Hey Guys,
Ok, so to start off, this isn't exactly a "which oil should I use, blah blah blah" question, but more of a "I think somethings wrong with my 200k mile J35A4, and I'm clueless why".
So here's the background: the J35 is the original engine in my 2004 Honda Odyssey (no VCM, no oil life minder or anything). We've owned it since new, so after the first 3,750 miles, we've run Castrol GTX 5w-20 since 2004, for however many revisions of the oil it's been through. The car has eaten 1/4 - 1/2 qt of oil in between each OC until 100k miles, and we've kept the 7.5k mile OCI the whole time.
By 120k it was eating 3/4 qt up until 185k miles. However, the past 2 years its been eating 1.5 qts of oil, and right now at 200,700 I've put 1.75 qts of oil for 5700 miles of the current interval since 195k.
Also, to note; the oil doesn't burn past the rings. It all gets sucked into the intake via PCV. I changed the PCV @ 80k mi, 120k mi, 170k mi, 185k mi, 195k mi.... I know it's all in the intake because I found it all in there when I did a valve adjustment at 120k mi.
[My Problem] -
While I have read that oil goes dark fast when the cleaners in it are picking up more sludge, I can't believe that the SN GTX is black by 5500 miles, when it was usually only dark amber @ 7500 miles on the SM formula. This is my 3rd set of SN GTX and it's been the same story, really dark by 5500 miles & black by 7500 miles.
I could live with this, but just from what I see through the oil filler, the rocker arms and springs are turning dark brown, as well as the walls of the cylinder head. They have not looked like this up until now, because I do look in there @ each oil change to see how cyl. #6 is doing.
Does anyone have any insight on if the new SN formulation of GTX is no longer able to do the 7500 mi. OCI?
I've spent the past 3 days looking around on Odyclub and BITOG and have noticed that the add pack & cold flow in GTX are inferior to PYB, at least in the 5w20 flavor.
This is what I'm planning on doing when we get above 30F this spring (hopefully someday soon, im tired of frostbite...):
1. @ 202,500 I'll switch to PYB 5w20. Will send off GTX sample to B_S for analysis.
2. I'll run a 5k mi OCI for 15k mi in order to give it a chance to clean anything, assuming it can out-clean the GTX.
3. On the last 5k mi fill, @ 217,500 I will send the PYB off to B_S. Then switch back to 7500 mi OCI.
I'm hoping that with the higher TBN rating in PYB, I'll be able to get the 7500 out of it.
Thoughts?
Ok, so to start off, this isn't exactly a "which oil should I use, blah blah blah" question, but more of a "I think somethings wrong with my 200k mile J35A4, and I'm clueless why".
So here's the background: the J35 is the original engine in my 2004 Honda Odyssey (no VCM, no oil life minder or anything). We've owned it since new, so after the first 3,750 miles, we've run Castrol GTX 5w-20 since 2004, for however many revisions of the oil it's been through. The car has eaten 1/4 - 1/2 qt of oil in between each OC until 100k miles, and we've kept the 7.5k mile OCI the whole time.
By 120k it was eating 3/4 qt up until 185k miles. However, the past 2 years its been eating 1.5 qts of oil, and right now at 200,700 I've put 1.75 qts of oil for 5700 miles of the current interval since 195k.
Also, to note; the oil doesn't burn past the rings. It all gets sucked into the intake via PCV. I changed the PCV @ 80k mi, 120k mi, 170k mi, 185k mi, 195k mi.... I know it's all in the intake because I found it all in there when I did a valve adjustment at 120k mi.
[My Problem] -
While I have read that oil goes dark fast when the cleaners in it are picking up more sludge, I can't believe that the SN GTX is black by 5500 miles, when it was usually only dark amber @ 7500 miles on the SM formula. This is my 3rd set of SN GTX and it's been the same story, really dark by 5500 miles & black by 7500 miles.
I could live with this, but just from what I see through the oil filler, the rocker arms and springs are turning dark brown, as well as the walls of the cylinder head. They have not looked like this up until now, because I do look in there @ each oil change to see how cyl. #6 is doing.
Does anyone have any insight on if the new SN formulation of GTX is no longer able to do the 7500 mi. OCI?
I've spent the past 3 days looking around on Odyclub and BITOG and have noticed that the add pack & cold flow in GTX are inferior to PYB, at least in the 5w20 flavor.
This is what I'm planning on doing when we get above 30F this spring (hopefully someday soon, im tired of frostbite...):
1. @ 202,500 I'll switch to PYB 5w20. Will send off GTX sample to B_S for analysis.
2. I'll run a 5k mi OCI for 15k mi in order to give it a chance to clean anything, assuming it can out-clean the GTX.
3. On the last 5k mi fill, @ 217,500 I will send the PYB off to B_S. Then switch back to 7500 mi OCI.
I'm hoping that with the higher TBN rating in PYB, I'll be able to get the 7500 out of it.
Thoughts?