2017 Civic, 1.5T, 98K on ODO, Pennz Ultra Plat 5W20, 8,677 ODI

[chinee]

Almost 5 months since the last change. Since it was approaching the 100K mark, decided to perform a little tune up as well, plugs, PCV, air filter and intake cleaning. Took the oil sample through the dipstick; changed the oil 7 days later.

Used CRC GDI IVD spray and followed the instructions to clean the intake valves. About half of the spray spilled out backwards from the intake tube, felt like I wasted my time. Did not get clouds of white smoke others have experienced and no noticeable difference in drivability. At the next oil change I plan on doing it again, perfecting my technique so most of the spray will go past the tube and onto the valves as intended. I let my daughter drive 3 days to and from work, ~130 miles after the cleaning then changed the oil. I was hoping to reduce any contaminating of the new oil going in, Euro L 5W30.

Plugs looked fairly clean, but certainly used, air filter was visibly very dirty, last changed @ 45K, so had a good 50K of use. I will try to go for a 30K interval as recommended in the manual. PCV was visibly dirty and replaced with OEM. I would recommend changing well before 97K miles. Civic also got some new shoes, Yokohamas (replacing a set of Continentals).

Back to the oil analysis... It appears the other maintenance items were more interesting that this UOA. Here's the UOA andUOA history below.

Cheers all!

 

[Oliveoil2]

Wow! That is a great uoa. Ultra Plat works well.

 

[buster]

The fuel is really stressing the oils in the series of UOAs. The lower TBN and viscosity drop. Hard to say if the oil is acidic with no TAN and oxidation values. Wear is fine. I would just monitor oil consumption.

 

[THORROMIG]

Why did you revert back to 20 weight oils the last 2 OCIs? You had a nice string of 30 weight OCIs moving along.

 

[chinee]

Wow! That is a great uoa. Ultra Plat works well.

Pennzoil, in all its formulations, has always worked well for my engines.

The fuel is really stressing the oils in the series of UOAs. The lower TBN and viscosity drop. Hard to say if the oil is acidic with no TAN and oxidation values. Wear is fine. I would just monitor oil consumption.

So far this engine has not been consuming oil. Most of the driving has been highway/suburbia miles, with very little city driving. So although the conversations about fuel dilution were concerning at first, it's been a non-issue for this 1.5T.

 

[CharBaby]

Your climate and driving style are the contributors to the "no/low fuel dilution" in your oil.

 

[himemsys]

What's up with the Manganese? It looks like it started to ramp up the last oil change and has continued to climb on this one. Fuel additive? Different fuel type? Something else?

 

[Dave1027]

What did you do to bring your fuel dilution down to TR ?

 

[chinee]

What did you do to bring your fuel dilution down to TR ?

Not a dang thing. This engine clearly prefers highway miles.

Why did you revert back to 20 weight oils the last 2 OCIs? You had a nice string of 30 weight OCIs moving along.

It's what I had in the garage. I did use 5W30 Euro L in this fill though, and I have enough Euro L for another change after this current run.

What's up with the Manganese? It looks like it started to ramp up the last oil change and has continued to climb on this one. Fuel additive? Different fuel type? Something else?

Interesting. No change in fuel and no additives used. Where else might manganese come from. does anyone know?

 

[Adambomb7777]

Manganese is usually from an octane booster or from your fuel source.

 

[Dave1027]

Not a dang thing. This engine clearly prefers highway miles.

Yep. Highway miles does burn off fuel dilution. But I'm wondering if that process is also contributing to your low viscosity numbers? It burns off the fuel but sheers the oil down at the same time.

 

[odie]

BORON seems low . A Virgin Oil Analysis of the P.U.P. 5w-20 from 3 years ago at YouTube shows BORON @ 263 . Did they lower it ? How old is the P.U.P. 5w-20 in the V.O.A.? Thanks for the post .

 

[kschachn]

Yep. Highway miles does burn off fuel dilution. But I'm wondering if that process is also contributing to your low viscosity numbers? It burns off the fuel but sheers the oil down at the same time.

