02 Honda S2000- Amsoil 5w40 - 5000 Miles

[JSRT4]

I just received my first Uoa of this car that I purchased one year ago. It ran Amsoil 5w40 for the entire year, plus 5oz of Redline Engine Break-in Additive. The oci is 5k miles for the one year period. The car was in winter storage, but I took it out and drove it on a few dry days over the winter months, so it had about 12 cold starts over the winter months, which probably wasn't a good idea. I'm going to avoid starting it up this winter, I think that may have increased my iron wear numbers, I was hoping to see single digit iron numbers which has been my goal with this engine. Almost all miles were short trip city driving, I almost never got it on the highway which kind of sucks, probably only a couple hundred miles could have been highway miles out of the 5k. Analyzed by CAT Toromount labs, low cost easy to access lab in my area. They flagged silicon and sodium. I am running a stock intake, the filter is very clean and the intake system is in perfect shape. I checked the Redline additive voa and it had significant amounts of silicon in it, I believe it caused my silicon levels to rise, along with sodium which is in both the Amsoil 5w40 and the Redline additive. Viscosity dropped to a 30 weight oil which I've seen of this oil in the past, plus I don't find viscosity info from the CAT lab to be entirely accurate on other UOA's I've done with them on other vehicles. I've found their numbers to be on the low side regarding viscosity on every fluid I've sent them voa or uoa. No coolant or fuel detected. Here are the numbers:

02 Honda S2000 with 55k miles on unit, 5,000 miles oci Amsoil 5w40 plus 5 oz Redline engine break in additive. 1/2 quart oil added during run - low oil consumption for this engine.

Fe -11
Cr- 0
Mo-10
Al -2
Copper- 5
Lead - 1
Tin - 2
Titanium, Nickel and Silver were all - 0
Silicon - 20 - warning note
Potassium - 2
Sodium - 39 - flagged
Zinc - 968
Phos - 989
Magnesium -0
Ba - 0
Viscosity - 11.73 cst
Soot- 0
Sulfation -28
Oxidation - 19
Nitration -13
no water, fuel, or coolant.

The next run I may be running Amsoil 5w30 100% synthetic formula and I'll avoid start-ups during winter storage.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

No worries, just enjoy the car - drive it every chance you can!

 

[21Rouge]

You might be interested in this run of Esso XD in an 01 Prelude:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1915488&page=1

 

[The motor guy]

Your using 5w40 in a honda? Aren't you supposed to be using 5W20 for that engine?

 

[Scienceman]

I would be using what the book reccomends for the car.

 

[JSRT4]

On the S2000 the book recommends 10w30 and 5w40. That was a spec set as far back as 1999 when the car was first developed. I'm sure if the car re-introduced today it would have included a number of different oils, but not likely a 20 weight. Any Honda auto engine that runs rpms at 8000 or higher is always recommended to use a 30 weight, while the lower rpm variants of the same engine will use 20 weights.

 

[SteveSRT8]

That's old school thinking for sure.

I'd want to at least try a quality 0w-20 synth in there.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
No worries, just enjoy the car - drive it every chance you can!


I know you are right, I just have to get that through my thick head, lol. Why do so many of us get so paranoid about oil related info, I think it's an illness.

 

[Pablo]

11 ppm Fe in a car that has been through a full year, regardless of miles is nothing to even slow down and contemplate. There is enough stuff to worry about in life.....and this is not one of them. You can easily get 11 ppm of Fe by filling your crankcase, never driving the car, and draining it exactly 365 days later. 10 ppm +/- about 5 ppm is about right....for any engine at 3K after 3 months and your engine went through a full year.

Why the break-in stuff?

 

[21Rouge]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
11 ppm Fe in a car that has been through a full year, regardless of miles is nothing to even slow down and contemplate. There is enough stuff to worry about in life.....and this is not one of them. You can easily get 11 ppm of Fe by filling your crankcase, never driving the car, and draining it exactly 365 days later.


Well said Pablo.

 

[slalom44]

I agree with Pablo. Iron is expected with a 1 year OCI. Your UOA looks great, especially since you did a lot of short distance driving.

It isn't surprising that people who aren't familiar with the S2000 would recommend an XW-20 oil. There has been at least one UOA posted using an XW-20 with no problems but personally I won't go there. I use Amsoil SSO 0W-30 in my '03 S2000 with great success.

