, wife bought it before I met her).
Have you had any oil burning that you have noticed? I doubt you have from everything I have read.
@@areallytallguy No, I have not. Change the oil every 5000 miles and you should not have any problems.
@@PaulNaylor3 my thoughts as well. Have an 07 accord with 115k miles(I know it’s not a lot of the age) with zero burning, so that’s what I expect of Hondas with regular maintenance.
Ford….crap as you would expect.
I have a 2017 touring 1,5 turbo AWD with over 90 000 km on it and no issues... Yes i agree plenty of power and fuel efficiency!!
My Uncle had a Fairmount from about 1981 or 1982. I went to visit and the first evening I was here we drove from his NE. Pennsylvania home to Binghamton, NY. An hour drive (?) in the mountains which had a funny sound coming from the engine - out and back. It was still a fairly new car so the thought that it might be a bad speedometer cable seemed implausible because of its age. Also it changed with engine RPM...
The dealership had changed the oil a day or two before I arrived so he thought NOTHING should be or could be wrong. Once we got home, I pulled the dipstick and it was DRY. Not even a drop on the end of the stick. We put in two quarts he had in the garage and the dealer received a visit the next day. He had that car for several more years with no problems. Was he lucky!
Every time I watch one of these videos it reminds me to check the oil level in my car, so I suppose that's a plus
The most entertaining engine teardown ever. Couldn't believe I watched it all the way to the end.
Your videos are becoming a night time ritual for me. I don't know why but i find it relaxing.
My took my 2018 Outback to the dealership for it's first ever oil and filter change @ 5000 miles. They rounded off the plug. I always change it myself ever since
Love these videos. I didn’t realize you needed oil for engine lubrication. Too bad this engine didn’t have cylinder inspection ports.
Great video! I’ve been searching for these L series engine tear downs but realize that they’re so relatively new that it would take some time. But now you have one.
Anyway, my 2018 Civic EX-T 1.5 turbo (bought new) currently has 94,800 trouble free miles averaging 33.3 mpg. I drive about 60% highway. I maintain everything earlier than the scheduled maintenance. I change the oil/filter every month (between 3,800-4,200 mile intervals). I flushed the coolant once. I changed the transmission fluid twice. I had the fuel injectors cleaned. I changed the spark plugs early (around 67,000 miles). I’ll be changing the water pump and serpentine belt as part of the “routine” maintenance at 100,000 miles. I plan on keeping my 10th gen Civic until the proverbial wheels fall off (hopefully 300,000 miles or more). I love this car.
I have a 21 Accord Sport SE that I bought brand new, on November the 5th of last year. I believe my Accord's 1.5t will give me great service as well!!
Hey if you ever get the chance, go on the CivicX forums and post a how-to on those bigger maintenance items like coolant changes and belt replacement! Would be great for those of us like you who want to run this engine until it dies! ;)
That's superb maintenance! The turbo won't last that long, so you will need one of those, along with a HPFP and LPFP, new injectors, suspension, etc. I would suggest doing the standard drain & fill of the transmission closer to every 26-30K miles though and you are due to open it up and change out the filter as well (if you want it to remain trouble free).
UPDATE: In five days (June 18 2022), I’ll have had my Civic for four years.
I currently have 111,000 trouble-free miles and averaging 33.9 mpg. I’ve changed the transmission fluid three times and continue to change the oil/filter early (every 3,800 miles). I haven’t replaced the water pump and drive belt yet but I plan to this summer. I’ve never redlined and rarely even exceeded 4,000 rpm. The car is running as smooth as when I bought it new. Not a single repair yet.
I was offered above market value for it and a great price for the new 11th gen model but not a chance. The new 11th gen Civic pales in comparison to my 10th gen in nearly every way.
@@txmoney I've got 74k on my 2018 Civic Hatchback, 1.5 Turbo, 6 speed, LX Hatchback and it's been great! Bought it brand new, never any problems except one A/C service under warranty. I go 5k on the oil changes, don't smell gas in my oil, no oil level changes either. The American Honda Spec sheet says this engine needs NO SERVICE until 100,000 miles, so I've done nothing except air filter changes and oil changes. I love the car!
