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Engine oil increasing

43K views 100 replies 32 participants last post by  TyGurr86 
#1 · (Edited)
I bought my 2018 LX in Nov. in Ontario. Everything is fine except the engine oil is increasing. I found this issue in last month, mileage was 2500 kilometers. The engine oil exceeded the whole plastic part of the dipstick and with strong gasoline smell.

I told this to my dealer, they reported to KIA Canada and told me no any other user reported similar problem. After I complained to KIA Canada directly, they agreeded to changing oil for free and recording engine oil consumption after driving another 1000 kilometers. Today I checked the dipstick, the oil level exceeded the F mark again.

I was wondering there is no one found this issue until now. Since in China, as I know, many people found this problem and Honda CR-V Hybrid has same issue.
Engine oil increasing with gasoline smell means gasoline leaking into oil. It is no a good thing. Even the user manual says, "Don not overfill the engine oil. It may damage the engine."

I don't want the bad thing happened on me, and to you guys neither.

Check your engine oil, if it's same as me, report to your dealer and KIA.
 
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#78 ·
I just got my Niro back from the dealer after two weeks. They said the high pressure fuel pump and fuel tube were leaking gas into the valves and replaced both.

It was 7 months and about 2500 miles since the last oil change by the dealer I bought the Niro from.
 
#79 ·
Just wanted to give an update to my latest oil analysis from Blackstone labs. My oil had increase ~1/4 inch on my dipstick over the 6400 miles. They only show fuel at 1% to their upper limit of 2%. Still not sure what could be causing the increase, but the good news is that all of the other numbers look good, so there does not appear to be any excessive wear being caused. Will be keeping any eye on this over the next couple of oil changes.
 

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#80 ·
To the speculators out there. If you actually had a oil dilution problem ( like I do ) You would do more than speculate. I believe this forum was intended to be of help to all of us niro owners that we may share what is going on with our cars that it may benefit us and others. I find it very dissappointing that some lose sight of that. That being said... Fuel in oil in measureable amounts is not normal or acceptable. Fuel in oil has ben a problem across many makes and models with gdi. In the case of my niro the oil increase was alarming and obvious. The viscosity reduction and fuel smell in the oil was as well. The dealership simply passed responsibility of addressing this problem back to me and the KIA TECH LINE. It took seven months. KIa sent a corporate specialist to work on my car. Dropped it on Monday. Done on Friday. They changed out the high pressure fuel pump. They stated they have seen in a few cases across different makes and models where the hp fuel pump leaks fuel into the oil system. This pump is cam driven , therefore has direct contact to the cam and oil. Hopefully this fixes my problem. Time will tell. I've never owned a car that I felt necessary to check the oil on a weekly basis. This one I do. If these pumps can have issues out of the box, they can have anytime. Finally I would like to say, I really like this car. This issue could happen to any make or model and I dont blame the niro design .
 
#81 ·
If these pumps can have issues out of the box, they can have anytime.

Sadly, we live in a world where nothing is perfect. It is disapointing that the part made it into production with a defect, but again, the cost of checking each and every piece that makes up a car would be too high and nobody would be willing to pay. Rather they work on a statistical model where they check a number of pieces in a batch and if any are off then they either reject the batch or check every part.



Apple has the reputation for making great computers without defects. But you ask anyone who got an Apple iMac with a defect shipped direcly to them if they think Apple is perfect and they'd say no. I can say I was one of those people and when I got my replacement back from Apple, it too had issues. But I will aknowlege that there are lots and lots of very happy owners that have zero wrong. It is nothing to say that the whole process of manufacturing is wrong, but you got the statistical bad hand delt to you and it's rather unfortunate.
 
#82 ·
As Forest Gump stated " it happens" Again in spite of this problem, I am still so impressed with this car. While in the shop they put me in a nissan sentra with a cvt. No dissrepect to sentra owners, but it sure helped me realize how good a car this niro is. Superior in everyway.
 
#83 · (Edited)
The information in post 80 about the Niro fuel pump does not seem accurate. Almost all modern cars use an electric fuel pumps that are located in the fuel tank. The Niro has an electric fuel pump located in the fuel tank as all modern cars systems do. I have an electronic copy of the manual and this site isn't allowing me to post the .pdf as it it is 40kb

Some of the information being conveyed doesn't seem consistent.

