Mobil 1 5W/20 EP, 9200 Miles, 2005 Civic 1.7

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This was a slightly early change due to a trip.

The Filter was on the second OCI and is at 19,275.

FILTER HERE
 
Have you ever had an issue with the head gasket in your '05? I know the '05s were known for that, and it seems like there's a bit of potassium in this sample. Also, do you know what the universal averages are? We have the same engine in my girlfriend's Civic and right now we're at a little over 8k on the current fill of QSUD, but I'm thinking of changing it tomorrow instead of pushing it to the recommended 10k.
 
Silicon is dropping from 14-15 PPM to 9 PPM, how old is the air filter ?

Wear metals are low, iron is double digit but still low after 9k miles.
 
I have never had an issue with the head gasket and it isn't down on coolant.

There was another UOA with unexplained high potassium recently so that reading is questionable to me - I will keep an eye on it of course but I'm not going to sweat it unless it continues.

Another factor is that the 10,075 run had a long highway run and was the only one that I added any make up oil to, this run was more normal usage so I'm not surprised it does not look as good.

I did not take this sample so the sampling method could be suspect, it is at least inconstant with most of the others.

As for universal averages, Back in 2011 Blackstone said the universal averages in the last column were based on about 5300 miles.

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Silicon is dropping from 14-15 PPM to 9 PPM, how old is the air filter ?

Wear metals are low, iron is double digit but still low after 9k miles.


I don't have the records on me, but I think I have not changed the air filter since the 100,000 service. It is a Honda filter.
 
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Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
I have never had an issue with the head gasket and it isn't down on coolant.

There was another UOA with unexplained high potassium recently so that reading is questionable to me - I will keep an eye on it of course but I'm not going to sweat it unless it continues.

Another factor is that the 10,075 run had a long highway run and was the only one that I added any make up oil to, this run was more normal usage so I'm not surprised it does not look as good.

I did not take this sample so the sampling method could be suspect, it is at least inconstant with most of the others.

As for universal averages, Back in 2011 Blackstone said the universal averages in the last column were based on about 5300 miles.

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Silicon is dropping from 14-15 PPM to 9 PPM, how old is the air filter ?

Wear metals are low, iron is double digit but still low after 9k miles.


I don't have the records on me, but I think I have not changed the air filter since the 100,000 service. It is a Honda filter.


Everything seems pretty much in line with the universal averages, and better in some cases. I'd say it looks pretty good, overall.
 
Originally Posted By: DuckRyder
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Silicon is dropping from 14-15 PPM to 9 PPM, how old is the air filter ?

Wear metals are low, iron is double digit but still low after 9k miles.

I don't have the records on me, but I think I have not changed the air filter since the 100,000 service. It is a Honda filter.

All UOA's you had the last several years showed that air filter is filtering better after 20-30k miles. Changing air filter every year or 10-15k miles actually do more harm to the engine.
 
Thanks for posting. I have the same car and now you've given me something to compare it with.

For what it is worth, my '05 Civic had head gasket problems somewhere just past 120k miles.
 
Amazing UOA. But as mentioned..keep your eye on Potassium. Certainly 10ppm in 10 K miles is not a problem (probably). But then again that may have all occurred in the last 3 k miles in which case it could be a problem. I would consider a 5K run next.
 
looks good! other than the iron, but its still not high at 1.7ppm/1000miles. my last UOA on a 2002 civic with dino oil was 0.7ppm/1000miles but blackstones average is like 1.5ppm/1000mi, so nothing out of the ordinary really.

im posting this below as information because headgaskets are being brought up because of your high potassium, you have a civic and other civic owners will look at this. i dont want to hijack this thread off the topic of your UOA so send me a pm if anyone wants to talk about it.

out of curiosity i read up a fair bit online about people having head gasket problems with their 01-05 Honda civics. i have one and the cooling system setup seemed odd to me and i wasn't sure why they had such cold thermostats. what i discovered is that almost everyone (not all, but almost) who has a head gasket go has it happen right around 110-140k with the most being at 120. that is right when the first scheduled coolant flush is and many people mention just that-that they just had their cooling system serviced by Honda or someone else.
with these Honda's the heater core is the high point in the cooling system. if you drain the coolant the only reliable way to get all the air back out is to jack the front of the car up till the muffler almost hits the ground then bleed the air out. if you don't there is a good chance (not guaranteed obviously) that you will trap air in the heater core, which will at some point move into the block or cause issues and cause a hot spot in the motor and cause the head gasket to go.
also where the thermostat housing meets the block there are passages where coolant, oil and exhaust all pass through the block into the thermostat housing very close together. there is possibility for leaks there.
also i have a mechanical water temperature gage on my civic (2002)in addition to the one on the dash. as the car warms up they match, but as soon as the thermostat opens at 170f the one on the dash stops! the mechanical one will continue to climb until it reaches 205f when the fans turn on but the one on the dash does not move!
my previous civic (2005) had a rad fan that would sometimes not work. i had it twice where i was stopped at a stoplight and i could hear my coolant boiling. got out and opened the hood and my overflow cap had blown right off and boiling coolant was shooting all over my engine bay out of the overflow bottle and the temperature gage was still below half both times! it had perfect operation from cold to where it stops just below half but would never move higher. so i believe that people are also overheating their motors without even knowing it.

as another aside the poor air filter gaskets are what some other members here believe causes the high silicon readings. if you look at your gasket it is very thin and hard and has lots of pinch points by the many bolts to tighten it down. so they went with what their research led them to believe was the air filter with the best gasket for the civic which was the denso. i bought it and installed it and have only done one UOA since but my silicon level went from 12 on an old dirty air filter which people say filters better down to 7ppm on this new air filter and a longer run.
a second reason could be the intake manifold. i recently removed one and it looked to me like junk had been leaking past the intake manifold gasket where it meets the block and going into the engine. it could be just that engine but the sealing surface of that gasket is very small...
a third reason could be lack of a replaceable fuel filter. as far as i know there is just a sock in the tank. but the injectors have 4 teeny tiny little barely visible ports and i think any harmful dirt would just plug it...
 
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So I e-mailed Blackstone for their thoughts.

They feel no corresponding sodium, no coolant in most cases.

Advice same as I already said - watch it.

I did find that a UOA showing that ATF DW1 has potassium in it, so its possible that I used the same funnel, though I do not remember and 11PPM seems a lot for cross contamination.

Also, since I didn't take the sample - It is possible it was somehow contaminated when taken though I think that unlikely

If it turns out to be a head gasket, that is an easy enough fix, I will replace the head gasket...
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Some will blame the high iron on M1.
wink.gif



Others will blame it on winter. As in the readings are up whenever the OCI goes through cold weather. Imagine that.
 
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