New Honda HTO-06 Oil Spec

[Pablo]

Mike - I say. There is very little margin when using dino in a turbo. I have seen hard driven turbos coke on dino, even with 3K OCI's. If you stick with 2-3K MAX oci's maybe you could be ok with dino if you don't spool up early and hard and you do a long cool down. It's just best to use synthetic oil, so for that part Honda has it right. A synthetic 5W-20 would probably be OK here, but I know nothing of the turbo bearing design/clearances.

 

[The Critic]

When I get the bucks, I'll buy myself a WRX and operate it under conditions that will qualify it for normal service.

I'll service it using dino oil and FRAM filters, and at 100K, I'll drop the car off at your house and let you show me the sludge.

 

[buster]

Mike, why would you drop $30k on a car, then decide to buy the cheapest oil on the market? I never understool those that spend thousands on nice cars, then complain about a quart of oil costing $6qt??

I have no issues with dino in non-turbo cars. In a car that has a turbo, I would absolutely use a synthetic. If I had a turbo, I'd most likely be driving that car hard. I also don't like getting on the ground every 2 months to change the oil. That is the point of using a synthetic.

 

[Pablo]

Mike I'm not talking sludge. I'm talking coke. Different animals. I have actually taken turbos apart......and yes dino and yes they were coked...You are book smart, Mike - but in this case believe my empirical data.

 

[Eddie]

"or equivalent" is a necessary legal statement. Courts ruled that you must say this because it would discriminate againt other oil companies who might wish to run the test sequence and sell their oil. If I spend 35,000 + on a new car you can be darn sure I would use the recomended oil and not screw around guessing if RP, Amsoil or other would be ok.

 

[BlueWorld]

quote:

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Originally posted by Eddie:
If I spend 35,000 + on a new car you can be darn sure I would use the recomended oil and not screw around guessing if RP, Amsoil or other would be ok.

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I knew it wouldn't take too long, but dang, in the same thread.

If you had only mentioned GC in there...

 

[goodvibes]

oops

 

[goodvibes]

Those exotic oils probably wouldn't pass due to their Phos levels. I'd use almost any of them over M1 but Honda sure want their CATs to last (It's the most extended part of the warranty) and I doubt an oil that isn't officially SM rated could make their list. GC, PP are possibilities but Honda specifically pointed to the cleanliness of M1 which we know is a great atribute of that particular oil.

 

[Steelhead]

oh no, another Honda approved only vehicle lube/fluid product
is this only avail. at the dealer?
will Honda next only approve Honda aftermarket luxury hi performance wheels or there will be a suspension warranty issue?
maybe Honda should have Paris Hilton do an oil commercial for them? on no, I've put another ploy in their marketing dept.'s stink tank

 

[outersquare]

One more consideration is the engine in the RDX is a 2.3L K series engine. It is the same engine family as the RSX, RSX-S, TSX, accord.

The smallest K series motor is the K20, which is a square bore/stroke design. However, the K23, K24 motors can basically be thought of as factory stroker K20, the larger engines have about the same bore, but much longer stroke. Because of the long stroke, supposedly the K24A2 in the TSX when at redline, has piston speeds approaching that of an F1 racecar.

So since the larger displacement K series motors already have high pistons speeds, adding in a turbo charger likely makes oil quality even more important.

 

[LarryL]

Auto-Union, very good question.

 

[androbot2084]

Yes I think Dino oil works fine in turbocharge applications but the temperature range is not as wide as a synthetic oil. For example Cummins recommends a 15w40 petroleum oil for its 5.6L Turbo Diesel engine in temperatures above 0 degrees F. However for all temperatures Cummins recommends a synthetic 5w40 engine oil. So a Dino oil could probably work in a turbocharged Honda but the oil would have to be thicker than 5w30.

 

[sxg6]

quote:

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Originally posted by androbot2084:
Yes I think Dino oil works fine in turbocharge applications but the temperature range is not as wide as a synthetic oil. For example Cummins recommends a 15w40 petroleum oil for its 5.6L Turbo Diesel engine in temperatures above 0 degrees F. However for all temperatures Cummins recommends a synthetic 5w40 engine oil. So a Dino oil could probably work in a turbocharged Honda but the oil would have to be thicker than 5w30.

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My reaction. In order of events.

 

[thrace]

quote:

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With the introduction of the new turbocharged, 2007 Acura RDX, Honda has introduced a new oil specification, called "HTO-06."

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I wonder how many dealers will use HTO-06 oil? Or will they just use whatever bulk oil is in their tanks.

Then after using bulk oil in the RDX, Honda will try to sell special Honda air. "Only Honda Air H spec B*** S*** or equivalent will maintain the warranty".

 

[The Critic]

I suspect that one of the primary motives of using lower cost bulk oil in the VW engines in the first place, was the free maintenance program.

With Acuras, the owner is paying for maintenance anyway, so the dealership could really care less as to the overall cost. And given the affluence of most Acura owners, as a recent survey showed the median income of Acura owners to be around $150K?/yr, they could probably afford the extra $30 per oil change, twice annually.

 

[LarryL]

If you keep your vehicles and care about maintenance, you do have to be aware that dealers will sometimes use 'other' oils than that recommended. They will claim something like, it's better for local conditions. You have to keep an eye on what they do and what they use. In the lube room where bul, oil is kept, to be piped to the engine bays, at one dealership, every barrel was marked 30WHD. This might mean that they were not using the mandated 5w-20 and 5w-30 weights recommended. The parts guy said that they don't supply quarts to the service department. Some of the factory specs say use 5w-20 for all temps. They might have, in their specs a statement about using 5w-30 too, but the message is, use 5w-20. If I had a new turbo Acura, I'd make sure they followed the spec. If the service department said they use something else, I'd wonder what else they do when servicing my vehicle.

 

[Eddie]

If I determined that my dealer was not using a spec. oil I would imediately notify the districk rep. and the company in writing. Always amazed me that for years GM touted their oil and I discovered they were using a bulk oil that wasn't even the correct recomended viscosity. I was paying premium dealer prices thinking I was getting Delco? factory recomended oil. Another thing is was that the owner manual states that if oil recomendation are followed they do NOT recomend additives except for special problems as determined by the dealer. Services departments are always trying to sell cleaners, flushes and oil improvers against factory recomendations. I now do my own service but, wonder how many people are getting poor quality fluids and talked into "extra" agenda non required service and other stuff.

 

[GoHeels1981]

I currently use 5w-20 in my honda fleet. do you think I would lose much efficiency if I switched to mobil 1 10w-30, maybe go with the EP version?

 

[sxg6]

Not sure about efficiency, but you'd certainly lose a lot of $$ in cars which don't really need synthetic. What kind of hondas are they?