When I was about 14, I once mowed our lawn in TX with no (well- very little) oil in the 4 cycle Briggs & Stratton motor, and it was apparently none the worse for wear. My Dad had drained the oil and left the new quart sitting on top. I moved it and mowed. Lesson learned, fortunately not expen$ive. Car engines not so forgiving.
I heard loose tolerance engines (which are less efficient) can last a while without oil. Jeep 4.0 are famous for being hard to kill.
One of the biggest problems we have at Honda is technicians tend to push the plastic wrap from the new oil filter into the filter, causing a blockage and then oil starvation. We have seen oil ports in the head gasket have pieces of plastic stuck in it. I have also seen these engines fail the exact same way, starting with the intake cam failing closest to the high pressure fuel pump..
its all stemming from internal sexuality forcing young techs to "poke" the plastic
Have you seen any 1.5T head gasket failures? Apparently happens due to head studs stretching. Especially on Accords.
My 2020 Civic SI just failed with the exact same failure mode. Honda is saying the oil wasn't changed enough by the previous owner, but all the other CAM journals look good, just the last two on the oil distribution line are like this.
Your tear downs are very interesting, like engine csi :)
I’m a Honda tech and I haven’t left a drain bolt ,filter or oil cap loose, or double gasketed a filter in 2.5 years aka never, I just mark down on the repair order with a pen with two slashes confirming they’re tight, one for the filter one for the drain bolt…. Job done lol.
Oil changes are childs play lol doing bigger jobs is so much more interesting..
you sound sus, i think this motor was your doing. Thy who smelt it hath be the one that delt it. jk, ive been a tech for 7 years now and i highly recommend double checking plug and filter tightness no mater how long it takes...
@@Joel-mastrapa yea I hate changing oil cause I’m too good at it, I’m more capable than stuff like that but I’m kinda stuck where I am atm
@@Joel-mastrapa Honestly I get laughed at for checking the drain bolt a couple of times with a torque wrench lol
The dealership I bought my 2017 Civic Touring at did not properly tighten my drain plug bolt, and it came out while driving, luckily I have a clue what I am doing and noticed the momentary flashes in my gauge cluster about low oil quickly enough to pull the car over while the oil was still draining out of my engine. That dealership got incredibly lucky because I obviously saved them thousands of dollars by preventing the destruction of that engine
Did you report it to them for documentation?
@@12yearssober honda or that specific dealer?
@@dragonsystems5973
I would have reported to both?
He does a fantastic job and I find these videos very interesting. I like how he talks to the engine, with a stuck part he says: “Come off now, you know you want to.” When I work on my engine I talk to it too…. But it’s just a lot of swearing.
My K24 has 180,000 miles on it and burns almost no oil… that is why I like Honda. Interesting to see how simple the 1.5 is. Guess when I finally get a new Honda this is what I’m in for lol
i burn no oil in mine
I recently got a 2020 TLX 2.4, in large part because it was the newest car you could get a K24 in where I live and I want to keep it for a good long time. It was also the same price used as a base Accord of the same year.
Thanks for posting this up! The moment I saw this about that Honda, ahem "earth dreams" 1.5L engines I had to see this video and its design. I gotta say, I'm not of fan of them and look at the size of that piston! Esh! No wonder these large heavy AWD suvs can't move out of their way under their own power without the assist of a turbo!
You briefly mentioned the oil/fuel dilution issue on these engines. It's a comman issue that Honda will ignore, and deny that it's a engineering problem. Here's the thing: it is NOT normal for oil to mix with fuel!
Everytime I do a oil change on my customer's CRV, the oil dipstick is always past the full mark and when you smell it, yeap it diluted alright. I told my customer, if you want this engine to last, you better do your oil changes every 3000 miles, or sooner! Not at 5k-7k as recommended from Honda or else that engine is going to be looking like that lightweight boat anchor you had on the stand..
