Hi Scotty, I don't know if this Diablo i3 tuner is the reason behind why I have an accumulation of gasoline in the crankcase but I took notice to it when i smelled inside the crankcase and oil cap a very strong odor of raw gasoline. The vehicle runs good no backfire or sluggish takeoffs considering I live at 5000ft elevation Sierra Nevada. I was going to run a diagnostic on fuel injectors but I don't have any symptoms of a bad injector as rough running vehicle except excessive gasoline odor in oil. dipstick oil seems thinner and passed fill line. I added some Lucas high mileage lube 20/50 to thicken the oil as I wait for a diagnostic. The Diablo i3 tuner I mentioned has a 93 Octane tune that increases 13 HP and 20lb of torque that I am running for three years in Katy, TX now living in higher elevation and still using the tune could that be the reason for the excess gasoline out of injectors possibly? I only drive 5 miles each way to pickup spouse from work, starting vehicle from a cold start and the engine never really reaches optimum operating temperature. Any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks in advance - Arno
Jeep Grand Cherokee 2012 Laredo 4x4 New Engine block less than 20k miles
Original Odometer reading: 109k
The fact that you're only driving 10 miles a day is what's probably causing your fuel build-up inside the oil. It's normal for some fuel to get past the piston rings into the crankcase, and a good drive should be able to evaporate all that fuel out of the crankcase. I have an oil catch can that catches all the fuel vapor from the crankcase...which would normally get disposed of in the engine through the PCV system.
But I would still suggest getting an oil analysis done just to see what's really happening.
thanks I really appreciate your feedback I have a diagnostic scheduled next week. will log in to give updates.
I agree with Razmig. The tuner makes me nervous, but I wouldn’t assume this is a serious problem just yet. Give it an Italian Tune-up, change the oil and get an analysis, and see what happens.
The higher you go in altitude, the less oxygen there is per volume of air, and the engine wants to adjust leaner (less fuel) to compensate for this. I would bet your tuner is messing up the ECU's ability to compensate for altitude.
Razmig is correct in his assessment. Short trips do not allow the catalyst system in the vehicle to heat up and start burning off all the fumes/junk that accumulates in the engine and exhaust system.
It would be a good idea to stretch the vehicle's legs and drive it at highway speeds for a good hour, then see what you find.
Longer trips where the engine reached operating temperature tends to make the gasoline evaporate, but you shouldn't get enough gas to smell in the oil, even only doing short trips.
Engines usually run richer at altitude, but normally the sensors and engine computer for this. I believe your "tuner" may not be doing that. Can you remove it and see the result as an experiment?
thanks for your feedback I really appreciate it. I planned on rolling back the tunes if the diagnostic shows normal. thanks i'll post back here