GC 0w30 (green), 8200 miles, 2000 Civic

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Patman

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Guelph, Ontario
This is the latest UOA from my wife's car.

Here are the results from Wearcheck Canada.

8,200 miles on oil
Nov 8, 2005 to Sept 23, 2006 (10.5 months)
76,000 miles on engine
German Castrol Syntec 0w30
K&N oil filter
Fram air filter
Mostly city driving
4L oil capacity
No top up oil


Iron 19
Lead 6
Aluminum 4
Copper 2
Chromium 1
Nickel 0
Titanium 0
Tin 0
Silver 0

Silicon 8
Potassium 0
Sodium 1
Boron 1
Barium 0
Calcium 2847
Magnesium 132
Moly 1
Phosphorus 767
Zinc 891

Oxidation 84
Nitration 82
Sulfation 59

Fuel Water 0
Glycol 0

Viscosity 12.5 cst at 100c (40wt)


TBN 2.49


This is the second UOA in a row from this car that I'm disappointed with. The wear numbers have gone up the last two intervals. The TBN is a lot lower than I'm used to for GC also.

I put Syntec 5w30 in there now, so I'll change it around 6 or 7k and see how it does. Perhaps this Honda just doesn't like an oil as thick as GC?
 
I'm thinking that wear isnt that bad for a canadian winter...
and almost a year.

Its alot easier to get a great uoa if you only have 3 season weather.
 
It's not that bad Pat. I personally don't like the thicker viscosities for Honda 4 cyl engines. I'll be interested in seeing the 5w-30 Syntec. I'd even try a 5w-20 up there based on the climate and city driving.
 
Remember, it tends to rev a lot higher and have a smaller sump when compared to surface area to most engines. The wear isn't awesome though. Try a 5000mi OCI, or a 20wt?
 
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It's not that bad Pat. I personally don't like the thicker viscosities for Honda 4 cyl engines. I'll be interested in seeing the 5w-30 Syntec. I'd even try a 5w-20 up there based on the climate and city driving.




I may just try out the 5w20 Syntec in the future, but I figured I'd go with the 5w30 for now since it's on sale more often and comes in the neat 4L jugs.
smile.gif
 
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Remember, it tends to rev a lot higher and have a smaller sump when compared to surface area to most engines. The wear isn't awesome though. Try a 5000mi OCI, or a 20wt?




I was getting much better wear numbers with this engine and GC when I first put it in and was running 5000 mile intervals. Perhaps when I try to push it too long in this engine it just doesn't like it. That's odd because the wear in my Corvette doesn't go up with the longer intervals with GC. I'll be very interested in Terry's interpretation of this report.
 
Quote:


I'm thinking that wear isnt that bad for a canadian winter...
and almost a year.

Its alot easier to get a great uoa if you only have 3 season weather.




Patman,

I agree with the comments above. You havw such high standards. You are not going to see all zeros.
smile.gif
 
I agree about the Toronto weather not helping here, but this UOA isn't really bad. It will be interesting to see the how Syntec 5w30 (9.7 cSt) does. I believe this engine will prefer it to the GC.
 
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I agree with the comments above. You havw such high standards. You are not going to see all zeros.
smile.gif





True, but this car used to show better results in the past, which is why I'm a bit disappointed.
 
Quote:


I agree about the Toronto weather not helping here, but this UOA isn't really bad. It will be interesting to see the how Syntec 5w30 (9.7 cSt) does. I believe this engine will prefer it to the GC.




I think you're correct. I do have doubts that the 5w30 Syntec can go 8k in this application though, so I'm most likely going to start out with a short 6k run (besides, I'll be very anxious to see the UOA!)

As far as the Toronto winter goes, keep in mind that my Corvette also goes through the same winters, but it's parked outside overnight! And it sees better wear numbers, even with a bigger engine and even though my wife's car is parked in the warm garage overnight (our garage is rarely below 40F in the winter)
 
How many miles are on the engine?

At the beginning of the life of a new engine and at the end of life (maybe I should not use life?) the engine/componet will show more material wear.

If you have lots of miles on this engine, it could be starting the cycle of more wear at the end of its life...but, that does not mean you won't get another 50K,75,or 100K out of it.
 
The engine only has 76k on it, and it doesn't burn any oil at all, so I don't think it's anywhere near the end of it's life.
smile.gif


In all honesty, I shouldn't be worried about this engine ever needing to be rebuilt, as my wife only drives about 10k a year, and I don't think we'll keep this car for much longer than maybe 5 more years.
 
More startup wear in cold weather and more corrosion....

If you think these numbers are high, try repeating this experiment with the Mobil 1, 0w-30. Who wants to bet the levels of Fe and Pb won't be 50%-100% higher???

These are excellent results under the circumstances...for example the oil didn't thicken at all due to oxidation.

I don't understand why they stopping making this formulation, unless they weren't making any money on it.
frown.gif
I think it was better than the formulation they are making now.

TS
 
Ted, do you really think the gold formula of GC is a step down from this green formula? In the few UOAs for the gold formula it looks like it's doing the job pretty well.

I think I might have an idea why the wear is higher in the last few reports. There have been a lot more instances now where I start up my wife's car when the engine is cold, then move the car and then shut the engine down. So that could be adding some moisture into the oil that ends up causing a bit of minor corrosion, which accounts for the higher iron.
 
Patman,

I guess I was partial to the additive chemistry of the original stuff (particularly for automotive diesels), but the gold is excellent too. The GC could be castrols answer to the Mobil 1, EP if they chose to go that route....

Quit moving the wifes car!

Ted
 
Quote:


Patman,

I guess I was partial to the additive chemistry of the original stuff (particularly for automotive diesels), but the gold is excellent too. The GC could be castrols answer to the Mobil 1, EP if they chose to go that route....

Quit moving the wifes car!






I gotta move her car out of the driveway so I can drive mine!
banana.gif


It's a good thing I've switched my wife's car to another oil, so it leaves me with more green GC for my own car, which really does love this formula. Although at the same time, I'm very interested to see how the gold formula performs in the LS1.
 
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