I'd say you're doing fine, and I agree with minimizing the winter startups if you're just parking it.

 

[FZ1]

It's not the oil. It's a good oil. Don't use any additives. The oil has additives. The gas has additives. Don't use additives. I think it's a good report. What is the oem spec for oil weight? The 5-40 looks really heavy for Ontario. Like the change to 5-30. Call your dealer re 5-30 syn. for your part of the Country. Good luck with it.

 

[JSRT4]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I tried the Redline addtive to boost zinc and phos. as the Amsoil 5w40 changed formula in the past ala low SAPs. But I agree that it isn't needed, it likely did nothing for my engine and I won't be running it in the future. I thought I would try it and do a UOA and then judge from there. I doubt it hurt anything but it likely didn't improve much.

Next run will be Amsoil 5w30 and I think I can get the iron a bit lower, even though I agree with the comments of 11ppm being quite good. Hopefully I can get more highway miles in the next year and I will limit my short trips and cold starts.

I appreciate all of the replies on this .

 

[INDYMAC]

This is the exact viscosity that Honda recommends for the S2000 in cold weather. 10W-30 is the standard for all model years though. I think the oil did fine, even with the additive. The FE could have been bumped up a little by organic Fe. A VOA would have helped to know for sure. If the lab you like is cheap (it better be), then do a VOA from the ASL batch you are using now. To better evaluate a used lubricant, it would be nice to have TBN, TAN, fuel% and H2O. If you can afford it, join Dyson Mobility Weblog for $100 and you'll get a free Dyson Premium kit free every year. Nobody else offers as much for the money, and you will like the professional interpretation too.

Thanks for posting this UOA JSRT4.

 

[INDYMAC]

Also, didn't you have to do some extensive cleaning on this F20C engine after you bought it? Did you do a good flush of the cleaners you used? Like a short OCI of dino?

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: INDYMAC
Also, didn't you have to do some extensive cleaning on this F20C engine after you bought it? Did you do a good flush of the cleaners you used? Like a short OCI of dino?


Yes when I got the car one year ago the top end was varnished up. I pulled the valvecover and cleaned it up. I ran two short oci's of about 500 miles each. The first one used Castrol GTX and a 1/2 bottle of Riselone, second one with a high mileage oil. I re-inspected the top end and it was perfectly clean after that, and then I ran Amsoil 5w40. I pulled the valvecover this week and it is still perfectly clean, so all is good.

My UOA gave me water and fuel, which were both zero but none of the other info you listed. I wasn't too concerned with TBN as I don't put more than 5000 miles a year on the car, so it will be a one-change per year setup for me. CAT does have columns for particle counts on the sheet they provided but no info, I imagine I could get that done at an extra cost.

Thanks for the comments, very helpful.

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
That's old school thinking for sure.

I'd want to at least try a quality 0w-20 synth in there.


No offence, but no, you wouldn't.

You want to 'err' on the side of caution with a 9k redline.

 

[JSRT4]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
That's old school thinking for sure.

I'd want to at least try a quality 0w-20 synth in there.


No offence, but no, you wouldn't.

You want to 'err' on the side of caution with a 9k redline.



yeah no matter what Dr. Haas runs in his Ferrari I can't afford to be guinea pig, I suppose he can afford it. I will definitely not run any oil less than a 30 weight in this car. This might be an old-school way of thinking but I do draw the line there even if I'm wrong on that.

Honda has yet to develop an automobile motor that revs to 8,000 rpms and higher which uses a 20 weight oil, though they will put the 20 weight into there lower revving motors with ease. I've got to think they know something we don't as they wouldn't miss a chance to run a 20 weight oil if at all possible. This applies to the recent Civic Si which is one of their newest offering in 8k rpm + motors.

 

[iluvhonda]

Do you guys up north run into a the ethanol blending in your gasoline? I would recommend using at least stabil if your going to store your S for the winter. You seem to be running a premium oil so I wouldnt threat about cold starting.

Relax like the others say, "It's a Honda."

 

[Mau]

Yes Ethanol exists in all grades of our fuel. Shell says they don't have ethanol in their vpower (premium) this is what I use in my RDX and Prelude but haven't really tested if Ethanol is there as well (I'm sure it is).

OP, if you would like to keep to Amsoil, I'd suggest ASM 10w30 or SSO 0w30. If you are willing to, give PP or PU 10w30 a try.