06 Civic SI - 9500 Mile UOA AMSOIL Series 2k 0w30

[JoeFromPA]

Hi all,

First time poster here. Little background information before the #'s

Car went from 26500 miles to 36000 on this oil. Took about 4.5 months, so lots of driving. My commute is 40-50 minutes with a solid 25 minutes of steady state cruising at 70-80mph.

K&N Panel filter was installed at 15k miles and has not been cleaned, so it should be filtering pretty well.

Oil filter on this run was a Purolator PureONE.

Comments:

Honda makes nicely wearing engines and when they are properly maintained they can last quite
a long time. Universal averages for wear metals in oil from the 2.0L 4-cylinder are based on an oil change
interval of 5,300 miles. Your oil was in use for 9,500 miles and wear metals read very close to those
averages, indicating normal engine wear. The TBN was 3.3, showing lots of active additive left in the oil. It's
almost gone when it reads 1.0 on our scale. Can you go 15K miles? The best way to try is gradually working
your way up to that interval. Try ~11K miles next.

This UOA Univ. Avg.
ALUMINUM 2 3
CHROMIUM 0 0
IRON 9 8
COPPER 1 4
LEAD 4 3
TIN 0 0
MOLYBDENUM 13 91
NICKEL 0 0
SILVER 0 0
TITANIUM 0 0
POTASSIUM 1 1
BORON 25 54
SILICON 11 10
SODIUM 7 22
CALCIUM 2362 2267
MAGNESIUM 454 85
PHOSPHORUS 908 703
ZINC 1138 839
BARIUM 0 0


My Value Value Should Be
cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 56.3 56-64
SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 9.16 9.1-11.6
Flashpoint in °F 385 more than 365
Fuel % less than.5 less than2.0
Antifreeze % 0 0
Water % 0 0
Insolubles % .3 less than.6
TBN 3.3

So I'm now running AMSOIL SSO 0w30 and a EaO synthetic filter....I believe I'll have no problems taking this oil to 15k in this engine. Also, I'll be cleaning the K&N filter soon so I'm sure that'll introduce a few more outside elements as it's flow will increase.

Love to hear anyone's thoughts!

Joe

 

[JoeFromPA]

Wanted to add some more information. My driving style is semi-aggressive and I regularly shift at 4500-5000 rpms. At 40 degrees fahrenheit, I warm up the car for 15-30 seconds before driving, at 20 degrees maybe a full minute.

No additives have been used in my car. Make-up oil was both AMSOIL Series 2000 and some leftover Supertech 5w30 (hehehe, it was on hand!).

Previous to this oil, my car regularly consumed one quart every ~1500 miles. This oil change consumed roughly 2 to 2.5 quarts total in 9500 miles. I did not top off the last 1/2 quart prior to draining the oil so that it'd give a better analysis.

The oil on the dipstick, at 9500 miles, was still amber in color. It was darker coming out under the car (of course, the car was jacked up in the driveway on a semi-sunny day), and of course the stream was thicker there, but I could still see light passing through it.

I know alot of people swear that oil is oil and there's no effect on the smoothness of an engine between new oils. I disagree, at least on this car. I've run Mobil One Extended Performance, Pennzoil Platinum, Supertech 5w30, Royal Purple, and maybe one other. The car revved and felt best with Pennzoil Platinum and AMSOIL Series 2000 (and now SSO). It felt rougher with Royal Purple and Mobil One EP.

Joe

 

[02zx9r]

every thing looks good.

so how much make up oil total? 2 quarts? I am sure that did help but everything looks great. 12-15K+ shouldnt be a problem.

 

[Dick in Falls Church]

>>>Your oil was in use for 9,500 miles and wear metals read very close to those
averages, indicating normal engine wear.
Double the mileage, same wear! That's normal?

at any rate, you should have absolutely no problem going 15K, and should have no problem going for a year.

 

[JoeFromPA]

That's great because I'm doing 15k in 6-7 months and this car is such a PITA to do an oil change on...the filter is located in the worst spot. So 2 oil changes a year would make me very happy

Joe

 

[REDDOG]

Joe,

Looks good! I think 15,000 is doable. I assume the Si makes commuting fun!

