Castrol 0W-40 • 5,708mi • 2010 Civic Si 113k

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Apr 25, 2008
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In my effort to try out different big-name 0W-40's in my K20z3 engine, this was my first run of Castrol. I would have liked to fed it more mileage but by the time I drained it the oil had 15 months of service on it and I prefer to stick to 12 months if I can help it.

Make-up oil was Mobil1 5W-30...I have a few straggler quarts around the garage I'm trying to use up and I imagine this brought the viscosity down a touch.

Standard OEM Honda A01 Filter (last one, moving over to Fram XG7317 Ultras next), and this engine gets driven hard and sees a trip to fuel cut in a gear or two nearly every day which is part of the reason you see a quart of make-up oil. Mixed use in everything from highway driving to a lot of stop/start around town and a few aggressive backroad drives. Pleased with how this performed for the money and will probably stop sampling at this point - its getting too predictable! I'll just pick up whatever of these brands are on sale...can't go wrong.

QD774OA.jpg
 
Yea, your comparison between all these good brands / spec of oils showed two things… the K series engine is proven to be AMAZING yet again and, 0w40 oils are blended beautifully. I don’t think it’s possible to ask for anything more from any of them. 🤷🏻‍♂️

What was the maintenance reminder at?

I used to change my 07 Si’s Lube at 3k since new but it was pampered in regards to Lube. 😁
 
I don't se the UOA, just "QD7740A.jpg". Did you host the picture on imgur, by chance? My parental filter blocks that site. Could you upload to this site?
 
A few simple take-aways here:
- your engine runs very clean (low insols)
- your engine wears very well
- you don't have enough data to say any of these lubes did better or worse than another (mirco data driven)
- you have enough data to conclude that your engine is completely "normal" (macro data driven of the typical low wearing Honda 4cyl)

My advice, stop doing UOAs; nothing to learn from this approach if 5-6k mile OCIs are your plan. Run OCIs at least to 10k miles. If you want to run past that, then start the UOAs again.
 
Yea, your comparison between all these good brands / spec of oils showed two things… the K series engine is proven to be AMAZING yet again and, 0w40 oils are blended beautifully. I don’t think it’s possible to ask for anything more from any of them. 🤷🏻‍♂️

What was the maintenance reminder at?

I used to change my 07 Si’s Lube at 3k since new but it was pampered in regards to Lube. 😁

I think the minder dropped down to 0% a few months before I did this oil change. I go by mileage and/or time now.

I've seen a few of your old threads, sounds like you really enjoyed yours!
 
I don't se the UOA, just "QD7740A.jpg". Did you host the picture on imgur, by chance? My parental filter blocks that site. Could you upload to this site?

sorry about that, yep its hosted by imgur. for some reason I can't edit the original post, so I'll attach it here.
10-CIVIC-SI-220111.jpg
 
A few simple take-aways here:
- your engine runs very clean (low insols)
- your engine wears very well
- you don't have enough data to say any of these lubes did better or worse than another (mirco data driven)
- you have enough data to conclude that your engine is completely "normal" (macro data driven of the typical low wearing Honda 4cyl)

My advice, stop doing UOAs; nothing to learn from this approach if 5-6k mile OCIs are your plan. Run OCIs at least to 10k miles. If you want to run past that, then start the UOAs again.

Thanks for the input. I'd like to run longer intervals but that would put me at nearly 2 years of service, I'm concerned the oil would be spent long before then in terms of TAN/water vapor contamination. Does that sound like an unreasonable worry in your opinion?

I agree I'm throwing good money away at this point with continued UOAs, I'll probably call it quits although it was fun to see the results.
 
Is there an oil leak issue? All gaskets inspected? I have noticed that you had to top up 1 to 2 quarts for each of your OCI's... is your coolant fresh and up to proper levels? Spark plugs keeping up? The reason I raise these questions... despite relatively short OCI (milage wise), you had to top up 1/4th engine oil capacity and still the oil sheared and went into 30wt range...

