Castrol Syntec 5W30 10,203 99' Honda Accord 4cyl

[Speedy!]

I've been testing various oil for 10K miles. Last sample was Castrol GTX 10W30. As you can see, in this case I don't think the Syntec is worth the price. I'm now testing Penzoil Platinum 5W30 to compare.

1999 Honda Accord 4cyl 2.3L EX Auto
Oil: Castrol Syntec 5W30
Filter: Purolator PureOne PL14459 (10K miles on filter)

Blackstone was the lab used.

This sample had about 5 months of time on the oil, 10,203 miles. I had to add 1/2 quart of makeup oil over the 10,203 miles. Vehicle has 135,656 miles on the clock. The synthetic seemed to burn off a tad faster than the dino oil...that may be due to the lower weight of the 5W30 over the 10W30, but I wouldn't think so.

COMMENTS:
Lead improved nicely here and all other wear continued to read normally. Hopefully lead continues to improve in the next sample. You can see that there isn't much difference between this oil and the last two that you've sampled. The viscosity of the oil was slightly lower but that was expected as this is a 5W/30 vs a 10W/30. This oil doesn't contain as much sodium as the last, and the 43 ppm that we found here is probably mostly carryover. The TBN was a bit stronger and read 2.9 so you still had some active additive left. Try ~11,000 miles next oil.

ELEMENTS IN PARTS PER MILLION
Aluminum: 3
Chromium: 1
Iron: 9
Copper: 5
Lead: 11
Tin: 4
Molybdenum: 85
Nickel: 1
Manganese: 0
Silver: 0
Titanium: 0
Potassium: 1
Boron: 19
Silicon: 14
Sodium: 43
Calcium: 2912
Magnesium: 13
Phosphorus: 718
Zinc: 861
Barium: 0

PROPERTIES:
SUS Viscosity @210*F: 61.1
cSt Viscosity @ 100*C: 10.54
Fuel %: Antifreeze %: 0.0
Water %: 0.0
Insolubles %: 0.4
TBN: 2.9

 

[Liquid_Turbo]

How many kms on car?

 

[webfors]

Originally Posted By: Speedy1975
Vehicle has 135,656 miles on the clock.


You really do need to run an oil a couple of times to get any value out of a UOA via trending. I predict the first run of PP will show worse results, and improve after a couple of runs.

 

[Speedy!]

Originally Posted By: webfors
Originally Posted By: Speedy1975
Vehicle has 135,656 miles on the clock.


You really do need to run an oil a couple of times to get any value out of a UOA via trending. I predict the first run of PP will show worse results, and improve after a couple of runs.


At 10,000 mile intervals, that'd take a long while.

I'll run one after 10K with the PP, then maybe 20K down the road do it again just to see, if I still have the car at that point.

 

[Petrou]

whats wrong with that UOA, ya i think you may need one more run with the syntec to get a more accurate idea of where your at with it. but not bad i think

 

[addyguy]

Nice run. Report indicates you would have got about 12k total out of that oil before insols and TBN would have maxed out. Not bad for a 'non-long-drain' OTC syn.

 

[Speedy!]

Originally Posted By: Petrou
whats wrong with that UOA, ya i think you may need one more run with the syntec to get a more accurate idea of where your at with it. but not bad i think


I agree it wasn't a bad UOA, however compared to the Castrol GTX 10W30 I used before, there wasn't much difference other than the lead wear. As a matter of fact everything was about the same except for the TBN which was 1.4 pts higher with the Syntec, but I had to add .5 qt about 1,000 miles before this sample so that skewed the result slightly compared to the GTX. Same mileage, same car, same driving conditions. So I'm not sure the Syntec would be worth the much higher price compared to the regular GTX.

Penzoil Platinum is quite a bit cheaper than the Syntec, so if it does well I think it's a good choice. I'll know for sure in about 6 mos when I get it tested.

Here's the GTX 10W30 Report I posted a while back. I thought there might have been a coolant leak, but after thorough checking there is not.

1999 Honda Accord 4cyl 2.3L EX Auto
Oil: Castrol GTX 10W30
Filter: Purolator PureOne PL14459 (19K miles on filter)

Blackstone was the lab used.

This sample had about 6 months of time on the oil, 10,330 miles. No makeup oil added. Vehicle had 125,453 miles on the clock. It did seem to use about 1qt of oil, but stayed in the safe zone so I didn't add any makeup oil so that I wouldn't contaminate the results.

I suspected a coolant leak as the reservoir seem to loose about 8oz. I notice no leaks on the ground and have marked the coolant reservoir so I can keep an eye on it.

COMMENTS:
When we suspect coolant contamination is a possibility we look for high potassium and sodium. Unfortunately, some oils use sodium as an additive, which is the case with Castrol. You can see that potassium was low so we don't think that the coolant that you lost is getting into the oil. We'll be sure to keep an eye on both next time, though. Lead increased here and is likely due to the longer oil run. This shows excess wear at the bearings so we suggest no more than ~7,500 miles on the next oil. The TBN was low at 1.6 so you had little active additive left.


ELEMENTS IN PARTS PER MILLION
Aluminum: 4
Chromium: 1
Iron: 11
Copper: 3
Lead: 18
Tin: 0
Molybdenum: 5
Nickel: 1
Manganese: 0
Silver: 0
Titanium: 0
Potassium: 2
Boron: 2
Silicon: 13
Sodium: 166
Calcium: 2473
Magnesium: 9
Phosphorus: 625
Zinc: 817
Barium: 0

PROPERTIES:
SUS Viscosity @210*F: 64.2
cSt Viscosity @ 100*C: 11.40
Fuel %: Antifreeze %: 0.0
Water %: 0.0
Insolubles %: 0.3
TBN: 1.6

 

[ryan2022]

Im confused.

The syntec seemed to work really well. Surprisingly well at that OCI.

I would stick with it! I'm assuming the GTX you ran was at a far lower OCI? That being the case, Its hard to judge the cost difference.

 

[Speedy!]

Originally Posted By: ryan2022
Im confused.

The syntec seemed to work really well. Surprisingly well at that OCI.

I would stick with it! I'm assuming the GTX you ran was at a far lower OCI? That being the case, Its hard to judge the cost difference.


Same oil change interval as stated in my post. The test would not have been valid otherwise.