HPL Engine Cleaner 30.....800 miles in

[cammyfive79]

Background: I bought a 1 owner (senior citizen owned) 2013 Acura TL SH-AWD a few months ago. The car is mostly a cream puff as it was quite literally used to drive to church and the grocery store pretty much only; in 10 years it had 30,900 miles. I checked the Carfax service history and it does show 3 oil changes and tire rotations which were done at the approximate 10k mileage mark (probably per the Acura Maintenance Minder). As soon I bought the car I had a huge maintenance overhaul done - engine oil, oil seals, timing belt/tensioner, water pump & thermostat, alternator belt, all of the fluids including transmission (twice), transfer case, rear diff, brake, coolant. So the car is 100% caught up on any preventative maintenance that may have been missed due to time.

During that maintenance I ordered some HPL Engine Cleaner 30 and had the full quart added with the remaining amount being the M1 5w30 and an OEM Acura filter. That was a little over a month ago and about 800 miles so I went out to check the engine oil (the Acura J37 V6 does have a known issue of some of them consuming oil later in life if it's been neglected) and everything looked great and the oil, via the napkin wipe test, looks nice an golden. I really didn't expect otherwise but it's always nice to see. When I ordered all of the fluids for the car I accidentally ordered (2) qts of Engine Cleaner 30 and 5 quarts of their PPCO 5W30 to use after the Engine Cleaner/M1 combo. Since I have that extra bottle of EC would it be advisable to do a 2k mile OCI on the EC30 in there now and use the other bottle of EC30 with M1 for another 2-2.5k mile OCI and at that point switch to the full 5qts of HPC PPCO 5W30?

 

[buster]

Looks good. Will you be inspecting the oil filter?

 

[cammyfive79]

Looks good. Will you be inspecting the oil filter?

Yes. I work for an auto group so I am able to have any of the techs do the oil change at any time. I plan to cut open the filter when we do the drain and refill.

 

[TiGeo]

Not going to hurt it and if that's what you want to do...go for it! It's a more mild cleaner vs. their regularly motor oils and supposed to be used as a prep.

 

[RDY4WAR]

Looks good. I second what @TiGeo said.

 

[cammyfive79]

Not going to hurt it and if that's what you want to do...go for it! It's a more mild cleaner vs. their regularly motor oils and supposed to be used as a prep.

Correct. I like the idea of going into this using the mild version with a very short OCI twice and then moving into their stronger standard 5W30 oils with a good filter and 5K OCI.

 

[1lieutenant]

Good luck with your “new” Acura. Just wanted to clear up one inaccuracy. These engines have been plagued with ring coking starting around 50k even with immaculate care. Acura was initially replacing the block and later replacing the ring pack due to high consumption. I had a 2012 that was just a wonderful car. I changed the oil with 20% left on the monitor faithfully with 5w20 Mobil 1 (as recommended by Acura). Oil consumption was 1qt/800 miles when they replaced the block.

@Trav recommended Mobil1 0w40 for this engine in part due to it exceptional cleaning ability. HPL may be the key to avoid this issue completely.

 

[dnewton3]

The HPL EC series is a great product. But their PCEOs are even better at cleaning, as they not only have the esters, but also ANs which the EC does not, if I have the correctly. I'd recommend their PCEOs for anyone wanting the ultimate in cleaning and preventative actions against coking.

 

[cammyfive79]

Good luck with your “new” Acura. Just wanted to clear up one inaccuracy. These engines have been plagued with ring coking starting around 50k even with immaculate care. Acura was initially replacing the block and later replacing the ring pack due to high consumption. I had a 2012 that was just a wonderful car. I changed the oil with 20% left on the monitor faithfully with 5w20 Mobil 1 (as recommended by Acura). Oil consumption was 1qt/800 miles when they replaced the block.

@Trav recommended Mobil1 0w40 for this engine in part due to it exceptional cleaning ability. HPL may be the key to avoid this issue completely.

Well put. I've had almost a dozen Hondas and Acuras over the years and this last of the TLs is a really great driving and designed car. As you mentioned, I'm hoping to get ahead of the oil consumption issue by running 2 very short interval oil changes with the HPL EC30 and then switching over to the stronger "normal" HPL 5W30 with 5K OCIs.

 

[Bill7]

Good luck with your “new” Acura. Just wanted to clear up one inaccuracy. These engines have been plagued with ring coking starting around 50k even with immaculate care. Acura was initially replacing the block and later replacing the ring pack due to high consumption. I had a 2012 that was just a wonderful car. I changed the oil with 20% left on the monitor faithfully with 5w20 Mobil 1 (as recommended by Acura). Oil consumption was 1qt/800 miles when they replaced the block.

@Trav recommended Mobil1 0w40 for this engine in part due to it exceptional cleaning ability. HPL may be the key to avoid this issue completely.

Thanks for the info 1lieutenant. You mentioned you changed the oil with 20% left on the monitor and still got the 1qt/800 miles oil consumption. What was your actual oil change interval in miles/months. I just wanted to learn more about this issue. Thanks.