Currently having issues with our 1.5t. They do not like cold weather. Constant fowling of spark plugs and oil dilution is a problem.
Had spark plugs and oil changed in January and already the engine is missing and oil is up 1/2 a liter
Earth Dreams technology focuses on making Honda vehicles more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly without losing performance.
the key is "environmentally friendly", hence "earth dream".. that's what my take on that name.. i might be wrong tho..
At the dealer, we called them the Wet Dreams engine.
Though the piston is smaller, the rod is quite long.. good to know it since it reduces lateral load against the cylinder wall which turbo engines generate lots of it.
yeah, longer rod helps with lower end torque. since its 1.5L and its not as rev happy as other honda engines. sound about right
Nice to here a pro talk. Your spot on.
Ever see inside a ford ecoboost 1.0 3 cylinder engine? I'm working on one and it has a timing belt inside covered in oil. Oil pump also has a rubber looking belt inside the oilpan...
Ford Boss Me said those were pretty good engines.
@@Dcc357 They are not. The tensioner for the wet timing belt likes to self-disassemble under 20k miles.
If not that, then the cogs of the tiny wet belt for the oil pump wears out prematurely. Also under 20k miles.
I'm no longer a Ford tech. It's been two years since I changed careers. So I can't say what the failure rate is currently.
There is a rubber belt for oil pump on 5.0 v8 2021 and 2022 f150 i wonder if they are junk
"None of this stuff is particularly tight." That's what she said!
Honda dealership shop foreman here this is not a Honda defect but a common issue. Honda oil filters come wrapped in plastic lube techs poke there finger in the hole and the piece of plastic gets jammed into a new filter and gets stuck in a small oil passage in the head gasket intake cam is always fried. That's the story of that engine.
Any advice for someone with an engine that just encountered this failure mode at 26K miles?
Man that air gun sounded like a Star Wars Blaster shoot out @9:30 😂
Thanks for showing off all these great engines ! I'm surprised to find out how relaxing the whole process is to watch.
I am surprised to see a 4 cylinder that does not have a balancer assy . I have one of these engines in my '21CR-V Im surprised by performance of this little guy . Performance is surprisingly good and fuel mileage is fantastic ! 🌵
do you mean balance shaft or balancer as in vibration balancer?
I had civic for 2years with this motor and i can tell it is a good one, around 40mpg normal driving 182 horsepower decent enough for overtaking, only complain i have is the long time for engine to warm up :)
What Honda really meant by 1.5 liter is that your engine would have an extra 1.5 liters of gasoline in the crankcase when you got an oil change.
Lmfao
Now that's comedy with the truth!
How was this not at the top🙌🏼
This guy is very lucky in the end. At first glance, seeing this empty oil pan, I was 100% sure, the crank bearings are messed up. Now there is "only" the head to replace, which still is expensive, but cheaper than a complete new replacement engine.
More than likely the Honda dealer messed up. The owner of the civic got a free new engine from this. Hopefully the dealer replaced the turbo and all the lines feeding it since more than likely the Turbo was starved as well.
Funny coincidence that I’m replacing this exact engine on a 2021 Civic Si. Mine only had one cam bearing trashed on one of the intake journals. Honda actually does not have an assembled replacement engine yet. The dealer had to build a short block and head for us. Now I’m wondering if failing can bearings are going to be a common problem.
Most definitely Honda will have a recall on intake camshaft premature wear issues, something they should have found during testing
The engine in the video wasn't a manufacturer defect. It was trashed bc someone at the dealer forgot to put oil in it. But that 1.5L L-series is kind of trash. Better off getting an older Si with the k20 or save for a type r imo
your Civic is current year. How many miles?? Why did this happen?
My 2020 crv has over 60000 miles i change the oil every 4000 miles and thr transmission fluid at 35000. So far so good. Gets great gas mileage.
