Castrol GTX 5W-20 in 2001 Honda Civic

[Oleumus]

Unit: 2001 Honda Civic LX, MT; 41,500 miles on unit
Oil: Castrol GTX 5W-20; 5,011 miles on oil.
Make-up oil: 0.0
Oil Filter: Honda OEM, Made in Canada, so, I guess, it's Honeywell aka FRAM.
Air Filter: Honda OEM, replaced @ 30K
Driving conditions: 70Hwy/30City, MN hot humid summer - beginning of Fall: June-October.
From time to time - up to redline, rarely - up to fuel cut-off.

Oil Lab - Oil Analyzers Inc

SPECTROCHEMICAL ANALYSIS, ppm
Iron-------------------8
Chromium------------1
Lead------------------7
Copper--------------12
Tin--------------------0
Aluminum------------5
Nickel-----------------0
Silver-----------------0
Silicon----------------9
Boron----------------27
Sodium--------------12
Magnesium----------12
Calcium-----------2134
Barium---------------16
Phosphorus---------849
Zinc----------------1131
Molybdenum-----253
Titanum----------------0
Vanadium--------------0
Potassium--------------0
Fuel,%vol------------ Water,%---------------0
Soot/Solids, %vol---0.1
Glycol---------------NEG
Vis@100 C, Cst-----8.39
TBN-----------------3.07
Oxidation-----------11.0
Nitration-----------15.0

Any comments?

 

[Patman]

TBN is very low but the rest of the numbers look pretty good! I'm beginning to think that all my worries about 5w20 are for nothing. It appears to do a pretty good job! Look at all that moly in there!!

[ November 18, 2002, 08:03 PM: Message edited by: Patman ]

 

[dragboat]

That oil did better than the Pennzoil 10/30 SL imo that was run to 2650 miles in our 4 cylinder car.Oxidation was a little more than double at 1/2 the miles and all hiway driving and no redlining of the motor.

Nice additive package and analysis,,wish Castrol would dose up the 5/30 and 10/30,10/40 GTX like that.

[ November 18, 2002, 09:43 PM: Message edited by: dragboat ]

 

[mormit]

Those wear number are indeed good. Look at the dose of moly in that oil. Guess that more than compensates for the low visc of the base oil.

 

[Idrinkmotoroil]

looks like a nice oil actually, man that is a good dose of moly. When did Castrol release this oil, I haven't seen it yet around my parts. I have a 2002 Civic which might be tempting.

Would you guys say the copper reading is a tad high ?, we don't usually get that much copper in the Hondas that I have seen tested. Everything else looks really good.

 

[PandaBear]

This oil is still not as good as 5w30 but what the heck. With this kind of wear number the last thing I would worry about in that car is the engine. Keep it up and I think it is doing just fine.

Now I am really tempted to switch to 5w20 to save some gas, I guess I will try it in my next change.

 

[Chris]

Please tell us what the previous oil was. Any additives added?

 

[jjbula]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the TBN of 3.07 indicate the oil is very near it's limit?

Otherwise, very good numbers. My opinion of 5w20 is starting to change. I would stick to 5K changes though.

 

[Patman]

Yep, at that TBN the oil is definitely close to being done. However if it's the first interval with this oil, the second one could show better TBN retention. All in all it shows that this oil can safely go 4-5k. I wouldn't push it beyond this.

 

[Oleumus]

Thanks for comments, guys!

quote:

---

Please tell us what the previous oil was. Any additives added?

---

The previous oil was the same - Castrol GTX 5W20.
No additives either.

I always have been using 5w20 oils on this car: after break-in - Mobil Drive Clean for couple times, after that - Castrol GTX exclusively.

On the last oil change I filled engine with Mobil_1 SS 5W-30. I'll be running oil analysis on it. I just don't know when should I do my next oil change. 7,500 miles?

quote:

---

Now I am really tempted to switch to 5w20 to save some gas, I guess I will try it in my next change.

---

After last oil change my mileage dropped from 34-35 mpg to 31-32 mpg. Last three tanks resulted 30, 31 and 34 mpg respectively. My gas mileage on 5w-20 was 35-37 mpg in the summer and 31-33 mpg in the winter. So, I don't know if it was a good decision to go with 5w30.

Maybe I should've stayed with 5w20?

 

[Patman]

The small difference in viscosity between M1 5w30 and this 5w20 won't account for any noticeable mileage drop, it's the colder weather that is doing it.

For the first interval with Mobil 1, I say to go with about a 5k interval, since some of the 5w20 GTX is still mixed in there. Then on the second interval you could go with 7500 or more.

 

[Bror Jace]

Yes, colder weather means a tad denser air charge and a little more power ... but less fuel economy. I follow my mileage quite closely and the trend is consistent.

As for your results, Oleumus, they look just OK. Iron, lead and copper are a little high ... but not enough to be flagged by the lab.

How much do you like this car?

If it were me, and I was to stay with this oil, I'd cut the drain interval back to 4,000 miles and see if you can't get those wear metals down to 5-6 ppms or less.

--- Bror Jace

 

[The_Oz]

Can we get a confirmation that the high moly count maybe from moly-coated piston rings and such, and not necessarily the oil?

Oz

 

[Patman]

Oz, I don't think you'd ever see that kind of moly numbers coming from the rings. For example, my last oil sample using Maxlife (which doesn't have moly anymore) showed 7ppm of moly in a 3300 mile interval. That's probably about as much as you'd see coming from the rings, certainly not double digits, let alone triple digits like in this sample.

 

[MolaKule]

The copper wear is on about 2.4 ppm/1k, so I would say that's pretty good.

And yes any oil at or below 5W30 had better have some good AW's such as ZDDP or Moly or.....

 

[Idrinkmotoroil]

quote:

---

Originally posted by The_Oz:
Can we get a confirmation that the high moly count maybe from moly-coated piston rings and such, and not necessarily the oil?

Oz

---

Honda does not use moly coatings on their rings or pistons for the Civic, so any amounts of moly are likely from the oil. The Honda factory fill break-in oil has a large amount of moly in it, something that is really needed with thinner oils such as 5w-20.

 

[HOndaGuy]

i have this oil running in my car right now with a bosch oil filter. I have the 02 ex model 5 speed, and i can honestly tell you that oil is doing great. I have never redlined my civic at all, the most it sees is about 5500 rpms(redline near 7000), and i rarely ever rev it up that high. The only thing i would suggest is to cut back on the redlines as that will help the oil out a lot, and get a better filter on their cause fram just won't cut it.