My brother uses the TSO/SSO in his S2000 and won't use anything else. He reports similar things about the engine revving freely and feeling like it had more power. His UOA's have been good despite tough conditions.

 

[Titan]

With so much added oil, I'm not sure the effect on your wear numbers. IF the elements are being diluted by the new oil, and these elements are being expelled with the lost oil, you may have more wear happening than you think.

If you really want to know, I'd go through Terry Dyson.

OTOH, no matter what is actually happening, your engine may outlive the rest of the car anyway....

 

[JoeFromPA]

The SI makes some parts of commuting fun, but it has a terrible drive-by-wire software system which results in tremendous jerkiness in low-gear light throttle application and throttle lift-off/tip-in.

Light traffic makes it a fun commuter car...heavy traffic makes me start looking at dealer inventory. But I'll keep er for another 30k miles I've got that much AMSOIL SSO left!

Joe

 

[JoeFromPA]

Titan - Do you consider 2 quarts over 9500 miles to be alot of added oil? I was adding roughly 3 quarts per 6000 miles of driving before AMSOIL.

Joe

 

[buster]

Originally Posted By: JoeFromPA
Titan - Do you consider 2 quarts over 9500 miles to be alot of added oil? I was adding roughly 3 quarts per 6000 miles of driving before AMSOIL.

Joe


I use about 1 qt per 10k miles. Some cars use none. I'm curious, how did you break-in this car? Aggressive break-in often prevents oil consumption issues.

 

[Harley Anderson]

I'd try a sample at 12k first before going to a full 15k.

 

[JoeFromPA]

I'm not going to sample again. I won't keep this car that long, and between the SSO oil (in place of this sample's Series 2000), a superior oil filter, and my driving habits I feel confident going to 15k at this time.

I broke this car in gently. After 300-400-500 miles, I began to taper up the RPM range from a top limit of 4000 rpms to shifting above that and a few runs to 6000-7000 (redline is 8000).

I'm beginning to think I should've just begun by driving it normally...shifting at 4500-5000...with a few trips to redline each day, and an easy life on the clutch and brakes.

Joe

 

[televascular]

JoeFromPA... that name sounds familiar. Do I know you from somewhere else?

Looking forward to seeing future samples from you! I am quite interested to see how TSO/PureOne compares to SSO/EaO. Hopefully we can get more K20s on this forum and establish a trend for this engine.

 

[televascular]

Ah. I just read the above post. Good luck to you either way!

 

[JoeFromPA]

Hi there Tele

Sorry, Blackstone's fees were $32.50...Dyson is supposed to be $60.

I just can't justify the costs right now to do repeated oil analysis.

Now on my wife's future Subaru Legacy GT....I definitely expect to do an OA on that after break-in.

Joe

 

[buster]

I don't want to drift off topic here too much but the gentle break-in could be why your car uses oil. I really think that is the reason why. It's harmless though as it is now so don't worry about it. More of an inconvenience than anything.

 

[glennc]

I agree. I think even with new engines that are supposedly broken-in from the factory, there is an advantage to progressively building engine loads during the first hundred or couple of hundred miles to the point where you are doing hard, short bursts progressively closer to redline. If you do it right you can have an engine whose rings are well seated within the first hundred or two hundred miles, and then just drive it however you want. The manufacturer recommended max rpms are designed for people who don't understand how engines break-in, so that they will at least not do any harm.

 

[televascular]

I have the same engine as the OP. I also broke in my engine as gently as I possibly could (never went full throttle or above 4000rpms until 1,000 miles). However, I consume almost no oil in my 5K OCIs. I would say about a tenth of a quart.

Your conventional wisdom is sometimes true, sometimes not. There are no universals with hard OR gentle break-ins.

 

[d00df00d]

Oil consumption, and a high degree of variance therein among engines, is pretty much a fact of life with low-friction engine designs.

Yes, it is mildly inconvenient, but I always try to think positively; I'm considering calling my top-offs "TBN Replenishments".

I start to get antsy if I don't get under the hood often enough, anyway...

 

[PineMountain]

Just posted my K20z3 uoa a moment ago....