I've heard about the oil dilution issues but my opinion is that these are pretty good motors for the most part.
It was definitely an issue on the earlier releases. But I bet the new ones are fixed now
@@romeocharlie1 Nope, people have had it on the Crv up until 2021 (not sure about 2022 model), despite the so called "fixes" that honda did.
@@hak2297 Ahhhh lmao. My sister recently started working at a Honda stealership. She INSISTS that there were no problems at all with their engines. Like it never happened. And apparently, all other brands had no issues with their turbo'd engines either...
The most parts but not all. Good luck
"I want that..." and a new video is born.
I know exactly what happened to that engine. Somebody pushed a piece of the plastic cover into the oil filter, it got stuck on the oil passage to the cylinder head and it starved the head of oil while the rest of the engine had enough
The plastic was FLAT to the gasket. That was from the replacement that was done previously and the mechanic (whomever) didn't remove it. A tech wouldn't miss that, but a leary owner would when doing the work themselves.
These engines have had issues because of oil dilution and the first few years of this engine they extended the coverage of the 1.5T. The parts that they did cover were repairs for camshaft, rocker arm assemblies and spark plugs. It seems some of those issues are what show up on this engine however it running low on oil is the likely culprit. I know personally with my 2017 I have had issues since new but I run my oil no more that 5k then I change it. I don't burn oil but its always above the fill line by the time I change the oil. I personally have no faith in this engine series being super reliable as it ages.
Just to note: this engine, from what I have learned, doesn't handle repeated short trips well. It's one that you need to get it fully heated up long enough or it can suffer oil dilution.
@Steven Strain I'm still seeing oil dilution on the Honda 1.5T and Hyundai 1.6T when frequently babies or all short trips, bo katter the model year. Fyi Broken Arrow, OK region.
@Steven Strain maintenance is but one factor of wether this will result in engine failure. Sometimes parts changes pr additions are nessessary but I've dealt with this issue before in a Dodge Turbo 2 engine. Hamd in hamd with maintenance executed on a schedule correct for your particular application and taking the vehicle onto a highway and getting it hot enough to make the crankcase reach full operating temperature will cause the gas accumulated in the oil to vaporize and pass through the PCV system where it will be burned off in the engine. So in conclusion oil dilution is not nessessarily fatal to an engine. Its how you respond to it in most cases. That said, i would buy a 10th gen Civic SI and enact correct care of the car.
@Steven Strain depending upon the environment in which the vehicle is used in, how the vehicle is used/driven, oil dilution can occur in warm weather as well. Also, i have seen no evidence that the EMS can tell if there is oil dilution therefore i will check the engine oil regularly.
As i mentioned in a prior reply, i had to deal with oil dilution on an older, unrelated engine so i know how to respond to it.
Same engine in the 2017+ Honda CR-V w/ a CV-T. In that vehicle, they're rated at 190HP. Echoing the TSB remark for oil dilution due to excess fuelling. We barely drove that car for a variety of reasons (had other cars, change in family health), so I sold it less than 3 years later with very low miles - partially to get away from any potential engine carnage down the road.
Honda was so irresponsible that they refused to remap the 2016 and 2017 vehicles with fuel dilution unless you had major issues already and unless you lived in North Dakota, Michigan, or Maine. They threw the dice that extended warranty as settlement in the Hamilton vs Honda class action lawsuit was sufficient. I will not share my real sentiments. I still drive a 1.5 Civic.
I didnt realize how much you looked like Adam Sandler in the Water boy till that water boy reference 3:04 😂
Unlike Sandler,he is In shape.
Possibly when oil change was done, tech did not remove plastic cover correctly and plastic clogged head gasket orifice and starved head from lubrication, check head gasket.
This suggestion is completely out of my ass but i suspect the 'Earth Dreams" designation comes from the characterization that the engine is Environmentally friendly.
me and my coworker call them "honda wet dreams"
That's the idea. The Earth Dreams designation signifies that it is a direct injection, which by design is more fuel efficient.
