Mobil 1 5w-30 EP, 5,876 Miles, 2002 Acura MDX

[BBuzecky]

No make up oil, 76k on the clock. Oil was run for 1 year, mostly city driving.

Code:


aluminum 28

chromium 2

iron 71

copper 27

lead 1

tin 6

molybdenum 87

nickel 1

manganese 1

silver 0

titanium 0

potassium 2

boron 51

silicon 9

sodium 8

calcium 2184

magnesium 12

phosphorus 588

zinc 788

barium 0



SUS visc. 56.1

cSt visc. 9.10

flashpoint 365

fuel TR

antifreeze 0.0

water 0.0

insolubles 0.2

TBN 1.3




My Dad's first UOA on his Acura MDX. The comments are...

"Aluminum and iron read high in the first sample from your Acura and can show scuffing between pistons and cylinders. Besides a trace of fuel (which isn't enough to hurt anything) we found nothing else unusual in this oil, so the high wear is a bit of a mystery. Universal averages show normal wear levels after about 6,000 miles use on the oil, so you didn't run the oil too long. Silicon was low, so abrasive dirt past the air filter isn't a likely cause. The TBN was still okay at 1.3, so you didn't run out of active additive (1.0 is low). Due to wear, check back in just 3,000 miles."

Even with the 1 year run I was surprised the TBN was so low. Obviously my Dad is concerned about the possible wear issues. Any thoughts are welcome.

 

[buster]

The oil is shot. City driving is very tough on oil. I'm not sure why wear is higher, but it is. No explanation other than the oi/engine/driving conditions were too severe for the oil. I don't think there is any reason to be concerned about wear though.

 

[chubbs1]

Wow that is pretty disconcerting for EP. How do you drive that car? Fast/hard, Track days?

I don't know what to say because you only went 6k in 1yr. Other than use a different oil and change at 6 mo.

 

[buster]

Some oils are better than others at controlling wear under low temp/short trip driving. You need more trending data though. One sample doesn't mean much.

 

[BBuzecky]

Chubbs, the car is driven very easily by my father. No track, no hard acceleration, etc. Not sure if the MDX Engine is hard on oil or not, he's going to be sending in another sample in the fall to see more results.

 

[barlowc]

Originally Posted By: BBuzecky
Not sure if the MDX Engine is hard on oil or not

No, in fact I believe it's just the opposite. The 2002 Acura MDX had a J35A3 engine which is the same as the L66 that's in our VUE. See the following links for more information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_J_engine#J35A

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_L66_engine

Our VUE is used as the proverbial "grocery getter" and is exposed to a lot of stop and go and short trips. I had an OCI done last fall on a 6K mile fill of Pennzoil Platinum and the results were very good. Wear was low and TBN was still high. As a result, I'm now running 7500 mile OCIs. Check out the UOA at the following link:

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/pennzoil-platinum-5w20-6k-miles-07-saturn-vue.142405/

 

[chubbs1]

Originally Posted By: BBuzecky
Chubbs, the car is driven very easily by my father. No track, no hard acceleration, etc. Not sure if the MDX Engine is hard on oil or not, he's going to be sending in another sample in the fall to see more results.


The car is not that hard on oil, short trip driving is tough, but not that tough. I would sample halfway if results are like this again I would try a different brand of oil and change more often.

 

[Artem]

I think its the 1 year point that got to the oil... but then again, its rated for 1 year so it technically should be fine unless it was ran for say 2 years. The wear is strange indeed.

Maybe the oil filter failed at some point and wasn't filter as well.

 

[LeakySeals]

Was this the 1st run of EP? If so what was in it prior?

 

[buster]

Are you using the SN version now?

 

[BBuzecky]

Not the first run of EP. My Dad runs Mobil 1 Extended Performance in both his vehicles since new, and does all his own oil changes. Might be a few Mobil 1 regular blend in there, but always runs Mobil synthetic.

Buster, he likely was using and is using the old formula of EP, since he stocks up on sales. I'm not familar with the SN Version, did it recently come out?

 

[BBuzecky]

Thanks for the links Barlow, very good read. Also, this was the first time my Dad extended his oil interval to one full year. My parents own two cars but don't drive all that much, thus the 6k or so over a full year.

In the past he would always change it every 6 months, for piece of mind. He uses Mobil 1 Oil filters, Honda OEM filters, etc, so seemingly quality filters. He (and I) figured Mobil 1 EP and a solid filter could certainly do 6k or one year. Makes the results even more surprising.

 

[spasm3]

was he short tripping? How far was his average trip?

 

[buster]

Thanks, yeah the formulation has changed. Too soon to say whether it will be better. GF-5/SN oils are more resistance to ethanol.

 

[LeakySeals]

The summary could indicate a minor mehanical defect. Something that may never bother you for the life of the vehicle. A friend of mine bought a civic that came back with (cant remember the exact words in the summary...) metal shavings/particles. He freaked...I just texted him... its gone 133,000 since that test.

 

[ottotheclown]

Have no fear, how many times have you read that Mobil has a warranty for 15 k. So just give them a call show them the uoa if you have to. You can look for a settlement in about 3 weeks. I read this I know I did!!!

 

[FZ1]

Ran it too far. Try 6 month ocis and forget the uoas. Good lesson,though. Just because A can run his oil 1 year,and 6,000 miles,does not mean that B can do the same.

 

[OVERKILL]

Do you still have the filter to be able to cut it open?

The OEM Honda filters are FRAM, the M1 EP filters are made by Champ Labs.

 

[badtlc]

Too many starts for this OCI with this oil. I'd either try a different/more robust oil, change driving patterns/usage or just cut the OCI down. A conventional would probably suit this situation better from a price standpoint.

 

[ltslimjim]

^I'd say use a conventional as well, and change it twice a year, get a UOA after the first run to see if you want to go with conventional again or perhaps move up to a synthetic again. 8 months on a good synthetic is probably a best case scenario with continued conditions that attributed to this UOA.