Amsoil SSO 0W-30, 1993 Civic, 3,007 miles

Miles on car- 380,365
Miles on oil-5,246
Amsoil 0W-30 AZO
Amsoil EAo 36 oil filter
Twin Filtermag CT3.2's
Golden Eagle magnetic drain plug
Lubromoly


Blackstone Labs;
Again, potassium is elevated in this sample. As we've likely mentioned, this can show coolant in the engine, but that's a hard call to make because wear metals seem fine. We're not aware of the MOS2 additive using potassium, but maybe that's a recent addition to its additive package. We'd like to get down to the bottom of this potassium for you, so send us a virgin sample of the additive and we'll test it at no charge. Everything else looks fine. Silicon is maybe a little high, but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything. The TBN and PC were fine.

Code:
[/code]

Aluminum------4--------4universal average

Chromium------0--------1

Iron----------6--------8

Copper--------3--------3

Lead----------0--------2

Tin-----------0--------1

Molybdenum----202------78

Nickel--------0--------0

Manganese-----0--------0

Silver--------0--------0

Titanium------0--------0

Potassium-----134------3

Boron---------38-------47

Silicon-------18-------11

Sodium--------22-------47

Calcium-------3611-----2171

Magnesium-----14-------115

Phosphorus----651------704

Zinc----------700------827

Barium--------0--------0

Code:
SUS Viscosity @ 210 deg F---61--------57-67(should be)
cST Viscosity @ 100 C------10.49-----9.4-12.4
Flashpoint in F------------465------->385
Fuel %---------------------- Antifreeze %----------------POS-------0
Water %---------------------0--------- Insolubles %----------------.5-------- TBN-------------------------3

ISO oil cleanliness code= 16/15/13

>=2 microns----------934
>=5------------------346
>=10-----------------95
>-15-----------------37
>=25-----------------8
>=50-----------------0
>=100----------------0
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
3000 miles using AZO. What a waste


Looks like Harry is extending out to 5000 miles now so he's wasting it less. I'm betting his wear #'s would go down if he ever left it in longer. Jupiter climate can't be that hard on oil. No matter what he spends on oil, he's still saving a ton of money by driving a '93 Civic. I'm guessing he likes the car.
 
Originally Posted By: Clevy
3000 miles using AZO. What a waste


*shrugs* Hey, he likes Amsoil and it's his money.

At this point I am wondering about this miracle of an engine and how long it will go! Quite a saga, and perhaps the Amsoil is what is keeping it from grenading.

harry j, any chance of risking your engine's destruction doing a 3000 mile OCI with a conventional? It might silence the critics - or not - but would be valuable either way. (Just askin', not trying to persuade)
 
Last edited:
Kuato, I am very pleased with Amsoil and have no plans or desire to try anything else at this time. Critics abound on this site, they have no influence in my decisions. The Civic now has 382,000 miles on the original engine and automatic transmission, no oil leaks, no oil burn, always starts right up and then there's no loan payment to consider. I average over 40 MPG on the highway.
 
With 382k, I wouldn't listen to anyone else, either.

Wow, that's 20 years @ 12k miles a year. Quite a run.


How long have you been running Amsoil vs other oils over the last 20 years?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: harry j
Kuato, I am very pleased with Amsoil and have no plans or desire to try anything else at this time. Critics abound on this site, they have no influence in my decisions. The Civic now has 382,000 miles on the original engine and automatic transmission, no oil leaks, no oil burn, always starts right up and then there's no loan payment to consider. I average over 40 MPG on the highway.


Right on, thanks for the reply. I'm an Amsoil user also.
 
Originally Posted By: JerryBob
With 382k, I wouldn't listen to anyone else, either.

Wow, that's 20 years @ 12k miles a year. Quite a run.


How long have you been running Amsoil vs other oils over the last 20 years?


That's 20 years at a little over 19,000 miles a year, not that it matters. LOL It's still an impressive run.
 
Originally Posted By: Kuato
Originally Posted By: Clevy
3000 miles using AZO. What a waste


*shrugs* Hey, he likes Amsoil and it's his money.

