Should I top off now for this UOA?

[JoeFromPA]

Hi all,

06 Civic SI, 64.5k miles on the engine right now.

My current fill of AMSOIL Signature Series 0w30 has 14,000 hard-driven miles on it. Previous UOA, which consumed 3.5 quarts over 14,500 miles, show the oil can handle it.

I'm stretching this OCI to 16k before another UOA. At 14,000 miles, it's consumed only 2.5 quarts this time around. I've topped that off with SSO, but now I'm out of SSO.

So, at 16,000 I expect to be down by about .4 quarts of oil from "topped off".

My question is: Should I just accept that I'll do the UOA with maybe 90% of total oil volume in the sump?

Or should I top it off with Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, which I have readily at hand.

Thoughts?

Joe

P.s. I'll be asking blackstone to do a TBN and TAN this time, as I expect the TBN to be down around 2.5-3.0 and I'd like to see if the TAN is higher than the TBN.

 

[webfors]

If it's only going to be down less than half a quart by the time you plan on changing it out, why add oil? What's the reasoning behind that?

 

[JoeFromPA]

Keeping the sump full is the reasoning, in my mind. I'm leaning away from topping it off though.

 

[addyguy]

On the dipstick, there is a space, as you know, between 'full' and 'adda a quart'. Operating the engine at ANY place in between those two spaces is perfectly safe.

If you're really worried, I'd drain and do your UOA at 15k miles. It's still a good distance, and you'll be doing your OCI at an even odo number - 65k. Sorry, that's a bit of my OCD coming out.

 

[addyguy]

Joe, one question - what are you running for your next OCI? You seem to be having good luck with the SSO.....

 

[JoeFromPA]

Addyguy - Going with Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 and going to try it for 10k. I've got 20 quarts in my basement, a stock of oil filters, and I just dropped $1000 on my car for a set of really nice michelins, installation, and a new interstate battery, plus one or two other maintenance items.

I'm going to continue doing used oil analysis, so it should be interesting to see the difference between a $4 a quart oil (Pennzoil Platinum 5w30) and a $8-9 a quart oil (SSO 0w30). With my consumption, the first run of Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 should actually be a decent representation, but the second run definitely will be.

Regarding the space on the dipstick - I take this car to WOT runs to redline usually 4-8 times a day. I like to keep my car topped off.

 

[HTSS_TR]

You don't need to add any oil if the level is between add line and full, even if you redline the engine several times a day.

I kept my oil level of my '04 S2000 at the middle of add line and full mark all the times, and I do wind the engine to 8k redline several times a day too.