It burns off some of it. And yes, fuel in the oil will cause both temporary and permanent shear of the VM, but not the oil molecules. Oil molecules do not shear nor cleave.

Plus that's a Blackstone analysis and I wouldn't believe a word of their fuel estimations. I also would not be using a 20-grade in that engine.

 

[odie]

Years back HONDA recommended highway ( interstate speeds ) driving on occasion as an alternative for excessive fuel dilution . Looks to be working .

 

[kschachn]

Years back HONDA recommended highway ( interstate speeds ) driving on occasion as an alternative for excessive fuel dilution . Looks to be working .

It’s unfortunate but you’ll never know from a Blackstone analysis.

 

[OneLonelyBurrito]

Thanks for posting! The report looks very uninteresting and very consistent with your previous reports. Its appears to have some fuel in the oil, but nothing I would be concerned with. I would keep doing what you're doing.

 

[himemsys]

BORON seems low . A Virgin Oil Analysis of the P.U.P. 5w-20 from 3 years ago at YouTube shows BORON @ 263 . Did they lower it ? How old is the P.U.P. 5w-20 in the V.O.A.? Thanks for the post .

Boron drops with usage. I have found that it sometimes correlates with oil life. Depends on the oil. But I've seen oils that start with Boron >100 and when they have reached end of useful life (via TBN or oxidation) the Boron often is approaching zero as well.

 

[doublebase]

I like how you broke down the comparison of oil the analysis’s and all the different oils you used. What I noticed is, in terms of wear metals, they all seemed to perform very similar…at first I thought the euro formula did a better job but then I noticed a Pennzoil platinum matched or did slightly better on a couple runs, and a couple it didn’t. With a margin of error of 1 or 2 ppm’s it’s pretty clear that it doesn’t really matter what you’re putting in that engine with Pennzoil.

In the limited amount of UOA’s I’ve done on my vehicles I’ve found the same, even using different brands and weights. The wear metals are usually very close.

 

[chinee]

BORON seems low . A Virgin Oil Analysis of the P.U.P. 5w-20 from 3 years ago at YouTube shows BORON @ 263 . Did they lower it ? How old is the P.U.P. 5w-20 in the V.O.A.? Thanks for the post .

The PUP was likely purchased anywhere from 12-24 months ago. Of the 3 cars at home, 2 see once per year ODIs and the Civic gets changed every 4-5 months. The OEM recommendation for all is 0W20, so I stepped out a bit with 5W20, and purchased 4 jugs of the stuff. But then I decided to go 5W30 with the Civic, so I had a slight excess of 5W20 on hand. I still have 2 5qt jugs of PP 5W20 which I will likely use up this December in the 2 other cars, and continue with 5W30 in the Civic.

It burns off some of it. And yes, fuel in the oil will cause both temporary and permanent shear of the VM, but not the oil molecules. Oil molecules do not shear nor cleave.

Plus that's a Blackstone analysis and I wouldn't believe a word of their fuel estimations. I also would not be using a 20-grade in that engine.

I plan on sticking with 5W30, but may move to a high mileage oil after I use up the next fill of Euro L. Valvoline worked great for me in the past, but I will try to research a bit about other options.

I like how you broke down the comparison of oil the analysis’s and all the different oils you used. What I noticed is, in terms of wear metals, they all seemed to perform very similar…at first I thought the euro formula did a better job but then I noticed a Pennzoil platinum matched or did slightly better on a couple runs, and a couple it didn’t. With a margin of error of 1 or 2 ppm’s it’s pretty clear that it doesn’t really matter what you’re putting in that engine with Pennzoil.

In the limited amount of UOA’s I’ve done on my vehicles I’ve found the same, even using different brands and weights. The wear metals are usually very close.

I truly hope that is the case. As I said above, I will likely change to a HM oil in about 8 months, brand TBD. It would certainly be interesting to see if there would a change in wear.

 

[odie]

Found this U.O.A. on this site . It's from 7/30/22 and BORON is slightly higher at 33 . Yours is 28 . Both look good excluding the higher POTASSIUM of 74 below and yours at 5 .