Mobil 1 0W-40 - 4,057 miles - 1995 Acura Integra

[ThirdeYe]

1995 Acura Integra 3-door LS.
1.8L 4-cylinder with 171,245 miles at time of sample.

Oil was in service for just under 3 months. Very spirited driving, saw a few WOTs. Driving was mostly long distances, but a sprinkling of short trips (~5 miles) mixed in. I was dreading this UOA because I've always seen the high iron readings with Mobil 1. I was very pleasantly surprised when I received the results.

Air filter is a new old stock Purolator from 1998, oil filter was a HAMP (Honda Bling! Probably not worth the ~$10 MSRP) Oil consumption was a half of a quart, no top-up added. First time my car has consumed oil, which made me even more worried about these results.

 

[Audi Junkie]

It goes to the "accuracy" of UOAs when the numbers come in this consistent.

Which one was the Havoline UOA? About the same result with the M1 0w-40 Euro Formula?

What was the refill oil?

 

[ThirdeYe]

I refilled with Valvoline SynPower 5W-30. The Havoline UOA was the sample from 8/21/07.

 

[Hermann]

Nice UOA, that Hamp filter seemed to work well. It looks like you could put any SM oil in your engine, and get the these excellent results.

 

[gtoracer]

I thought this oil sheared to a 30 vis in the first 500 miles, this oil was still 13.22cST.

 

[BobFout]

Too bad there's no TBN with this analysis.

 

[ThirdeYe]

I didn't think to get one, because I figured with 4,000 miles on the fill it would still have plenty of TBN. Sorry about that.

 

[BobFout]

Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I didn't think to get one, because I figured with 4,000 miles on the fill it would still have plenty of TBN. Sorry about that.

Agreed there should be plenty left. Enough for 8K miles, probably. Enough for 10K miles? Maybe!

 

[buster]

Honda/Acura engines generally show consistent wear on any oil. If oil temps were high or the car was tracked, you'd probably benefit from a full synthetic like M1. If the conditions where a synthetic succeeds don't exist, then don't expect to see much difference.

 

[Gene K]

Im perplexed. What is the objective?

Are we testing for oils that dosnt shear in that particular engine?
Doesnt look like the shear hurts anything.


Only thing Im getting from this is buy whatever is on sale and change every 7500 miles and the car likely wont care if its 20, 30 or 40 weight.

 

[Johnny]

Besides this and the Havoline run, what was used in the other UOA's?

 

[ThirdeYe]

From oldest to most recent (right to left):
Valvoline 5W-30, Havoline 5W-30 (deposit shield formula), Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30, Amsoil ASL 5W-30, Castrol Edge 5W-30, and Mobil 1 0W-40 (this report).

 

[Gary Allan]

Quote:
Are we testing for oils that dosnt shear in that particular engine?


I don't want to call it an objective, but there are certain oddities involved here.

Some engines routinely shear oil and show no ill effects. This is one of them. We comment on it in just that manner.

Just another sheared oil that the engine didn't seem to care whether it sheared or not. Darn those clever Asian engineers.

OTOH, M1 0w-40 routinely shears ..or at least frequently shears in the engines that it's spec'd for ..and no one cares. Eh

there's that characteristic shearing

Now you put a routinely shear prone (or rather shear-abled) oil in a shearing engine that it isn't spec'd for..and what do you get? No shearing.

Go figure

Maybe there's some "a negative and a positive makes a negative ..an negative and a negative makes a positive .." type thing.

 

[buster]

High shear, better fuel efficiency.

Quote:
Another change associated with API SN/ILSAC GF-5 oils will be greater fuel economy performance. This improvement in fuel economy will be achieved by increased use of polymers called Viscosity Modifiers. These polymers help a “thin” oil act “thicker” under low stress conditions. While the liberal use of polymers helps improve fuel economy in modern passenger car engines, older style push-rod and race engines produce greater shear stresses that can “tear” these polymers. When these polymers are sheared, oil losses viscosity, and that can lead to increased wear.


Not sure why so many people are baffled by this.

 

[lipadj46]

Holy cow look at that iron! dump that trash and refill with the cheapest API certified dino oil you can find or maybe PU. And stop wasting your money on UOA's!!!.....

(that is sarcasm for those that have a tough time with humor)

 

[garlicbreadman]

how does synpower feel in your vehicle?
did you lose mpg with ow-40?

 

[Mokanic]

I'd take the Havoline over the M1 in your application.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: garlicbreadman
how does synpower feel in your vehicle?
did you lose mpg with ow-40?


It feels great, much like any other oil I've tried in it. It's very smooth. I'm not sure if I lost any mpg, because I accelerated too much to be able to provide consistent results.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Originally Posted By: Hermann
Nice UOA, that Hamp filter seemed to work well. It looks like you could put any SM oil in your engine, and get the these excellent results.


Indeed. Thanks again for hooking me up with those HAMPs. I still have one of yours left along with one or two more that I bought previously.

I think they work great, just not sure if I'd be willing to pay full price for them when I can get the Honda A01s for less than half the price and they have a silicone ADBV instead of the HAMP's nitrile.

 

[ThirdeYe]

One thing I was thinking about the iron levels... I've heard that the higher iron readings in some UOAs is caused by a leaching of iron surfaces... since my engine is an aluminum block with an aluminum head, could this explain the lower iron?