I went to add 12 ounces of oil to the new to me 08 CR-V day before yesterday and picked up the wrong viscosity like an idiot (10W40) vs the 5W20 the manual calls for. It wasn't quite down to the add mark and honestly I wasn't sure where it was last I checked it other than being between the upper and lower holes in the dipstick per the manual.

I didn't realize of course that I had the wrong oil until after I poured it in. I didn't think much of it, cranked it up and headed to work.



About 58 miles from home I got the check engine light, the VSA triangle warning light and VSA light on followed by loss of power and surging. I was two miles from work and made it there successfully. My code reader said P2656.



I started reading up on it and one of the first things I read said thick or dirty oil. The carfax showed the oil had been changed 1000 miles before I got the car. So that pretty well told me my ignorance and lack of attention to detail caused this.



Later, when I got off work I cranked it up and still had all three lights but the power was good, no surging. I drove carefully home.



I went to O'Reillys the next morning and got 5 quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic 5W20 and since they were out of Honda filters bought a Wix XP.



I grabbed 2 extra quarts in case it uses any. I put the car up on the lift in my shop and was greeted by this lovely attempt at an exhaust patch job, which of course was leaking like a seive.





I changed the oil and filter and added added the 4.5 quarts per the manual. All three lights went out as soon as I started it up.

I took the car to my friend around the corner from my house who owns a muffler/ general repair shop and $50 and 45 minutes later I am back in business.





82 years young and still burning rod (or in this case wire) with the best of them.

I don't blame the guy at the car lot for this. I doubt he had the car up in a lift. The moral of this story is pay attention and save yourself $65 worth of oil and filter.

But in retrospect that shoddy attempt to patch the exhaust was better found and fixed there than it breaking in half and buggering up a rear half shaft or tearing something else up. I also had no idea that these cars are engineered to such a close tolerance that 12 ounces of oil could cause that degree of mayhem.

 

If he didn’t have it up on a car lift to check the underside, I wouldn’t buy from him. I am not a car dealer and when I bought a 65 Mustang 2 door sedan It was beautiful on top and paid $4,000 for it and later found rear quarter panels under car and the floor under drivers feet covered in carpet were rusted out. I cannot imagine a dealer not checking the underneath. He stated it was in excellent condition. In addition the rear window and windshield leaked causing this, the Engine made a pop pop pop sound if you floored it (exaust valve sticking open). A mechanic told me to bring it to him and let him go over it. I was too embarrassed to ask the guy to let me take it and have it checked out. It was terribly dumb on my part.