M1 HM 5w30

[ericthepig]

Well, according to M1's FAQ sheet there may be an M1 HM 5w30 in the works - "stay tuned" is how M1 stated it. I think it's a good idea, but as a poster stated in another thread - this is also a way for a company to get more shelf space at Wally, etc.

I would have definitely run the above oil in my 88 Mazda, but who knows when/if it'll come out. I'm within two wks of the 1 yr OCI mark on my Mazda, so I used my better judgement and drained it this past wkend. I wanted the 5w30 because my Mazda seems "sensitive" to oil grades - a 20w50 noticeably bogs down the engine, and about two years ago I got my best mpg reading while doing a purge run where the purge chemical probably had my oil grade under a 30. I also often get 10 to 30 seconds of valve tick in cold weather (been getting that since I bought the car in 1993). Thus I've brewed my own -

My Mazda takes 3.8 qts - so I dropped in 3 qts of M1 HM 10w30 and 0.8 qt Mobil 5000 5w20. The engine is closing on 220k miles. This engine rarely sees op. temp (short tripper) - so I'm hoping all is well and hoping for an mpg kick on this little 1.6L.

 

[ericthepig]

BTW - last years fill was M1 HM 10w40 (about 3.2k in one year). I was VERY plsed with it performance - nearly eliminates start-up smoke, and drives very nice. BUT, looking in the fill hole things look as dirty (actually dirtier) than ever. My be my imagination. But I would definitely say it didn't clean anything!

 

[Steve S]

20w-50 is pretty thick in a cold engine.

 

[OVERKILL]

The 0w40 seems to do a very good job of cleaning.

 

[ericthepig]

My comments on M1 HMs cleaning (or lack thereof) may not be fair. I did a 500 mile Neutra run followed by an Amsoil flush last August (2007) immediately before dropping in the M1 HM. The M1 turned very dark, very quick - thus there may have been some rinse going on. Then I left the stuff in there for a year - perhaps this was too much to ask.

BTW - when I saw how dirty things looked (last Saturday) - I dumped the M1, dropped in 3/4 bottle of Amsoil flush and one FULL bottle of Gunk flush, and topped it up with ST 20w50. Ran 10 min, shut-down for 15min, ran high rpm for another 10 min or so. Drained. Stuff came out looking pretty bad. I bet my oil pan is a bit cleaner - probably not much else though. (BTW, when that flush was running, I had continuous smoke coming out the tail pipe - I don't have this otherwise - and it stopped with the new fill of M1 (and M5000). Apparently the flush was thin enough to get around the rings. Never let me mess with your car.

And now the present M1 fill follows this flush (similar to last year) - another rinse. Here we go again.