At this point I am wondering about this miracle of an engine and how long it will go! Quite a saga, and perhaps the Amsoil is what is keeping it from grenading.

harry j, any chance of risking your engine's destruction doing a 3000 mile OCI with a conventional? It might silence the critics - or not - but would be valuable either way. (Just askin', not trying to persuade)


You're right it is his money however believing that wear rates would differ between what he's using and a conventional of the same grade is absurd.
Amsoil is great stuff. I used it for many years foolishly believing that it was in some way protecting my engine better at standard intervals,like when the dashboard tells me to change the oil.
As has been posted umpteen times here synthetics don't protect better,they last longer in service.
At 3000 mile intervals just about any oil will protect as well as amsoil so why spend more when it's unnecessary.
I'm just saying that conventionals of today will do what this extended drain oil will do at this 3000 mile drain interval.
So let's not fool ourselves into believing amsoil(insert favorite brand here)is what's made the magic happen with the op's high mile engine when the reality is that the engine has been serviced properly.
I used to believe the hype,the commercials and the internet pages touting how good amsoil is and 20 years ago amsoil was the best on the block however technology has progressed and now amsoil has some fierce competition.

Let's remember how hard amsoil fought about the use of moly in oils and all the propaganda posted on their dealers web pages on how bad moly is.
I remember one dealers site where there were pages written on the demon that molybdenum is and how it has no place in an engine. It's only been the last 5 years(AZO is the first time I saw moly in their oils)that they've even started using it.
Did up some older used oil analysis and see.
I like amsoil,what I don't like is perpetuation of absurdity. Which is what I feel is being said in this thread.
Just my opinion.
 
Harry, have you inspected the air intake duct from the filter for cracks? I've seen lots of Hondas of this vintage with cracks or tears of varying sizes. This could explain your elevated silicone levels.

Also, I saw your remark about needing to change your air filter, as contaminants were going up, but leaving a filter in (within reason) will have the opposite effect. As they catch incoming debris, they become more and more efficient- this can be said with all filters, even the large scale water filtration units I used to build (think city sized).
 
I have been running strictly Amsoil 0W-30 (TSO, SSO AND NOW AZO) SINCE 118,000 MILES AND THE Amsoil transmission fluid since 120,000 miles. Runs great, very pleased.
 
The Eric, I can't find any cracks in the intake system, I silicon sealed the box to hose interface and silicon taped the PCV conection.

I wanted to change the filter in case there was any gaps between the filter housing and filter seal. I didn't see any gaps, but it would only take a small imperfection to allow dirt infiltration.

Silicon is entering the oil from somewhere, I'm just trying to cover all the bases.
 
Clevy, I have cautiously extended the oil change intervals to 5,000 miles. When I get the Potassium and silicon under control, I may move it up a thousand miles at a time as conditions permit.
 
Originally Posted By: harry j
The Eric, I can't find any cracks in the intake system, I silicon sealed the box to hose interface and silicon taped the PCV conection.

I wanted to change the filter in case there was any gaps between the filter housing and filter seal. I didn't see any gaps, but it would only take a small imperfection to allow dirt infiltration.

Silicon is entering the oil from somewhere, I'm just trying to cover all the bases.


I'm just thinking out loud Harry. Have you ever checked for vacuum leaks, or something that's out of the box and not so obvious for where the silicon could be coming from?
 
demarpaint good question. I have had all vacuum hoses replaced a while back. We could find no vacuum leaks. I am thinking of doing a smoke test to see if there is a hidden leak.

The only other thing I can think of is when I had the valves adjusted, the Honda mechanic put a glob of silicon sealer at each end of the valve cover gasket. I wonder if the silicon is leaching out into the oil from the sealer?
 
If you can get a smoke test done it would be worth while, as long as it isn't too costly.

As far as the globs of silicone sealer leaching out, I'd say yes, it could have an impact on your UOA report. The key though would be to see if the silicon # trends down going forward.

Happy New Year!
 
35.gif
just waiting for the next report!
smile.gif



(And bumping to the top of my list)
 
Back
Top