Hey Scotty,
i have a 2014 Chevy equinox ltz with a 2.4l ecotec engine. Instead of using miles between oil changes the car has an “oil life” meter. Don’t really trust it so I check the oil level today. As soon as I pull the dip stick it I got a strong gasoline odor. I know that can mean a lot but could an oil change be the solution ?
Clarification: What is the mileage?
52774
It has been changed regularly until now
Do you primarily drive short trips? With that mileage after 8 years it sounds like it.
If the engine isn't getting up to temp & cooking off the contaminants, there's your issue. Always get it up to temp then drive around (or rev it parked in the driveway above 2500rpm) for atleast say 15mins.
Change you oil & start doing that on every trip. You can help it along by keeping it in say second (2) the entire trip instead of drive/overdrive or third providing you aren't hitting redline.
Now if that doesn't fix things....
First I'd do a wet/dry compression test to make sure one or more cylinders don't have bad rings.
If those are fine have the injectors checked/cleaned or replaced as needed. If one isn't working correctly you might be getting either drops instead of a conical spary OR too much gas, either can wash the cylinder & get past the rings into your oil.
Yea typically it’s been short trips never any thing more than 30 miles or so.
Thirty miles should be enough to burn off all the moisture, gas, etc.
What's your daily though, under ten miles?
Yea typically some days even less no more than 5. Before I obtained ownership of the car it was probably driven no more than 30 miles a week for years
Sounds like my driving habits (less than 1k miles/year). I know the sitting parked & keeping the engine revved past 2500rpm (at temp) & doing those short drives in 2nd gear may sound like a waste of gas but its way cheaper than the repairs from driving like we do incurs.
Alright thank you for the tips. Getting an oil change tomorrow morning to see if that fixings things. Then I’ll do the following steps with the compression test. Thanks. 👍
It probably suffers as most newer 4-cylinder engines with oil dilution. To get the fuel efficiency the rings aren't as tight as in older engines. Less friction supposed to equate to better gas mileage, and fuel vapors get past the rings. Small 4-cylinder turbo engines happen to get it worse because of the boost pressure. but even non-turbo engines, just not to extent of the turbo 4's. Right before our 1st oil change 5k I noticed gas smell in the oil on our '21 Corolla 2.0 (non-turbo). Toyota says oil change interval is 10k miles, and I say eff that. The way the oil looked at 5k miles there's no way I'd let it go to 10k.
Don't go by the oil life monitor, change the oil 5k miles or 6 months.
From now on I’ll change it every 5k miles. And I’ll see what the dealership says about the car if anything is wrong with it. Then I’ll check it myself. Thanks guys.
Upon finding what oil dilution was, even though it's new, we check our Corolla oil monthly.