 

[cammyfive79]

Thanks for the info 1lieutenant. You mentioned you changed the oil with 20% left on the monitor and still got the 1qt/800 miles oil consumption. What was your actual oil change interval in miles/months. I just wanted to learn more about this issue. Thanks.

There was some sort of extended warranty offered to the owners of these cars (8 yr/120K miles I think), but since the newest TL is a 2014, that time has since expired for everyone. Interesting I think it just affected the J37 cars (TL SH-AWD, newer RL SH-AWD) and not the more common J35 cars. Most of these were rode hard and put up wet and are now driven by folks who could care less if it uses oil or if they ever change it.

 

[Bill7]

There was some sort of extended warranty offered to the owners of these cars (8 yr/120K miles I think), but since the newest TL is a 2014, that time has since expired for everyone. Interesting I think it just affected the J37 cars (TL SH-AWD, newer RL SH-AWD) and not the more common J35 cars. Most of these were rode hard and put up wet and are now driven by folks who could care less if it uses oil or if they ever change it.

If I owned an Acura with a J37 engine, I would use HPL PAO + AN + Ester based oil, and change oil every 3,000 miles, and do a LiquiMoly engine flush with every oil change. I know that sounds like overkill, but having the engine turn into a 1 quart every 800 mile oil burner is a high price to pay for doing longer oil change intervals.

 

[1lieutenant]

Thanks for the info 1lieutenant. You mentioned you changed the oil with 20% left on the monitor and still got the 1qt/800 miles oil consumption. What was your actual oil change interval in miles/months. I just wanted to learn more about this issue. Thanks.

@Bill7 20% on the monitor equates to 6-6.5k miles. I drove 15k miles per year. Unlike what was previously mentioned, I did not drive it hard and put away wet. I also do not drive like a grandma.

 

[Bill7]

@Bill7 20% on the monitor equates to 6-6.5k miles. I drove 15k miles per year. Unlike what was previously mentioned, I did not drive it hard and put away wet. I also do not drive like a grandma.

In your opinion, if that OCI interval was cut in half: 3k-3.25k miles, would it have prevented the oil consumption issue?

 

[1lieutenant]

In your opinion, if that OCI interval was cut in half: 3k-3.25k miles, would it have prevented the oil consumption issue?

I do not think so. If I had used a motor oil with better cleaning capacity, such as Mobil1 0w40 rather than the 5w20, I think I might not have had this problem. Also,I would have changed the oil at 5k intervals. At the time I didn’t realize different versions of Mobil1 had different cleaning capability. HPL wasn’t in the picture at that time.

 

[Revving2Redline]

I do not think so. If I had used a motor oil with better cleaning capacity, such as Mobil1 0w40 rather than the 5w20, I think I might not have had this problem. Also,I would have changed the oil at 5k intervals. At the time I didn’t realize different versions of Mobil1 had different cleaning capability. HPL wasn’t in the picture at that time.

Quit being so hard on yourself. It's under the bridge,in the past, light-years away. I would have recommended M1 EP 5w30HM, Redline 5w30 or something in there with some cleaning going on. I believe someone posted using a oil flush; prior to using a oil I listed above maybe , but after probably not especially with the higher ester content of some of the boutique oils available. Anything could have caused your misfortune from a bad emissions part,not getting it completely up to temperature and so on. There's a ton of great products to choose and the ones here that are in the know..well they know and won't steer you wrong. I know fuel isn't a oil issue but it plays a part. Stay with detergent fuel and I recommend the Redline Si-1 15oz as it treats up to 100 gallons still as I just spoke to Dave about that very thing. PEA is the stuff to keep things clean. Keep that PCV valve clean and find a good throttle body cleaner that uses PEA like CRC or Lucas GFI cleaner. For oil filters I like Fram TG,FU and the Royal Purple filters.

 

[Revving2Redline]

I do not think so. If I had used a motor oil with better cleaning capacity, such as Mobil1 0w40 rather than the 5w20, I think I might not have had this problem. Also,I would have changed the oil at 5k intervals. At the time I didn’t realize different versions of Mobil1 had different cleaning capability. HPL wasn’t in the picture at that time.

Don't tell @tig1 this. He's used M1 5w20 in every vehicle except outdoor equipment which I believe gets 10w30.

 

[cammyfive79]

Is a 5K OCI using HPL 5W30 considered a "long OCI"? I have never and will never do the truly long drain intervals of 10-15k miles (or more), but considering the price of the HPL 5W30, I would like to do standard 5K OCIs and not 3K.....but if there is a significant risk going over 3K OCIs even with the HPL engine oil, I will do it.

 

[wlk]

I would use whatever 0w40/5w40 or 5w30 synthetic at 3-5k and be gtg. QSFS Euro 5w40 being most economical at wallyworld.

 

[RazorsEdge]

Is a 5K OCI using HPL 5W30 considered a "long OCI"? I have never and will never do the truly long drain intervals of 10-15k miles (or more), but considering the price of the HPL 5W30, I would like to do standard 5K OCIs and not 3K.....but if there is a significant risk going over 3K OCIs even with the HPL engine oil, I will do it.

5000 with HPL is considered a short oil change.

With that being said, that's what I will be doing with the HPL passenger car oil.