Valvoline synpower 5w-20, 6,000mi '03 civic

[sxg6]

First column is my most recent oci with Valvoline Synpower 5w-20. Miles on oil 6,000. Oil used from 98,000-104,000. Blackstone lab.
Second column is Mobil 1 5w-20 from June. Miles on oil 7,630. Oil used from 90,235 - 97,865. Butler lab
Third column is universal averages from Blackstone.

Aluminum 2 / 2 / 3
Chromium 1 / 0 / 1
Iron 4 / 8 / 8
Copper 2 / 3 / 4
Lead 2 / 9 / 6
Tin 0 / 0 / 1
Moly 23 / 55 / 121
Nickle 0 / 0 / 0
Manganese 0 / 0 / 1
Silver 0 / 0 / 0
Titanium 0 / 0 / 0
Potassium 0 / 17 / 1
Boron 0 / 29 / 43
Silicon 15 / 16 / 10
Sodium 7 / 31 / 11
Calcium 2366 / 1587 / 2210
Magnesium 8 / 12 / 120
Phosphorus 658 / 448 / 746
Zinc 762 / 579 / 912
Barium 0 / 0 / 0
antimony 0 / 2 / ?

fuel --- / negative
antifreeze neg / neg
water neg / neg
insoluables short / unknown
TBN 2.6 / 6.0
No make-up oil was used for either of these.

First column SUS viscosity @ 210f 51.6
Second column Visc cSt 100c 9.0

Blackstone comments: Some types of Honda engines tend to shear down the VI improve in the additive group, causing the viscosity to drop. The low viscosity in this sample wasn't caused by any gas, moisture, or anti-freeze in the oil. Universal averages show typical wear metals for an oil from this type engine after about 5,495 miles run on the oil. Your oil was in use just longer, and we found wear generally better than average levels. Air and oil filtration appear normal. The oil could have stayed in use longer, Try 6,500 miles for the next sample. We will monitor the wear for you

I just called up blackstone and spoke with them about the fuel %, flashpoint, and insoluables. They said i didn't send enough oil for them to perform these tests, thats why it says short, and -.

Also, i ran this oci shorter than normal on purpose. The car was also driven harder than normal during this oci.

By accident blackstone left the tbn off of the report, so i'll update the image file when they send me the new one.

image link

[ August 08, 2006, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: sxg6 ]

 

[deven]

overall a very nice uoa. The oil did thin out a bit which is kinda strange for a 5w20 oil.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Looks good.

TBN of 6 for the Mobil vs 2.6 for the Synpower is close to the same I think? (Butler/Blackstone)

What OCI are you trying for?

You said you ran the car harder this OCI, in what way?

Take care, Bill

 

[friendly_jacek]

quote:

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Originally posted by sxg6:

Lead 2 / 9 / 6

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Your post back in june listed lead as "0". Which one is a typo?

 

[sxg6]

This one is a typo, it should read 0.

I'm looking to continue with my 7,500mi oci like i did with the Mobil 1. I just wanted to see what the wear was like with this kind of oci, what the tbn would be like, and to see if there were any red flags that i may not notice like a coolant leak.

When i say that i drove the car harder, i mean more aggressive downshifting, faster stars/acceleration, i had to get on the gas more because i ran the a/c more often, and got road rage a lot more often than usual so i did the intelligent thing and drove hard and fast. I know, i know.. but people in this area are terrible drivers.

 

[Bill in Utah]

I'd go with a 7500 miles with the Synpower if you want to run that oil.

There is enough TBN for 1500 more miles.

Try it and see how everything works.

I'd be in the 5000 miles with a good conventional since it works out being cheaper but thats me!

Trust me, I've driven all over the USA and sadly NO place gets the award for idiot drivers all on their own.

They are everywhere...

Take care, Bill

 

[friendly_jacek]

I hear you Bill.
I recently lost a low-milage subaru that was babied with exotic oils (if you can call GC exotic). Not worth it in the long run.

 

[Jay]

I had very good results with Valvoline's Durablend in my RSX. In fact, overall wear was lower with the Durablend than any other oil I tried, especially M1.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I received a couple of OCI's worth of free Maxlife Synthetic. This very good Synpower UOA assures me that thinning-out the Maxlife with a quart or two of Synpower Synthetic ain't such a bad idea - in my still-sorta young S-10 4.3 engine that's seen nothing but synthetic since 3K.


No... I am not a proponent of using high mileage oils in non-high mileage-worn engines. But I am a proponent of getting free synthetic oil & finding a self-comfortable way of using it.

For my 7K OCIs, this blending idea of mine is going to work just fine. Thanks for posting this Synpower UOA.

 

[sxg6]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jay:
I had very good results with Valvoline's Durablend in my RSX. In fact, overall wear was lower with the Durablend than any other oil I tried, especially M1.

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I tried searching and was unable to find your report(s) with durablend. How long ago did you use this oil and do a report? I'm interested to see the report because durablend is supposed to be one of the oils using the new calcium add pack from lubrizol.