@@dylanandersen9318 more prolific intake carbon deposits also.
@@dylanandersen9318 It tolerates slightly higher compression and boosted compression at that but it burns dirtier than port-injected and really is only about 7% more efficient. It has poorer cylinder head flow than K series so it has less power than a turbo K series would have with higher flow efficiency. The 35 mpg mixed efficiency is no better than Civics 20 years ago achieved.
@N Diesal just timing not lift
I agree ,I think someone drained the oil and changed the filter and forgot to refill the oil and started the engine dry. It does not take long to ruin a motor with no oil.
Had this engine in my 17 Civic, oil changed every 5k or every 4 months at most. Could smell gas in the oil every time I changed it. Honda wouldn’t do anything so I traded it in for my Tacoma and never looked back 👍🏻
I bought my 2020 Civic Sport Sedan with the 2.0 naturally aspirated port injected engine (K20C2) as well as a manual transmission as it’s the most reliable way to buy a modern Civic.
However, I have seen MANY 1.5T direct injected Honda engines with well over 100,000 miles on them. Highest on my forum thread is 187,900 miles.
As long as this engine warms up and you don’t take many short trips, (especially in colder climates) and do oil changes frequently (I’d do 3,000 miles to be safe) oil dilution will not be a major issue. 👍🏻
When I saw the inside of that head I thought it was crazy clean. Amazing how clean it is when you don’t use oil 😂
That owner could have slapped on a head and been ok. They may have been able to get them from the wrecker.
Do a B20z please!
Dear Adam I`m becoming addicted to your great narations your the BEST!!.
I smell Honda dealership service tech “lube tech” oil change mistake all over this engine. Basically brand new motor, blue OEM filter. We hear about it occasionally on the civicX forums. Lazy, rushed jobs that are absolutely the result of the broken systems that dealership service departments run on these days. Not just Honda
Because the Journals furthest from the oil pump were torn up the worst, this tells me that it was refilled, but oil was leaking out due to the oil drain plug letting loose. The oil filter was on tight and you didn’t mention any double gasket. SAD
My Dad worked at a Toyota dealership for a little while shuttling vehicles between dealerships. He said this happens surprisingly frequently. If you are capable of doing your own basic maintenance on your vehicle and you actually care about your car, it’s highly recommended that you do this work yourself. Nobody cares about your car as much as you do.
Agreed.
honda "lube tech" here, you are right in how the service department works us to the bone and promises customers specific deadlines while knowing full well that we are understaffed and that we need to get through possibly 3 or 4 cars before we can get to theirs. about the drain plug thing, we do 'multi-point inspections' which force us to focus our attention on certain areas and point out possible issues (cracked cv boots, bad tie rod boots, rusted out exhaust, present fluid leaks, etc.), sometimes we end up putting in the plug but forget to torque it cuz we forgot to inspect tire tread or brake pad wear or something else and then proceed to focus our attention on that. i always try to double or triple check a torqued drain plug but sometimes when you're being told that you need to get this car done in 7 minutes while you're only halfway through a tire rotation, you forget real important things real easy. i do believe that if the deadlines were more lenient and service advisors actually paid attention to the fact that 3 techs cant do the job of 6, dumb stuff like this wouldn't happen as often as it does
@@juniper8827
Waiters gonna wait haha
Former Honda Service Advisor
Honda Master Tech here. I had a customer drive their 2019 civic hatchback from Northern California. They had an oil change preformed at a dealer up there. They were complaining of a rattle noise when the engine is running. I checked the oil level it was good. I started the car and the engine rattled like crazy. I was able to pin point the noise to the hi pressure fuel pump housing. When I removed the valve cover the entire intake cam had metal shavings in each cam tower except the one closest to the cam gear. The engine was contaminated with metal shavings. I got authorization to pull the head and I found a small piece of plastic lodged in the head gasket where the oil comes up from the block to lube the cams. The lube tech that did the oil change did not open the filter properly. I ended up putting together and installing a new L15 engine and turbo into the customers car at no cost to them. Cost the dealer nearly $20000 in parts. Dumb mistakes cost a lot of money.
