Hello team. I want to lease or buy Rdx 24 or 25. I do have some concerns in the winter usage. I like to warm the car up in winter NY. From I understand if you warm the car in winter it will increase oil dilution and can have oil smell coming into cabin. I never had that issues with any of the car that I owned. Always warmed the car especially in the winter climate. I know of someone that warmed the rdx in the winter and they had bad fuel or some nasty smell coming into the cabin. This happened so early after 1200 miles of usage before oil change. Not even 3000 miles. It even happened after oil change. I don't know if the smell is due to oil dilution or bad spark plug or fuel injector or high pressure fuel regulator or even bad fuel tank. They had to get rid of that car due to smell issue. Do any of you warm rdx in winter before using the car and experienced any smell coming in to cabin? I know that in order to reduce dilution you have to just drive the car right after you start the car and use light throttle for driving. Please let me know if you guys do warm rdx in winter and take less than 10 mile trip. How many miles for turbo change if I'm buying? Costly repair for Turbo? Can I return early lease if this happens? Thank you for the answers in advance.

 

For a brand new lease you’ll never likely reach mileage where the engine will have mechanical issues. Change the oil on the regular- following the maintenance minder is fine, I run more conservative at 5,000 mile intervals but I intend to own long term. I’ve never smelled gas with mine.

That being said, my ‘22 RDX appears to have a good report from Blackstone indicating only trace fuel in the oil with a sample at 47,000 miles. My vehicle sees about 80/20% usage city/highway time-wise, although I do tend to have longer trips on the highway. Most of the city runs are between 10-25 miles per day.

Don’t sweat the fuel dilution issue and enjoy the car.

 

Thank you cale250 .

 

A couple of items, first being you really should not warm up cars these days. 30 seconds to a minute, about the time to fasten the seat belt, turn off the auto start/stop, and you are ready to go. But drive it fairly easy for the first few miles. It will actually warm up quite quickly. As far as someone smelling gas while doing a warm up, I can almost assure you there is some other factor coming into play. Perhaps something as simple as warming up inside a closed garage. Another thing, the seat warmers are pretty quick in getting the buns warm.

Turbo life, which isn’t known to be an issue with these cars, can benefit significantly by the use of a full synthetic oil and perhaps a change in driving habits. Years ago they talked about “coking”, basically a breakdown in the oil in the turbo due to high temperature. Change your driving habits a bit, but only for certain circumstances. As an example, if you’ve been driving down a turnpike at 70 mph for an hour and pull into a rest stop, try to allow the engine to cool down for a minute or two. If you have another occupant that can stay in the car, just let it idle. A cool down may not be needed at all. When I drive home, the last mile is rarely done over 25 mph, one stop sign, and then into my garage. I don’t worry about a cool down period.

 

Thanks John for the advice.

 

Almost 4 year and 25k miles on my 21 RDX Aspec SHawd, never an issue with the RDX or oil dilution. Think you are worrying about things that don't matter in the grand scheme of a lease purchase - when it's new and has a 4 year 50k warranty.

One bonus of the RDX SHawd - is that system is in a different league in inclement weather. My RDX has battled -10 degrees, 2 ft of snow and just keeps on motoring - where others in 4x4 or AWD systems got stuck (on the stock Goodyear Eagle RS-A's). My RDX has been one of the most reliable vehicles in years, which is a big deal with all the quality issues of several brands. Just regular maintenance keeps it going, which is not expensive.

 

Thank you Texasrdx21 for your advice.

 

From what I've read, the oil dilution is most prevalent when the weather is cold *and* you don't let the car come up to full operating temperature. To John's point you don't really need to warm up any modern car to drive it, but for this specific scenario it might make sense to let it warm a bit if your planned trip is very short. In this case, not just getting coolant to temp (which takes very little time), but making sure the oil reaches normal operating temp as well, which can take much longer.

 

Hey Tom, Is 7 miles trip each way a short trip in winter for rdx?

 

If you are looking at the oil reaching temperature and the effect on oil longevity, I'd actually consider a 7 mile trip short in most climates, even in summer Philadelphia temps. If you are looking at the heater delivering warm temperatures, that you will get after about a mile or two.

 

Hey John, So 7 miles trip can increase oil dilution in winter you think?

 

You are welcome. Think you are worrying about stuff that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, especially on a short term lease still under warranty. I have not blinked an eye on oil dilution in my 46 months and 25K in all types of climate. Get the oil + filter changed at 20%-30% on the dash. Just drive and enjoy IMO!

 

What bot did you use to write your post?

 

Honestly I'm not sure. I live in the Phoenix area, so 7 miles (10-15 minutes) is plenty of time to get the car fully warmed up. But we also see freezing here maybe once a year, in the dead of a December night. I'm now sure how much longer you'll need when you're in the real cold.

 

If the engine happens to be prone to oil dilution, then "yes" short trip driving can increase the dilution rate because the engine does not get hot enough to boil off the more volatile gasoline. Another thing I have found with my 2022 is battery related. I happen to hook up a trickle charger just about every weekend. If I've been doing a lot of short trip driving during the week, the charger needs to be connected for about 12 to 16 hours for the charger to indicate a "full" charge. But if I've had several long trips, the charge time to full is about 4 to 6 hours. I always disable the auto start/stop feature so that is not a consideration. It is simply the fact that the vehicle alternator just can't maintain the battery on short trips, especially those accompanied with a few stops where the engine needs to be restarted. Some experts say "It takes most vehicles about 30 minutes of driving at highway speeds to fully recharge the battery. Keep in mind that 30 minutes is an average. If your battery is severely discharged, recharging it may take even longer."