2003 Civic 179k mi // M1 EP HM 5W30 3.5k mi

[himemsys]

Oil run from 10/22/23 to 3/24/24. Previous run on this report was with Pennzoil Euro L 5W30. Other than the iron, everything looks great. The iron level looks like my new normal after a headgasket change. The past 5 UOA after the metals settled down from the headgasket have been around 5.5ppm per 1000 miles.

Viscosity hardly dropped. From 10.3 to 9.7. Fuel looks good, silicon looks good, etc. Oxidation only rose 3 points, from 8 to 11, so plenty of life. I'm guessing if I wanted to keep topping off, I could've run this oil to 7500 mi easy. But I like getting under my car every 6 months or so to scope things out.

The oil that went in was Castrol Euro 5W40 API SP. The Fram Ultra was reused. Overall I'm happy with this report!

 

[fantastic]

Fe spike due to lower visc. on this run? This looks on par with the Euro L except M1 EP HM has more Mo. I'd say it's too close to say any real differences & you avg trend is the right indicator. The Euro L definitely held its visc. better though. Thanks for sharing this UOA and interesting to see the Euro L 5w-30 from your earlier run per our other conversation this morning.

With the Higher visc of the previous Euro L you could potentially run it out further.

 

[himemsys]

Fe spike due to lower visc. on this run? This looks on par with the Euro L except M1 EP HM has more Mo. I'd say it's too close to say any real differences & you avg trend is the right indicator. The Euro L definitely held its visc. better though. Thanks for sharing this UOA and interesting to see the Euro L 5w-30 from your earlier run per our other conversation this morning.

With the Higher visc of the previous Euro L you could potentially run it out further.

I'd say it was pretty close. Euro L starts at 11.92 and ended at 11.4. 95.6% viscosity retained.

M1 EP HM starts at 10.3 and ended at 9.7. 94.2% viscosity retained. Couple that with slightly more fuel in the Euro L sample, then yes, there is a small but definite viscosity retention advantage to the Euro L run.

The iron might be due to the viscosity, but who can tell for sure. Here's a history of iron on this car:

In 2005, when the car had 26k miles on it, iron was at 0.67ppm per 1000 mi on a 6000 mile OCI.
In 2020 at 157k miles, iron was at 2.88ppm per 1000 mi on a 3500 mile OCI. It was this UOA that the headgasket leak was discovered.
Headgasket was replaced. After several short oil changes to rinse the new break-in materials out, iron settled at ~5.5ppm per 1000 mi.
Here are the 5 most recent UOA iron results:
11/21 - 5.97ppm per 1000 mi on 3.5k mile OCI (Supertech HM FS 5W20)
10/22 - 5.55ppm per 1000 mi on 4.3k mile OCI (M1 AFE 0W30)
04/23 - 5.64ppm per 1000 mi on 2.7k mile OCI (Valvoline MaxLife 150K 5W20)
09/23 - 4.65ppm per 1000 mi on 3.4k mile OCI (Pennzoil Euro L 5W30)
03/24 - 5.67ppm per 1000 mi on 3.5k mile OCI (M1 EP HM 5W30)

 

[fantastic]

I'd say it was pretty close. Euro L starts at 11.92 and ended at 11.4. 95.6% viscosity retained.

M1 EP HM starts at 10.3 and ended at 9.7. 94.2% viscosity retained. Couple that with slightly more fuel in the Euro L sample, then yes, there is a small but definite viscosity retention advantage to the Euro L run.

The iron might be due to the viscosity, but who can tell for sure. Here's a history of iron on this car:

In 2005, when the car had 26k miles on it, iron was at 0.67ppm per 1000 mi on a 6000 mile OCI.
In 2020 at 157k miles, iron was at 2.88ppm per 1000 mi on a 3500 mile OCI. It was this UOA that the headgasket leak was discovered.
Headgasket was replaced. After several short oil changes to rinse the new break-in materials out, iron settled at ~5.5ppm per 1000 mi.
Here are the 5 most recent UOA iron results:
11/21 - 5.97ppm per 1000 mi on 3.5k mile OCI (Supertech HM FS 5W20)
10/22 - 5.55ppm per 1000 mi on 4.3k mile OCI (M1 AFE 0W30)
04/23 - 5.64ppm per 1000 mi on 2.7k mile OCI (Valvoline MaxLife 150K 5W20)
09/23 - 4.65ppm per 1000 mi on 3.4k mile OCI (Pennzoil Euro L 5W30)
03/24 - 5.67ppm per 1000 mi on 3.5k mile OCI (M1 EP HM 5W30)

You're right the viscosity held very similarly between these two samples. I recall now that you've mentioned some of this before & it seems like a head scratcher why the spike but at least you know the timing of when it started after the head gasket repair. I think you said this Civic was a local short runner? but either way that iron is high & you don't need me to tell you that. LOL Noticing the Euro having less iron spike was it the highest viscosity oil you ran out of those 5 samples?

 

[himemsys]

You're right the viscosity held very similarly between these two samples. I recall now that you've mentioned some of this before & it seems like a head scratcher why the spike but at least you know the timing of when it started after the head gasket repair. I think you said this Civic was a local short runner? but either way that iron is high & you don't need me to tell you that. LOL Noticing the Euro having less iron spike was it the highest viscosity oil you ran out of those 5 samples?

Yes, by far! What I'm now curious about is the next oil change after I've run the Castrol Euro 5W40. Higher viscosity.

 

[fantastic]

Yes, by far! What I'm now curious about is the next oil change after I've run the Castrol Euro 5W40. Higher viscosity.

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking too. That 40 grade might help & you'll find out in 3.5k haha. Else, I was lurking the internet & stumbled across a Ford Focus RS forum. It mentioned that it specs 5w-50 from ford . I was just thinking if the 5w-40 shows high Fe still there's always 50 grade LOL.