@@con_Auto $20k in parts for doing an L15 is probably $17k more than their cost
I like how the shape of engine look curvy , almost organics in the design
Stock, They're perfectly fine engines. Unfortunately people think a 1.5L economy engine built for fuel economy is a race car and they push them way too hard. Use quality oil, change it often and don't beat the shit out of it and it will treat you fine.
Well said 👍🏻
Worked as a tech at a Honda dealer for a couple years and these engines are pretty good and super torquey. Only thing is with the 0W-20, the oil gets diluted pretty fast. If you do 5k oil change intervals the oil will be watery and have a strong fuel smell. I suspect it’s a combination of thin oil, boost, and direct injection
Do u know if the 2018 civic ex-t is vtec? There are mixed reviews on google and yt
@@meegssan5716 It doesn’t. Same engine as the one in this video. When you look at the intake and exhaust camshafts they only have 1 lobe each per cylinder. On a VTEC engine they will have additional lobes that are larger so when they are engaged it changes the valve lift events. When they’re engaged it changes the engine sound which is what Honda guys refer to as vtec crossover. These engines do have cam phasers though which is known as VTC. It change change valve timing but it’s not like vtec which can change valve lift and duration. Hope that helps, but I think the K20C in the newer type r’s have vtec but only on the exhaust camshaft
@@brandonsiniawski4619 oh wow that is very helpful. It has a vtc 🤔 So it is similar in a sense to vtec but not as good im going to assume. I wonder why they didnt made it vtc instead of vtec. Ill have to google some more thank you 🙏
@@meegssan5716 VTEC and VTC are different I’d recommend watching videos on how they affect the valves. An animation will help give you a better understanding than me writing it out
@@brandonsiniawski4619 thanks for pointing me in the right direction
Engine set gap. Ok. New vocabulary, thank you sir. Also, not the first DI engine I've seen with an oil consumption/ fuel dilution issue, regardless of make. 0W16/0W20 oil viscosity is probably partially to blame.
These EarthDreams engines are notorious for the issue though and Honda has the Class Action lawsuit against them because of it.
My buddy had an F150 with the Triton motor. He had the oil changed by the local Lube shop and they put a non OEM oil filter on it that does not have a built in check valve. Every time her started it the cams starved for oil until pressure built up. His cams looked exactly like that. This engine was clearly run with either no oil or low oil pressure. I didnt see any tremendous leaks, its possible someone changed the oil and didnt fill it up before starting the engine.
They cast the exhaust into the head to reduce heat loss to turbo, reduce distance from exhaust port to turbo as much as possible to improve efficiency and remove another section of exhaust that could leak to make packaging smaller and more reliable. It's both a great and horrible idea at the same time.
Considering that most engines with integrated manifolds are naturally aspirated, it is more to improve emissions than anything.
"Sponge" transmission! 😂😂😂 that's the most hilarious and accurate description I've ever heard!
Shared this video on CivicX forums. Hopefully it gets some traffic. Hope you can get your hands on one from an Si to compare with. The L15B7 has slightly better internals. Thicker rods, higher compression ratio, sodium filled valves, slightly differen’t turbo to make a few more lbs of boost… etc.
The 11th gen civic version of this engine is slightly revised. Apparently now has VTEC on the exhaust side. I’d love to see what else is different that Honda doesn’t reveal on the stats sheet. But I doubt we’ll see an easily acquirable motor from a 2022 model for quite some time.
No. The SI engine is not different in those ways. It has lower compression ratio 10.3. The rods are identical except for a harder alloy used. Same piston oil squirters. Different oil pan. Different cam. Different type of Mass Airflow sensor. Same valves. The video of teardown SI engine is online I believe and GenX forum has images of all engine parts as taken apart by MA Performance.