FE is low and so are other wear indicating metals and I see you are not concerned... fair enough!
 
Is there an oil leak issue? All gaskets inspected? I have noticed that you had to top up 1 to 2 quarts for each of your OCI's... is your coolant fresh and up to proper levels? Spark plugs keeping up? The reason I raise these questions... despite relatively short OCI (milage wise), you had to top up 1/4th engine oil capacity and still the oil sheared and went into 30wt range...

FE is low and so are other wear indicating metals and I see you are not concerned... fair enough!

These engines tend to burn oil by design (low tension oil rings) and when coupled with proper driving style (revving it to the moon, like Honda intended (the big cam comes on at 5,800rpm (where most engines are nearing their rev limit) and fuel cutoff is 8,300rpm for crying out loud) it’s all a recipe to burn some oil, which is normal for these engines and Honda will tell you that.
 
I think the minder dropped down to 0% a few months before I did this oil change. I go by mileage and/or time now.

I've seen a few of your old threads, sounds like you really enjoyed yours!

I enjoyed every minute of it. I dream of getting another and doing a full rebuild on it and building a 2.4 - 2.6L NA monster that I can rev to 9,000rpm all day long.

Some day…
 
Is there an oil leak issue? All gaskets inspected? I have noticed that you had to top up 1 to 2 quarts for each of your OCI's... is your coolant fresh and up to proper levels? Spark plugs keeping up? The reason I raise these questions... despite relatively short OCI (milage wise), you had to top up 1/4th engine oil capacity and still the oil sheared and went into 30wt range...

FE is low and so are other wear indicating metals and I see you are not concerned... fair enough!
Have had several of these cars, and they often saw track use. A day at the track usually meant bringing an extra full L to top up. They would always consume oil. Mine also seemed to do well with the Euro 0W40’s.
 
Is there an oil leak issue? All gaskets inspected? I have noticed that you had to top up 1 to 2 quarts for each of your OCI's... is your coolant fresh and up to proper levels? Spark plugs keeping up? The reason I raise these questions... despite relatively short OCI (milage wise), you had to top up 1/4th engine oil capacity and still the oil sheared and went into 30wt range...

FE is low and so are other wear indicating metals and I see you are not concerned... fair enough!

pretty much what Artem said. they use oil (i wouldn't say "burn" it, as i never notice any oil smoke) under hard use due to some factors in the engine design. its never leaked a drop of anything in 12 years and when i adjusted the valves a couple years ago the head was phenomenally clean.

honestly, it uses less oil than my old subaru! i don't mind checking and topping off anyway, its just a habit at this point and i like to leave the hood open for cool-down after a hard run so why not poke around.
 
You might change your spark plugs a little more often than the oem interval. Wear looks good. Is the car more sluggish with the 40 vs the 30?
 
You might change your spark plugs a little more often than the oem interval. Wear looks good. Is the car more sluggish with the 40 vs the 30?

i'm running the factory Denso iridiums and when i took the last set out at 101k miles, they looked really good and probably could have stayed in longer. do the K20's have a history of plug issues (breaking off electrodes, stripping plug holes)? genuinely curious.

i had what i believe was 30 weight in it for a few hundred miles when i first bought it at 88k, and that was my only experience running it with anything other than a 0W-40. i never noticed a difference in sluggishness although the 0W-40 weight has essentially eliminated any VTC rattle on startup and is very quiet running. no downfall in MPG's either (when i was on factory sized tires) - best i ever did was 34mpg during a 10hr interstate trip with the car fully loaded (3 people and a dog) with the cruise set at 78mph on a 95 degree July day with the AC blasting full power.
 
