Hello!

I have a 2007 Honda Fit with about 115,000 miles on it. For a while, there was a random misfire that would occur upon a cold start, but after getting a code that said there was a misfire on cylinder 3, a friend of mine swapped ignition coils 1 and 3 to figure out what the actual issue was. However, right after that happened, it was misfiring pretty badly, causing the engine light to blink.

So, fast forward to getting everything fixed, it's running fine now, but the mechanics I had work on it said that there was a smell of gas in the oil. They said that it isn't really anything to worry about, but I just want to make sure. The engine seems to be running fine, and I'm not sure if there's an issue with MPG (it's been really cold the past few days up here). Should I be concerned?

 

Usually oil smells of gas when the gasoline has seeped past the piston rings. Most likely when your car was misfiring and running rich. Some gas might have contaminated your oil at that point. Now that everything is fixed and I presume you have changed your oil, just drive your car and see how it goes next time you change your oil. If you are really paranoid, you can do a leak down test.

 

Cold weather and short run times WILL cause gasoline smell in the oil, it's natural condensation that can occur under those conditions and it can happen on just about any engine even when everything is working 100%.
Sometimes there can be enough of the condensation to make the oil level shown on the dipstick rise.
Be careful, that same condensation can mask oil consumption too.

A long trip of a couple hours or more, long enough to get the oil up to a high temperature for a time long enough to evaporate out the condensation (of both water and fuel) would be a good thing, but that's not always possible or feasible.
If you do make a trip that long, you might find your oil level dropped dramatically afterward, due to "that same condensation can mask oil consumption too."

You can sort of gauge how much fuel is in the oil...pull the dipstick and wipe it with your bare fingers. Now rub your fingers together.....Does the liquid feel 'grainy'? If so, that's a lot of raw gas in the oil. Get an oil change if it feels like that.

If it just feels slick like oil, it's probably ok.

 

X2 Good points by both ezone and !Zar!

I'm sure it's a by-product of your misfires.

A weekly long drive is vital to the long term health of your engine. Do it if you can. My rule-of thumb is 45 minutes of driving after the COLD indicator goes off.

The Maintenance Minder takes cold running into account so it will indicate a sooner oil change under cold conditions. BUT, it assumes that the engine is running properly (and yours was not).


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(BTW ezone, I PM'd you about something else)