This is the 3rd UOA on this car, all by Blackstone.
1st was Honda fact. fill 0W/20, 2nd was M1 0W/20 per dealer; they supplied as 1st free OC, and state they use M1 for the hybrid cars, post signage stating such, and charge extra . Blackstone said it looked more like Mobil 5000, btw.
This 3rd one *is* M1 0W/20, because I supplied it {it also looks similar to other UOAs I've seen here w/ this brand / visc}.
Filter used on all 3 was OEM Honda {no, I don't know if Toyo Roki or Filtech / Fram}. I'm going to start bringing them PureOne filters; those seem to be a good choice, from what I see. I'm planning on 7500 change intervals, at least until I'm out of base warranty, so I'm not looking for bypass filtration, and M1 filter would be overkill for this type of interval.
Some notes of interest about this engine, for those interested...
It's the venerable 3.0L J30, with a few new twists.
- Variable Cylinder Management, which shuts down fuel to the rear cylinder bank, and closes the intake / exhaust valves during cruise / decel. A big portion of the highway mileage improvement.
- An autostop system that shuts down the drivetrain when the car comes to a stop. Thus, no idling. I'd welcome some debate about whether this constitutes 'severe service', given the starting / stopping of the engine. My TBN's are looking pretty good, though - dunno if that would be a good indicator or not. Need some help interpreting shear, if it can be discerned.
- A 16 kW electric motor sandwiched between the engine / 5AT. In this car {and especially the way I drive it}, it's mostly used for helping keep the engine in that I3 mode longer. It also takes the place of the gear reduction starter {still there for backup}, and spins up the engine quite smoothly at 800rpm - no cranking.
Other differences between this car and the normal V6 - the torque converter is programmed to engage earlier and hold longer, to further assist VCM, and the 5AT is geared slightly taller, which helps provide a 45mph cruising speed at 1100rpm - most of the time, I'm no higher than that speed, as I drive mostly secondary highway, 30-50mph. I drive for mileage {35-38mpg work commute over 21mi, 42-45 on the superslab {at 65mph or less}, best trip of 49.1 mpg over 745mi IL<>OH {yes, 1 tank
This latest interval was during the hottest part of the summer. Original service date 1/8/05, in 0F temps.
My prior car, which was a '01 Accord with the J30, I ran M1 5W/30, because I was afraid that a -20 {mfg spec} wouldn't protect well enough in the hot summer temps, after seeing a visc / temp chart. But I heeded advice for max mileage with this one, and am going with 5W/20 {can't find 0W/20 any longer, and if I could, I'd dose up w/ the Synpower for extra moly}. I've seen the advice to stay away from additives with API/SM formulations.
Gas mileage and the drain interval are why I'm using the synoil - I don't know that I'd trust a dino for 7500mi, which is a convenient maintenance interval for me. I also drained the ATF at this change, and am sending that in to Blackstone; will post those results in the ATF section when I get them.
Comments / questions welcomed. Thanks for reading, if you got this far
[ August 26, 2005, 08:57 PM: Message edited by: 59 Vetteman ]
