2020 Civic Hatchback 1.5T/ ~30000mi/5000mi OCI/Kirkland 0w20 Blackstone and OA

[We're Metals]

After reading many more threads in this forum regarding the dilution issue, I'm going to just run premium gas only(91 octane) and limit as many variables as possible. I will report back at 35000 miles from both labs again.

In Arizona, I wouldn't even worry about it.
Countless UOAs on this engine that show significant fuel dilution also show minimal wear, yours included.
Try a synthetic 5w-30 to battle the dilution and sleep well at night. Your wear numbers at 5,300 miles are very low. A flash point of 370 (although low) is not horrible.
The difference between a 0w-20 and a 5w-30 at operating temp aren't huge and will offer you a little better protection.

 

[kschachn]

In Arizona, I wouldn't even worry about it.
Countless UOAs on this engine that show significant fuel dilution also show minimal wear, yours included.
Try a synthetic 5w-30 to battle the dilution and sleep well at night. Your wear numbers at 5,300 miles are very low. A flash point of 370 (although low) is not horrible.
The difference between a 0w-20 and a 5w-30 at operating temp aren't huge and will offer you a little better protection.

How does the base stock composition battle fuel dilution?

 

[tolian21]

The viscosity of 6.51 cSt @ 100C is too low for 0w-20 oil even though its within the acceptable range. With your fuel dilution, you can run 5w-30 which will thin out to 0w-20 viscosity. 0w-20 is a bad choice for these engines.

 

[tolian21]

Thanks, any good recommendations on the 0w-20? You yourself went up to 5w-30 from 0w-20 recommendations?

Thanks, I'll grab those on sale. I don't want to step up to 5w30, but theoretically going to the kirkland 5w20 should be more stable as well compared to the 0w20? I don't see freezing temps here in AZ, might give it a try. Or maybe not: https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/kirkland-5w-20-vs-0w-20.359172/page-3

I have Acura RDX with Honda 2.0t engine, I switched to 5w-30 Kirkland. The last UOA (you can search here) shows that my 5w-30 got thin and looked more like 0w-20 after 4k miles. You dont need to buy expensive oils, just grab cheapest 5w-30 and change it every 4-5K miles.

 

[Senchronize]

How does the base stock composition battle fuel dilution?

I get what he means, as in counter the thinning the 0w-20s by using 5w-30 in hopes that dilutions won't thin it down below whatever threshold that would damage the drivetrain.

I get that we are just mitigating the symptom of a problem instead of solving the source problem, but if using 91octane gas stops or limits fuel dilution to minimal that actually solves the issue.

Per the original thread, one of my question was whether the Honda engineers accounted for 0w-20 thinning and it's all within parameters or if this is completely out of left field for them and we are meant to use oil requirements (such as 5w-30) outside of the manual to "concoct" our own 0w-20 instead

 

[kschachn]

I get what he means, as in counter the thinning the 0w-20s by using 5w-30 in hopes that dilutions won't thin it down below whatever threshold that would damage the drivetrain.

I get that we are just mitigating the symptom of a problem instead of solving the source problem, but if using 91octane gas stops or limits fuel dilution to minimal that actually solves the issue.

Per the original thread, one of my question was whether the Honda engineers accounted for 0w-20 thinning and it's all within parameters or if this is completely out of left field for them and we are meant to use oil requirements (such as 5w-30) outside of the manual to "concoct" our own 0w-20 instead

Yes, using a higher grade seems like a very sensible thing to do when you are facing fuel dilution. I just wondered why synthetic would be better.

 

[haggler]

The engine dumps more fuel to combat knock, especially when heat soaked. Higher octane should help, but using 87 bumping it up to kirkland 5w30 will result in higher final viscosity with no negatives, especially in AZ.

 

[tolian21]

Per the original thread, one of my question was whether the Honda engineers accounted for 0w-20 thinning and it's all within parameters or if this is completely out of left field for them and we are meant to use oil requirements (such as 5w-30) outside of the manual to "concoct" our own 0w-20 instead

Oh I see, they designed engine to run on 0w-8 - 0w-16, but then realized its a fuel diluter, and said "lets put 0w-20". This makes no sense, in automative industry fuel dilution above 3% is considered abnormal. and BTW, the same exact engine in Mexico or other parts of the world has 0w-30 and 5w-30 there. Why would that be?

 

[Senchronize]

Oh I see, they designed engine to run on 0w-8 - 0w-16, but then realized its a fuel diluter, and said "lets put 0w-20". This makes no sense, in automative industry fuel dilution above 3% is considered abnormal. and BTW, the same exact engine in Mexico or other parts of the world has 0w-30 and 5w-30 there. Why would that be?

Sounds like you are saying we should be concocting our own 0w-20 using X-30s, that just mitigates a problem not solving the dilution issue.

 

[tolian21]

Sounds like you are saying we should be concocting our own 0w-20 using X-30s, that just mitigates a problem not solving the dilution issue.

Yes, it helps to mitigate. There is no magical fix, its a design issue.