Hello everyone, I've been lurking here for awhile and thought I'd finally post to get some opinions.
I've got a 2007 Honda Fit with about 44,000 miles. I installed an aftermarket turbo kit (complete with engine management and larger injectors) about 2,000 miles ago. I changed the oil when I installed the kit (had to drop the oil pan to install the turbo's oil return), and have been using Mobil 1 5W-30 (spec is 5W-20). Normally, I wouldn't think of this as anything to question, but I'm currently battling with some rich idle issues (my wideband likes to sit at 11 or 12:1 AFR at idle.. Oh noes!), which causes fuel dilution on a pretty extreme scale, especially compared to stock. AFR's are perfect everywhere else (oscillates at cruise, shuts off at decel, and ~12:1 in boost, all tuned with my laptop), though, so I usually like to warm up the oil to 180-200F every time I drive it, and usually do so on 2 or 4 lane undivided highways (I live on the border of the rural areas of central MI).
Before the turbo, I changed the oil according to my maintinence minder at somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 miles (depending on how friskily I drove) with Mobil 1 5W-20 and either a Mobil 1, Purolator, or K&N oil filter. The car was happy, and the oil was only vaguely dirty when I drained it. Mobil 1 has been used since the 2nd change, and it hasn't burned more than .25 of a quart on my longest OCI (a bit over 8k miles).
Now, however, I've changed my oil once already at 1,500mi because of the aforementioned dilution issue (dipstick smelt like a gas station, and the oil became dark and [relatively] gritty, which was NOT ok with me). When I drained the oil, it was pretty dark. It didn't smell much like gas once it was out, probably because I had taken a drive and kept my oil temps above 180F for about 30 minutes (with the hope of evaporating off some of that unwanted gas).
Part of the problem may very well be my air filter. The filter that came with the kit is a stainless steel mesh cone filter. It looks cool, and sounds (and flows) great, but I can see right through it which doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. It's a very fine mesh, but come on! It's steel!
I'm ok with changing every 3k, I expected that when I got the kit. I'm also planning on starting to do some UOAs, and this weekend will be devoted to re-wiring my Greddy E-manage to directly control the injectors (I'm currently running off of a MAP adjustment tune, and apparently my ECU is too clever for that. MAP values input into the computer have very little bearing on the idle AFR's. Tricky.). I will be changing the oil again soon. I've got a Mobil 1 EP oil filter, which I'm thinking I'll leave on there when I change it. No sense throwing out a 7$ filter after 1500 miles.
Does anyone have any reccomendations as to what oil I should run to try to resist this dilution issue? What about an oil in general? My oil temps were pretty cold before the turbo, rarely ever seeing 180F, and I can only reach 200F now with extended driving. If I goose it a little bit, though, they can spike to 230 or so. Not hot by any means for a motor oil, I usually don't worry about oil temps until I see numbers approaching 300F.
I've got a 2007 Honda Fit with about 44,000 miles. I installed an aftermarket turbo kit (complete with engine management and larger injectors) about 2,000 miles ago. I changed the oil when I installed the kit (had to drop the oil pan to install the turbo's oil return), and have been using Mobil 1 5W-30 (spec is 5W-20). Normally, I wouldn't think of this as anything to question, but I'm currently battling with some rich idle issues (my wideband likes to sit at 11 or 12:1 AFR at idle.. Oh noes!), which causes fuel dilution on a pretty extreme scale, especially compared to stock. AFR's are perfect everywhere else (oscillates at cruise, shuts off at decel, and ~12:1 in boost, all tuned with my laptop), though, so I usually like to warm up the oil to 180-200F every time I drive it, and usually do so on 2 or 4 lane undivided highways (I live on the border of the rural areas of central MI).
Before the turbo, I changed the oil according to my maintinence minder at somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 miles (depending on how friskily I drove) with Mobil 1 5W-20 and either a Mobil 1, Purolator, or K&N oil filter. The car was happy, and the oil was only vaguely dirty when I drained it. Mobil 1 has been used since the 2nd change, and it hasn't burned more than .25 of a quart on my longest OCI (a bit over 8k miles).
Now, however, I've changed my oil once already at 1,500mi because of the aforementioned dilution issue (dipstick smelt like a gas station, and the oil became dark and [relatively] gritty, which was NOT ok with me). When I drained the oil, it was pretty dark. It didn't smell much like gas once it was out, probably because I had taken a drive and kept my oil temps above 180F for about 30 minutes (with the hope of evaporating off some of that unwanted gas).
Part of the problem may very well be my air filter. The filter that came with the kit is a stainless steel mesh cone filter. It looks cool, and sounds (and flows) great, but I can see right through it which doesn't give me the warm fuzzies. It's a very fine mesh, but come on! It's steel!
I'm ok with changing every 3k, I expected that when I got the kit. I'm also planning on starting to do some UOAs, and this weekend will be devoted to re-wiring my Greddy E-manage to directly control the injectors (I'm currently running off of a MAP adjustment tune, and apparently my ECU is too clever for that. MAP values input into the computer have very little bearing on the idle AFR's. Tricky.). I will be changing the oil again soon. I've got a Mobil 1 EP oil filter, which I'm thinking I'll leave on there when I change it. No sense throwing out a 7$ filter after 1500 miles.
Does anyone have any reccomendations as to what oil I should run to try to resist this dilution issue? What about an oil in general? My oil temps were pretty cold before the turbo, rarely ever seeing 180F, and I can only reach 200F now with extended driving. If I goose it a little bit, though, they can spike to 230 or so. Not hot by any means for a motor oil, I usually don't worry about oil temps until I see numbers approaching 300F.