100k and running like a champ.. Proper maintenance is the key
Do you recommend changing the oil earlier? What about fuel? Would regular be fine? Or do you recommend premium?
@@havok561 ive been changing oil at 4 to 5k miles.
Actually im using premium but no evidence in hands if it has nay effect.
I’m very surprised at how Honda has avoided carbonized intake valves like other direct injected engines, even without installing port injectors like Toyota & Ford.
This might be about owners REVING UP ALL THE TIME, some people could do that
At 100% load EGR is closed, so no carbon delivery anyway
@@poprawa - I don’t know, my brother owns a 2014 Honda Accord with the 4-Cylinder engine. He drives like a grandmother all of the time, & there’s no sign of any engine carbonization (engine stumbling etc).
@@poprawa you mean people driving “hard”? I have a brother with a 2014 Honda Accord, & drives like a grandparent. I’ve never seen his 2.4L 4-cylinder have any problems after all of these years related to carbonization.
@@MrSamPhoenix I have the same car. NA engines don't have that dilution and carbon problems like the turbo one
I watched dozens of these come in for a recall, there was a batch of them shipped without wrist pin retainers installed. Some made it to the first oil change without failure, but some grenaded very quickly
That intake cam had some "high quality H2O in it" ... I see what you did there, Waterboy! Just about sprayed my drink all over my screen, thank you very much!
Took me a second to figure out you weren't looking for a 12.8mm socket too... smh
Now for a more complicated 4 cylinder: VW EA888 2.0 TSI. Has balance shafts, 3 chains, water pump is driven by a balance shaft with a belt!
And plastic oil pan!
I actually see a lot of these engines having oil dilution issues with the fuel washing out the oil. It sludges up, smokes the turbo, all sorts of stuff. It’s usually from shitty and infrequent oil changes.
These engines can go in the shitter quick if oil change interval goes over 10k miles. The oil takes up carbon and gets very dark. We know it takes up some fuel as well that is driven by variables. The good thing is the pistons and cylinder bores are very well made and my oil consumption is very low.
Oil change should always be done every 5k on this and 6k otherwise imo. It's worth the extra couple bucks on oil vs the longterm wear and tear.
I was told to use Honda 0W-20 especially in the winter. Apparently it has additives that will stop water in the crankcase/oil pump freezing and starving the engine of oil at startup. I wonder?
Have always been fond of these 1.5s, very nice layout in the engine bay and were easy to work on. Very good engines most definitely one of the better turbos on the market. Have always been curious to see what they looked like internally, never knew they were offset crank
Offset for mo powa baby
@@commandertaco1762Ah, a man of culture in the comments section. Hrsprs are what it's all about.
Thanks for the video! I own a Civic with this engine in it and it’s great to have the ideas about proper care reinforced. Thanks again!
I won't lie. When you stated 12 point 8mm, I thought you said 12.8mm. I was wondering why Honda would put an SAE fastener in their engines.
Me too 12.8 mm. I thought just use a 13mm
I need one of those heads to mess with. Looking at the exhaust port, there’s a shit ton of meat to remove to port match it. I bet there’s power to be had and a reduction in lag too.
Change your oil and filter every 3k miles / 5k kilometers. Your engine will love you for it
3k is way over kill for an OCI. Most modern synthetic oils do just fine to 7500 miles. Now for race applications that's another story.
@@rileyneufeld7001 i have one of these 1.5 turbos, 3-5k at most the small engine and high pressures with turbo and heat need the oil changes quicker. Everytime i used 0-20 the oil came out like water, i use 0-30 or 5-30 now and change around 3-5k. I use full synthetic to
@@jesusmiranda2073 Well 0-20w is already super thin anyhow so yea maybe an early oil change with that thin of an oil isn't a bad idea.
@@rileyneufeld7001 i bought it new has 33k miles now when i used 0-20 it vibrated more, 0-30 its smoothed but il switch back to 0-20 in winter its a decent engine i do push it tho since its manual and fbo.