Here is a link to the online service manual clearly showing an electric fuel pump located in the fuel tank

Kia Niro : Components and components location : Fuel Delivery System

Maybe he is refering to the secondary high pressure fuel pump in the engine compartment that is cam driven
 
#85 ·
A slight amount of fuel isn't uncommon. You can see that Blackstone has an allowable amount before considering it excessive. Hybrids might be a little more prone to it, since our engines will stop and start often, many times without the engine actually reaching normal temperatures. But some of these reports are indeed troubling, and I would definitely be discussing it with the dealer, for documentation purposes if nothing else. That way you have an information trail if you have issues later.
 
#89 ·
#91 ·
Update : So I took my niro in last summer and the dealer did not have a trained mechanic for the niro motor. I just put it off until next oil change. here is what my first oil report said -

Excess fuel dilution can cause the oil level to rise, and that's what we're seeing
here. 4.8% fuel dilution is well above the amount we attribute to normal operational factors (idling, short
trips, etc.) and could point to a problem with the fuel system. Fuel thinned the viscosity out of grade and
may be diluting wear levels some as well. For now, only copper is out of line with universal averages (at
right, and based on oil run ~5,400 miles) but that could just be lingering wear-in.

and here is the next oil report -

Are you still seeing an increasing oil level? We didn't have enough sample to check for fuel dilution,
but the viscosity is on the thin side again and the oil additives may be a little diluted. If the oil level is still
increasing, it's likely fuel dilution is still an issue and you might consult the dealer if you haven't done so
already. The good news is that wear metals are low and properly balanced compared to universal averages,
so if there is some excess fuel in the oil, it's not hurting anything that we can see. Repeat this interval and
check back.
I went to another dealer and this is what they did -

VERIFIED FUEL IN OIL MADE TECHLINE CASE. WAS INSTRUCTED TO INSPECT HIGH PRESSURE FUEL PUMP FOR LEAKAGE INTO OIL REMOVED MECHANICAL FUEL PUMP FOUND FUEL LEAKING FROM BOTTOM SIDE OF MECHANICAL FUEL PUMP REPLACED MECHANICAL FUEL PUMP FUEL TUBE AND MECHANICAL FUEL PUMP RETAINING BOLTS PER PS539, CHANGED ENGINE OIL AND FILTER CUSTOMER TO RETURN IN 1000 MILES FOR INSPECTION OF ENGINE OIL
 
#93 ·
Hmmm, I thought I didn't get all the oil out when I changed my oil or read the measurement off of the jug wrong. No and no, maybe I had the wrong length dipstick in my Niro. After reading this thread it seems I may have the same problem too. I vacuumed about a half a quart of oil out of the car but haven't checked since because of the lockdown.
Will post again when I get a chance today.
 
#94 ·
Adding rated oil capacity after an oil change will result in too much oil. Even my dealer made this mistake. A mistake in the other direction can be made if you do not fill the filter with oil before replacing.

Also, the dipstick is extraordinarily hard to read accurately or reliably repeat.
 
#95 ·
Seems I don't have the increasing oil level problem. While I'm relieved about that I'm still disconcerted about why Kia can't post the correct oil change capacities, with and without a filter change. The oil filter for this 1.6L is substantially larger than the filter in my 2.4L Toyota eng., but half a quart, I don't think so. WTF, KIA!!
 
#96 ·
I recently took it back in because they asked to look at the oil after the fuel pump change. the guy smelt the oil and said he could not smell fuel in it and did mention the oil seemed a little high on the dip stick. I have to put another 2 k on the car and then I will send in another oil sample to test.
 
#98 ·
I just got the results from another oil test. there's still 4.3% fuel in the oil. This is after the high pressure fuel pump change and another 3500 miles on the oil. The oil testing place says anything over 2% is a concern. My oil level on my dip stick is still rising and its hard to read the level once it gets higher on the dipstick.
 
#99 ·
The problem is still occuring in my car. I have spoken to my local KIA garage about it twice but they insist it is not an issue. Meanwhile I have discovered that the fuel in the oil can apparently be burnt off by driving long distances. In six month, doing my normal daily 7 mile commute, the oil level had risen by 5mm. However I made 4 long distance drives in the space of a month (totalling around 1000 miles) and noticed the oil was back to it's normal level.

I measure the oil level using the method in the manual, but only insert the dipstick up the o-ring to take the measurement. That way the level will show up on the gauge and you can keep a track of it.
 
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