10w30 in a High Mileage Honda

[buster]

Out of curiosity, I dumped the ML 5w20 early and refilled with ML 10w30 (latest formulation), which has a NOACK of 10% and a VI of only 140. (drained 5w20 will be used at a later date in the Mazda) My reason for doing this is 1. To see how oil consumption is vs the 5w20. 2. See how the oil holds up with fuel dilution, which the 2.4L's are known for. All of my UOA's for this engine, and UOA's I've seen on other 2.4L's, come back showing very low Flash Points. I want to see how a low VI oil (140 in this case) handles fuel dilution and oil consumption. Viscosity modifiers are often a problem in situations where fuil dilution is an issue. There are exceptions to this such as M1 0w30/AFE and Amsoil/RL etc. Those oils attain their VI mostly through very high quality base oils, and use little VII's. This past weekend I put 300 miles on the 10w30, and much to my surprise, the car actually felt better than it did on the 5w20. Far from scientific with no data, but the power at high end was more noticeable and the engine responsiveness is great. I averaged 80-90mph for sustained periods of time. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe the piston ring seal is a bit better with the 10w30, creating a tad more power. I will be curious to see how the UOA looks in about 5,000 miles. After running the MaxLife 10w30, I'm going to run their Full Synthetic MaxLife 10w30, which has a NOACK of 6.3% for comparison. One of the SynMax PDF's suggested a 10w30 is best for a high mileage vehicle. Being I tend to drive fast on the highway, and WOT now and then, I think a 10w30 is a good choice. If you call Redline, they often recommend 10w30 and prefer oils with no VM'ers for high performance applications. The Honda 2.4 is far from a high performance engine, but my highspeed highway drivng may benefit a bit from an oil with no VII's.

Quote:

Q: Should I use lighter or heavier SAE weight oil in my older OEM application? A: You should look in the original OEM manual and follow best as possible the recommended SAE specification. In genenral, over 100,000 miles use 10w30 instead of a 5w30.

http://www.synmaxperformancelubricants.com/PDFs/SynMax_Tech_Street_MotorOil_General_Information.pdf *Mobil 1 AFE 0w20/30 provided the lowest oil consumption to date in this engine, which goes against the idea that oils with no VII's are in some cases better. I attribute this to the very high PAO content on both AFE oils.

 

[CharBaby]

Hmmm, Interesting! Did the 5W20 control the oil consumption? I was using ML 5W30 in my '80 Firebird FORMULA V8 with good success. Anthough this V8 is not HP by any stardard, the 5W30 did a good job of controling the oil drips and consumption. Keep us posted on your seat of the pants results and your consumption and or UOA results.

 

[Hokiefyd]

I have used both 0W-20 and 0W-30 in both of our vehicles (Mobil 1 AFE) and in both, I seem to perceive a slightly more lethargic nature. This is especially evident in the morning when the oil temperature is still cold (and the 0W-30 has a lower VI than the 0W-20). There's an incline on a 50-mph road near our house where I can usually measure slight changes in load on our Honda. On the 0W-20, I could almost always take it at 50 mph (which is about 1600 rpm) withOUT the torque converter coming out of full lock. With the 0W-30, I can rarely do the same...the torque converter almost always comes out of lock. The incline and the speed is such that it's RIGHT on the line where it wants to either be locked or unlocked, so very small differences in load really become evident. I will likely go back to 0W-20 on the next oil change, which isn't for many thousands of miles to come.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: buster

This past weekend I put 300 miles on the 10w30, and much to my surprise, the car actually felt better than it did on the 5w20. Far from scientific with no data, but the power at high end was more noticeable and the engine responsiveness is great. I averaged 80-90mph for sustained periods of time. If I had to guess, I'd say maybe the piston ring seal is a bit better with the 10w30, creating a tad more power.

That would be my guess as well. The thicker oil gave your engine better compression.

 

[buster]

On start up, the AFE 0w were the best in terms of quieting down the engine and having more low end responsiveness. This is obviously beneficial for start up wear and in cold temps. MaxLife 5w20 has a low VI of 152. The 10w30 has a low VI of 140. HT/HS is not known, but the 10w30 is probalby around 3.0 to 3.1 now. I'm just curious how a 10w30 responds to fuel dilution and oil consumption. I won't have 5k miles on the oil until summer most likley.

 

[Vikas]

what was your oil consumption on 5w20?

 

[buster]

It wasn't bad, but I was 1/3 qt low after 1,500 miles of some high speed driving. A good syn 5w20 with a lower NOACK may have lowered it. Mainly interested in how the fuel dilution/flash point looks with the 10w30 on my next UOA.