oil to best protect high revving honda motor

[cleeny]

i've tried searching but surprisingly didn't find enough on this topic

what oil do YOU all recommend for my 2.0l 4-cyl acura rsx-s k20 motor considering:
- i will start to redline it fairly frequently
- fairly long periods of idling
- OCI i want to be around 5000mi-7500mi
- new york winters
- i don't plan on selling the car; i plan to keep it for the longest time possible


2 of my blackstone UOA's are here fyi:
http://forums.clubrsx.com/showthread.php?t=374930

if you could kindly recommend you opinion on what oil to use and at what interval... this is basically what i'm looking for (your opinions) and for the benefit of all high-revving honda motor owners who wish to drive their cars in the upper rpm ranges fairly often.

 

[johnsmith]

I can't see the UOAs on the other site, looks like you have to be a member to view attachments or something. Post em here!

(And when you do, make sure you post them as plain text, not as an image. When you post your UOA as an image, it turns into a little red x after a few months, and people searching through the database can't see the numbers!)

 

[Mitch Alsup]

High RPM motors like rather thin oils (thin as in actual operating viscosity--not thin like in SAE weight). So, the oil you choose will be dependent upon the oil temperature. If you don't have an oil temperature gauge, I suggest adding one is a useful step forward.

As long as the oil stays below 265dF, you should probably stick with the factory spec SAE weight grade (likely to be 5W-20 or 5W-30). For temperatures between 265dF and 280dF, go one grade thicker. For oil temperatures higher than this, you need an oil cooler, or a bigger oil cooler, or more air ducting to the existing oil cooler.

For your long OCIs, you definately neded the highest quality synthetics.

 

[m2200b]

I'd do a UOA at 5k if you have long period of idling.

 

[cleeny]

MILES.....................6700 [M1 5W-30 NON-EP]
TBN........................3.3
MAKE-UP OIL................0.5 QT

ALUMINUM.......................3
CHROMIUM.......................0
IRON..........................13
COPPER.........................2
LEAD...........................4
TIN............................2
MOLY..........................69
NICKEL.........................0
MANGANESE......................0
SILVER.........................0
TITANIUM.......................0
POTASSIUM......................1
BORON.........................46
SILICON........................9
SODIUM.........................9
CALCIUM.....................3184
MAGNESIUM.....................13
PHOSPHORUS...................577
ZINC.........................664
BARIUM.........................0

SUS VISCOSITY...............55.9
FLASHPOINT...................405
FUEL..................... ANTIFREEZE.....................0
WATER..........................0
INSOLUBLES...................0.2

 

[tuong]

amsoil series 2000 0-30. my engine seems super happy afer switching to it.

can someone tell me what UOA means please????

 

[cleeny]

used oil analysis
oci is oil change interval

 

[Titan]

You may get lots of other opinions, but, Mitch Alsup's recommendation is as good as it gets. In fact, they could close the topic now and save the server space.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

My friend has the same car and uses M1 (and the ***-forsaken factory oil filter is still on there after 8900 miles!), but has changed the oil twice already. That engine absolutely sings at 7500rpm.

 

[cleeny]

all noted; thanks for all your replies

this car has an oil cooler from the factory and honda recommends 5w-30 to cover all weather performance.
although i would def be interested in getting an oil temp gauge, i dont think i will.
i guess its safe to assume that dino oil like havoline, gtx, etc would be fine to use for 5000 mi OCIs (severe schedule) and using M1 for around 8-9k miles may be okay seeing that tbn was at 3.3 according to blackstone after 6700 miles.
my previous UOA had 5800 miles with M1 5W-30 EP and the tbn then was 4.6

i just wanted to get some opinions since i drive pretty hard [this engine runs relatively hotter] and also due to ny's cold winters and therefore cold starts in which synthetics flow a better than dino's (correct me if i'm wrong)

[ May 05, 2006, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: cleeny ]

 

[cleeny]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris Meutsch:
My friend has the same car and uses M1 (and the ***-forsaken factory oil filter is still on there after 8900 miles!), but has changed the oil twice already. That engine absolutely sings at 7500rpm.

---

that's actually exactly what honda recommends under severe conditions: 5k oci's and 10k filter changes.
and under normal conditions: 10k oci's and 20k filter changes.
ur right chris, it does sound pretty nice between 6 and 8000rpm!

 

[Auto-Union]

Mobil 1 0w-30 would be a good pick for a synthetic. If the car is modded, the thicker German Syntec 0w-30 would be the way to go, it might be a bit smoother too.
Dino/Blend oils have no problems at that interval either. I have Havoline in my RSX now, planning on 2 6000 mi intervals then switch to my M1 0w-30 stash...just because it's there. My car specs 5-w20 and if I did not have synth here, I would not buy it. Havoline, Motorcraft and Mobil Clean as well as DuraBlend would be the favourites, imo. Try them all and experiment. Let us know what you think.

 

[Auto-Union]

BTW- when you say "best protect" what does that mean? Usually here, "best" for the money is the standard, because "best" can be carried to extreme...like NASA-Approved lubes.

BTW- starting at redline might be "best" for the long-term condition of your car, esp in NYC???

 

[IslaVistaMan]

He said starting TO redline....

 

[D Bone]

I will only use Torco SR-1 5w-20 in my Mazda3 Hatchback.


My .02
Darryl

 

[carock]

Redline oil for redlining your motor. The name can't be wrong.

 

[mechtech]

For those temps and miles, I think synthetic oils are perfect.

 

[hominid7]

From your numbers perhaps a slightly thicker oil. From your climate, you need something to crank on cold mornings, so my vote would be in agreement with auto-union, for the Castrol 0w30.

Having said that, if you are on a budget, a sturdy 10w30 like Havoline might turn some decent numbers as well, but if you are racing you might need to change it more often.

If you are looking for a cheaper oil, among the dinos and blends in 5w30 Castrol syntec blend, Motorcraft, and Havoline all make pretty sturdy products which tend to run heavier at 40*C than the competition, which might equate to somewhat less shearing and somewhat better protection on the high end as well.

No matter what you are running, if you are driving really hard and racing there is nothing that will protect better than more frequent oil changes.

 

[the_oil_dealer]

K20 is a nice wearing motor. i'd rec. using 5w30 of high quality with a nice shot of moly. RL would do the trick nicely.

 

[buster]

Many choices to chose from. I think many of the SM 5w-20's would work well. The more expensive choice that could probably take more abuse than anything would be Redline 5w-20.