Learning the lesson of simpler is better

[bbhero]

99% of the time we're debating which Band-Aid will work best. What you find in aggregate is good engines produce good results, regardless of brand and bad engines produce not so good results, regardless of brand. That's not to say there aren't differences, but they're often exaggerated and nominal when comparing oils that meet the same specifications. You do get some differentiation under very specific and narrow operating conditions.

I have 36k useless posts and those are my observations.

Buster….

80-90 percent of your posts are really, really, really very well articulated, good, intelligent and interesting.

You do great my friend. I mean that sincerely. Bradley

 

[hardcore302]

Well said. The amount of auto detailing supplies that I use and test/experiment with is "my thing".

Exactly. The slightest difference will make me experiment. But we enjoy it. And it is somewhat productive at least lol

 

[hardcore302]

I understand that. I'm really into higher end auto detailing so on one end of the spectrum you have folks that have no issue spending several thousand dollars (for starters) for a full paint correction and ceramic coating or boutique wax whereas on the other end you have people that claim any product on the clear coat "voids the warranty' and they let the rain "wash" it or simply don't care.

Well said.

 

[2015Corolla]

I presume an intelligent chap like yourself will be pairing this supreme elixir with a FRAM Ultra at minimum.

 

[cammyfive79]

I presume an intelligent chap like yourself will be pairing this supreme elixir with a FRAM Ultra at minimum.

Indeed. I bought a number of Amsoil Signature filters the same day I bought all of the HPL oil.

 

[cammyfive79]

I presume an intelligent chap like yourself will be pairing this supreme elixir with a FRAM Ultra at minimum.

Just noticed from your signature that you drive a new 3 Turbo; my wife has the same engine in her CX-9 and we'll be switching to the HPL 5W30 you are using once she uses her last Mazda pre-paid oil change package in a couple of months.

 

[ZeeOSix]

What concerns me, according to some info I found on this engine, is that the aluminum block also has aluminum cylinder liners (sleeves).

FYI, the cylinder bores in the Honda/Acura J37 are Nikasil coated/plated (a very hard coating), not bare aluminum.

Nikasil - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Strommen95]

99% of the time we're debating which Band-Aid will work best. What you find in aggregate is good engines produce good results, regardless of brand and bad engines produce not so good results, regardless of brand. That's not to say there aren't differences, but they're often exaggerated and nominal when comparing oils that meet the same specifications. You do get some differentiation under very specific and narrow operating conditions.

I have 36k useless posts and those are my observations.

If we condense the highlights of every single post into one, it looks decent!

 

[Bill7]

I must admit that in my short time as an active member here I've drunk from the firehouse of knowledge here and, at times, convinced myself that my daily driver requires a 70 step process prior to an oil change and then another dozen steps every time I drive it. Exaggeration for sure, but I think I went down the rabbit hole too quickly being a bit new. After exchanging a few DMs with Dave at @High Performance Lubricants I am no longer convinced that I HAVE to have the Super Car Series oil for my 2013 Acura TL, haha. It is nice to be told by a company rep that I should save my money and even their standard Passenger Car Oil in 5W30 is way better than my or my wife's car (2021 Mazda CX-9) would need. Plus, I will be running the same HPL PCO 5W30 (Acura suggests 5W20 and I immediately switched to 5W30 when I bought it; wife's car specifies 5W30 with the 2.5T Skyactiv direct injection engine) in both so I can just buy that oil in large quantities.

None of that is to say I don't run thought experiments in my head reading some of the threads with some of you guys do the real work of analyzing oil samples, cutting open filters, and really deep diving into the pool of specs.

Yes, simple is always best. The lowest priced HPL PCMO 5W-30 is a group III (no PAO), but it has exactly the same amount of AN + Ester as all their other offerings. I think that is a good choice for my application as I care much more about the AN + Ester's cleaning abilities than anything else. I have 4 Honda Odyssey's with the Honda J35 engine with VCM. I've decided to do a complete and thorough engine cleaning with the following regiment:

All oil changes 4k/6 month (whichever comes first) with SuperTech High Mileage Full Synthetic 5W-30.
First 3 oil changes on each vehicle will do a LiquiMoly engine flush.
Oil changes 4, 5, 6, on each vehicle will do 1 quart HPL EC 30 + 3.5 quarts SuperTech.
After those 6 oil changes (3 with flushes, 3 with one quart HPL EC 30), each vehicle's engine will be as clean as humanly possible,
and will just do the simple SuperTech oil changes every 4k/6 months for the remainder of the life of the vehicles with the assumption that no new sludge/varnish/dirt on the piston rings will be added with this short OCI.

The overall cost of these 6 oil changes per vehcile is still extremely low: 19.98 - $1 5% Walmart credit Card cash back = $18.98 for the oil.
Filter is only $3.50: Fram ExtraGuard PH 7317 which is 95% efficiency @ >20 microns.
LiquiMoly engine flush is about $15 a can.
HPL EC 30 is about $15 a bottle with BITOG discount + shipping.