2010 Honda Civic 1.8L 4900 Miles 0W20 Mobil1 EP

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Here is my first UOA for this vehicle. After comparing it with other reports on the same oil I find the Viscosity to be way out of line. Is this just a fluke or could something else be going on?

BTW - where does one enable HTML so that the image may be posted inline?
 
cant see it - what is the reported viscosity and flash? that oil should not be run less than 8-10K miles - eight in severe service- due to extremely high detergent load.
 
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Gotta click the UOA link. cSt Viscosity @ 100°C was 6.81 vs. somewhere in the mid 8 range from other posted UOAs.

This car does not burn oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro_Guy
Gotta click the UOA link. cSt Viscosity @ 100°C was 6.81 vs. somewhere in the mid 8 range from other posted UOAs.

This car does not burn oil.


Some oils thicken in use. You may be comparing to samples run longer, that have thickened in use. Try to find an example of a virgin UOA.

At any rate, EP is probably not a good idea if you are going to change your oil at these sorts of intervals. Plain vanilla Mobil 1 would probably be better, unless you plan to go 10k or more.
 
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog

At any rate, EP is probably not a good idea if you are going to change your oil at these sorts of intervals. Plain vanilla Mobil 1 would probably be better, unless you plan to go 10k or more.


Why isn't it a good idea? That is absurd.

When I go to Walmart....the price difference between regular ol' M1, M1 AFE, M1 EP, and M1 HM is all within a dollar or two for a 5.1 quart jug. So, there is nothing gained or lost, monetarily speaking, by purchasing the "more expensive" versions of M1 oil.

However, what is wrong (or as you would say, "not a good idea") if a person buys the most stout version of product's offering (EP)? I simply don't understand this logic on BITOG.

There is this "crazy" attitude here, where you should get the MAXIMUM life out of a particular oil.

Most people's OCI's are determined by personal convenience linked to a safety margin.

For an extra $1 or $2, why not pour in M1's "best" oil, to give an added buffer? What if I get sick and can't change the oil in my Honda or Subaru this fall? What if I just get too busy? Instead of changing each car at the typical 6k mile mark, I'm gonna be just fine if I don't get to until spring for some unseen reason, because each vehicle is filled with a very stout oil (M1 TDT in the Subie, old school PU in the Honda) and synthetic filters (Napa Platinums).

I'm as tight and budget minded as the next guy, but I buy these jugs of oil for usually around $5-10 each anyway.

I'd rather run 6k mile OCI's on PU or M1 TDT than save a few pennies pushing the life out of a conventional.
 
EP has absolutely no advantage when used for a short OCI. It could even be argued that the extra heavy additive package will tend to strip useful boundary additives from the engine surfaces.

Mobil knows what it is doing when it formulates one oil for average OCIs and another for extra long intervals.

This is another example of the 'Merican tendency of "If some is good, more is better, and too much is just right!"

Use what you want. But the plain vanilla would probably be a better choice, for the OCI you prefer. It is an excellent oil. It is just formulated to be better for a less extreme OCI.

Oh.....And I am not one of those that run extreme OCIs.....Everything of mine gets an oil change at least every 5k miles. I just use.....The best product for the purpose. Same principle as not using premium fuel in an engine that is designed for (And runs well) on regular.
 
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Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
At any rate, EP is probably not a good idea if you are going to change your oil at these sorts of intervals. Plain vanilla Mobil 1 would probably be better, unless you plan to go 10k or more.

In this instance the car was about to depart for a 1400 mile road tip, so we did the oil change sooner rather than later.

According to Mobil's own specs that viscosity should be 8.6 for virgin oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro_Guy
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
At any rate, EP is probably not a good idea if you are going to change your oil at these sorts of intervals. Plain vanilla Mobil 1 would probably be better, unless you plan to go 10k or more.

In this instance the car was about to depart for a 1400 mile road tip, so we did the oil change sooner rather than later.

According to Mobil's own specs that viscosity should be 8.6 for virgin oil.


Well.....The primary causes of oil losing viscosity in use are fuel contamination (Which Blackstone tests for) and shearing. I have never heard of a Honda car engine being hard on oil, from a shearing standpoint.

So.....The third variable is the testing. It is the one I would suspect, in this case. They don't question a result, when it falls within the expected parameters. This oil fell within those parameters.

Don't go looking for trouble, when it is unlikely you have a problem.
 
We don't know what the OP's typical OCI is. My guess would be he is not following the OLM otherwise he would've waited until after the 1600 mile road trip before changing out the oil.

Assuming the OP is not following the OLM and is doing 5-6k OCIs for this car, I would argue PYB 5W20 would be more than adequate for this engine.
 
To the OP's point: yes, the viscosity looks really low for the oil/car/mileage combination, especially as fuel and water don't seem to be issues. Mobil1 of any viscosity does not typically shear much, so this is quite odd. It's possible Blackstone made an error - you may want to ask if a retest is possible. Otherwise, try the same combo again and retest if you wish.

And I wouldn't fret too much about the caning for "misusing" Mobil1 EP. After all, it does have about twice the PAO. (c. 70% vs c. 40%) of regular M1 0w-20 with presumably lower Noack as a result: who's to say you can't use it for that reason?
 
To answer several of you at once here, the normal OCI for this vehicle has been 5000 miles with standard Mobil1 5w20 up till now. This was the first time 0W20 Mobil1 EP was used, and the UOA was mainly to get a baseline. The oil was replaced with the same 0W20 EP with the intent to extend the next OCI to 7500 miles.

Aside from the possibility of a bad test, the oil had only been warmed up for about 2-1/2 miles before the sample was taken. One might venture a guess that there was more than the usual amount of fuel in the sample, but the test result doesn't seem to bear that out.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
the UOA looks fine ,the oil was changed way too soon.

^^^^^^ AGREE ^^^^^^

You could easily do 8000 (and even more) with the EP line.

What you did waste was the extra $$$ on the oil itself...and wasted a good oil that had at least 2k to 3K left in it.
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
I'd rather run 6k mile OCI's on PU or M1 TDT than save a few pennies pushing the life out of a conventional.


I agree with you. I'd rather follow an OLM exactly, yet "cheat" and use an oil (& filter) that far exceeds the performance that the OLM algorithm expects you to be using. That way we can get less ring deposits, varnish etc. over the life of the engine.
 
Going overkill on oil is just wasting money and not really gaining anything.

A safety margin -- sure -- but dumping oil at a 1/3-1/2 of it's useful life?
crazy2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Phishin
Most people's OCI's are determined by personal convenience linked to a safety margin.

I was going to give you a hard time and suggest you run Delvac 1 then, but you basically are.
wink.gif
I wish M1 EP and M1 were that close on price up here. I don't think I've seen M1 EP rolled back yet. I have seen gold bottle Edge rolled back regularly, in fact almost always the same time black bottle is.
 
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