@@jesusmiranda2073 My HONDA dealer puts Shell 5w30 in this engine (in Europe the 0/5w30 is also allowed by Honda).
Great video. A Geo metro 3 cylinder has bigger piston and rod size. Crazy.
When you said "high quality H2O" I instantly thought Water Boy because you look very very similar to Adam Sandler.
He does 🤣🤣🤣
Fantastic L15B7 teardown. Thank you for sharing!
Loved the "quality h2o" reference from Water Boy. Well done. I think this poor engine had an oil port blocked going to that one cam. all the other parts seemed well oiled, and there was no component failure.
No, some idiot forgot to add oil in the factory
Person who drove this probably pronounced the ride as a Hon-duhh..... Perfect example on why you need to do your research and understand the importance of maintenance with any engine especially a Turbo charged engine. I had a D16A6 in a 92 hatch. My buddy had a turbo kit made specifically for that however after a falling out I decided to get a 2004 VW Passat 1.8T 5speed wagon and I still have it today. Runs solid.
Might have run the oil too long and then tried to fix it with an oil change. The oil in these direct injection Honda's is super thin and reeks of gas at 5K.
Yup!! Thicker oil works better.
Looks like either the oil dilution recall that Honda has reprograms for the fuel map and that never got done OR cause this has been apart already as evidenced by the loose manifold, loose cam cap, tape on the head gasket....a lube tech used his finger to remove the plastic covering that Honda wraps their filters in by sticking his finger in the threaded hole and then tearing the wrapper off.
This can sometimes leave a piece of plastic inside the filter on the filtered oil side. That piece of plastic can go up through an oil gallery to the head and get trapped at a point near the head, restricting oil flow to the cams and demolishing the caps as we see and causeing a misfire.
The intake was likely removed cause of the misfire/no start and the tech threw injectors at it but oops, didn't fix it.
Just my thoughts on it.
Ok, so about those small pistons and connecting rods---this particular engine is all about efficiency, so Honda wanted to make the reciprocating assembly as light as possible. I'll bet it was also balanced to tighter tolerances than a standard Honda engine
I wonder how different this engine is to the old naturally aspirated L15 from the Fit/Jazz? :) I've never seen one of those torn down.
Working out quite well on paper and excel, not so much in reality. Prefer the Mazda - way with the 2,0 and no turbo. A part what is not present has no weight, causes no cost and can never fail...
@@heikopanzlaff3789 turbos do cost more money all the way around. i use Premium fuel which is much more money wherr I live
Always do your own oil changes
Great job......from Argentina waching ur vids....great one...keep it up....un abrazo
I had a ton of fun when it came time to rebuild the engine on my 1987 Honda CRX. Fun fact, that was the first year of the Honda D series (D15A2 (or A3)). Prior to 1987 it was the EW series engine. Super simple design and even after 350K miles on it, most of the inside of the block was immaculate looking. Did need new rod bearings, but was such a fun engine to work on because of how simple it is.
Another great video, thanks Eric.
The Chrysler Pentastar V6 that is available in just about every Stellantis (Yucky name) product uses the same kind of one exhaust outlet per head. It means you don't have to manufacture a cast iron header for each application, just a pipe and flange. Cheaper, easier to package. But sucks for performance.
In automotive school we had a saying. "Blame Chrysler " bc all their engines are shit.
Also responsible for higher highway fuel economy since it allows you to have lower EGTs, meaning you can have a leaner mixture without cooking the cat.
tubular steel welded exhaust manifolds (not cast iron) are good for an interference manifold with better torque and low speed light throttle. My 1.7L with VV and 4-2-1 manifold has lack of power at 35-45mph due to small displacement engine and that transmission keeps shifting into top gear. Suzuki engines are setup for 3,000 rpms max torque not 4400 Honda.
Chrysler and Stellantis are yucky anyways
I am glad you generally remind us to watch the oil level and do regular maintenance. I just put a quart of oil in my Honda
We shouldn't have to be reminded to do basic maintenance..