Mobil1 5W-30 02 Honda Civic SiR - 2.0L.....

[Idrinkmotoroil]

Just got my Mobil1 5w-30 results after 5500 kms, which is just over 3000 miles or so. Overall numbers are decent, wear numbers were a bit lower with the German Castrol 0w-30 though. But I'm still happy with the Mobil1 performance. And for some reason I find that the car runs smoother with Mobil1, so I was hoping for a good result.

Mobil1 5w-30, run on a 2002 Honda Civic SiR, 2.0L engine, 5500 kms. Mixed city and highway driving. Oiled foam Comptech/Uni air filter which hasnt been cleaned since installation in June - still looks good, similar numbers to stock air filter element.

Iron - 6
Chrome - 0
Moly - 73
Aluminum - 3
Copper - 3
Lead - 2
Tin - 0
Silicon - 9 (Mobil1 starts with 4)
Sodium - 12
Zinc - 873
Potasium - 2
Nickel - 0
Silver - 0
TBN - 9.5
Viscosity - 9.2 cst.

no oxid. , nitr. or soot data numbers this time for some reason. no biggie though.

One note on viscosity, I find this lab's numbers are off by approximately 1.0 full point at least. My last few samples have all read low viscosity on some pretty tough oils. For example German Castrol 0w-30 was 9.6 cst, Redline 10w-30 was 9.1, and Redline 5w-20 was only 7.6 !. Gotta be a problem with the lab or my little engine is really hard on motor oil (which I doubt).

Overall in comparison to the German Castrol , Mobil1 had more iron wear and a tiny bit more aluminum wear. My iron numbers with GC were 9 ppms, but the virgin sample I provided at the same time was also 9ppm, so I assumed the Iron wear for GC was zero if you subtract the virgin amount from the used amount, dunno how reliable that is though. Hard to believe that there could be zero iron wear but I dont know how else to interpret the GC results. I hope to find out with further GC analyses.

In comparison to Redline 10w-30 and 5w-20, the Redline samples were almost identical in wear for most metals, but with a good bit more lead wear numbers at 8-9 ppms of lead. Thats at least 4 times the amount of lead wear of Mobil1 or German Castrol for that matter.

any questions feel free to ask.

Joey

[ October 01, 2003, 06:51 PM: Message edited by: Idrinkmotoroil ]

 

[buster]

Not bad. Oil has a lot of life left. I was about to say that this is the first case of M1 SS thinning out but it does seem like a lab error based on history. It's hard to say GC Iron would be Zero, but I can see your logic. I doubt it was zero, but probably lower then M1. Anyone want to buy my case of Redline?

 

[Patman]

Good results here! I definitely agree with you on the viscosity issue, as it's extremely rare to see M1 5w30 thin out, especially not by this much in just 3000 miles. Time for a new lab!

 

[buster]

I really hope the GC stays in the US. I still think Castrol is phasing out the US 0w-30 Syntec gradually but not saying so. Thats my guess.

 

[pscholte]

Buster,

You are such a teaser!

 

[Pablo]

Low miles, good numbers.

What lab? Why would they be consistently low?

 

[Jay]

You change your oil too often, Joey, but it's always nice to see the reports.

Were the Redline runs concurrent? I understand that Redline's chemistry elevates the soft metal numbers at first. I would like to see someone run Redline 5w-20 3 times in a row in this engine to see how it does...someone besides me, that is.

It would also be good to try the GC 0w-30 once again to see if the report was a fluke.

 

[Patman]

What oil are you running now Joey? Do you store this car for winter or will you be driving it?

 

[Schmoe]

Does that engine have gear driven cams? That will eat a oil up.

 

[Idrinkmotoroil]

Jay, I ran Redline two intervals in a row , metal numbers were good but the elevated lead was clearly evident in both Redline runs, lead was low before Redline and right after Redline, it just spiked when Redline was used. I am beginnning to be one of those Redline soft wear metal doubters. I doubt buy the fact that it cleans better than other oils which leads to higher lead numbers. I wish we had more info on that but I dont want to be the guinea pig any more, two runs is enough for me. I was really hoping Dave from Redline would have answered that question for us, no luck.

Patman I am running Castrol 0w-30 GC one more time right now, should be able to get one more sample before winter months when it goes into storage.

Schmoe, my engine does have balance shafts located above the oil pan which are semi-gear and chain driven. I've wondered if that mechanism is responsible for shearing the oil. They spin at twice the speed of the engine and they also have their own bearings. Jay's RSX doesnt have this feature though the engines are almost identical other than that. It also has a metal timing chain which gets a dab of oil on it through some mechanism but it wouldnt affect the oil much. I've been wondering about the balance shafts though.

All my tests for Redline, Castrol GC, and Mobil have showed thin viscosity, even from the Virgin to Used samples. Makes me wonder. My German Castrol sample was listed as 11.2 viscosity in virgin form, and 9.6 in used form when tested at the same time. My Redline 5w-20 sample also thinned from Virgin to used sample, it began in the low 8 range, and ended up at 7.6 cst if I remember correctly.

The lab I've been using is SOS Fluid Analysis, Concord Ontario, through CAT/Toromont dealer. I have been changing the oils very early as I wanted to try a few different oils this summer before I put the car away for winter and I wanted to choose one oil from among them which I can then run full time and for longer intervals.

Joey

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay:
You change your oil too often, Joey, but it's always nice to see the reports.

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I agree-nice report