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i'm running the factory Denso iridiums and when i took the last set out at 101k miles, they looked really good and probably could have stayed in longer. do the K20's have a history of plug issues (breaking off electrodes, stripping plug holes)? genuinely curious.

i had what i believe was 30 weight in it for a few hundred miles when i first bought it at 88k, and that was my only experience running it with anything other than a 0W-40. i never noticed a difference in sluggishness although the 0W-40 weight has essentially eliminated any VTC rattle on startup and is very quiet running. no downfall in MPG's either (when i was on factory sized tires) - best i ever did was 34mpg during a 10hr interstate trip with the car fully loaded (3 people and a dog) with the cruise set at 78mph on a 95 degree July day with the AC blasting full power.
I don't think they have a history of breaking . My 2002 Accord spark plug spec was 7 years or 70,000. Drove it 141,000 only repair was a broken motor mount. I don't check them, if they come out, new ones go in. Fewer changes=fewer problems. Jmo
 
when i adjusted the valves a couple years ago the head was phenomenally clean.
How much of an adjustment was needed? Were the valves too tight after 100k? What is the condition of the intake camshaft lobes?

I am considering switching to 0W-40 in my Toyota/Yamaha 2ZZ-GE VVTL-i engine after I found that "modern" low-zinc 5W-30 synthetics murdered my camshaft. New camshaft/rockers are in, taking it easy for now.

Interesting to see high oil use on the K20. My 2ZZ used almost no oil even when I frequently pushed it to 8,600 RPM redline.

Viscosity is low in the UOA for a 40 weight, consistent with high rpms causing shear. One more reason to stay away from 5W30 I guess.
 
How much of an adjustment was needed? Were the valves too tight after 100k? What is the condition of the intake camshaft lobes?

I am considering switching to 0W-40 in my Toyota/Yamaha 2ZZ-GE VVTL-i engine after I found that "modern" low-zinc 5W-30 synthetics murdered my camshaft. New camshaft/rockers are in, taking it easy for now.

Interesting to see high oil use on the K20. My 2ZZ used almost no oil even when I frequently pushed it to 8,600 RPM redline.

Viscosity is low in the UOA for a 40 weight, consistent with high rpms causing shear. One more reason to stay away from 5W30 I guess.

I’m using 10w40 in my 2001 Celica GTS. Runs great.
 
How often do you go to lift? Did you inspect the intake camshaft for wear? Which oil brand? OCI?
Constantly. That’s the entire point of this engine.

I tried Castrol Edge 10w40 for 1,500 miles and managed the shear that out of spec. Hahaha.

 
How much of an adjustment was needed? Were the valves too tight after 100k? What is the condition of the intake camshaft lobes?

I am considering switching to 0W-40 in my Toyota/Yamaha 2ZZ-GE VVTL-i engine after I found that "modern" low-zinc 5W-30 synthetics murdered my camshaft. New camshaft/rockers are in, taking it easy for now.

Interesting to see high oil use on the K20. My 2ZZ used almost no oil even when I frequently pushed it to 8,600 RPM redline.

Viscosity is low in the UOA for a 40 weight, consistent with high rpms causing shear. One more reason to stay away from 5W30 I guess.

little loose on the intake, little tight on the exhaust, which seems to be a common default for these engines after that mileage. as far as i could tell everything looked just like it should, and extremely clean. i set the intake in the middle of the clearance range and exhaust on the high side. you really only hear the injectors at idle, its very smooth.

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just took a look at your link and wow, that cam got the hurt put on it for sure. i think proper clearances will ensure you're good to go in the long run but i can't help but think a modern 40 weight would be right at home in that engine. just took a look at some 2zz info and it appears the big cam rides a direct finger follower vs a roller follower in the K...there's a lot of friction and pressure on that direct follower (which follows in my mind, given you lost the big lobe and not the little one which has a roller). i can see how you'd wipe a cam with an accidental tight clearance or subpar oil.

the K's do use some oil and these are no exception, especially when driven hard - i make it a point to do so almost every drive. at this point checking the oil level is totally habitual so its no big deal to me, but again coming from a subaru its not much different honestly.

i did top off with M1 5W-30, i'm sure that brought vis down a bit, but every brand i've used seems to settle out to that high 30 weight range. regardless, the wear is good so it feels like the right call to me.
 
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