🔴💊 Engine Oil Red Pill Thread: Only Post If You Have UOA - Official Honda Civic Type R K20C1 Engine Oil Analysis

[sackofcheese]

I think Valvoline Advanced is pretty excellent too if you're not planning on doing long OCIs (not saying it can't, but they have others for that purpose) and your engine is still fairly new. I really like the extended protection and max life products, but they're formulated more for long OCIs and older engines that may benefit from seal swelling agents and whatnot.

I've debated running restore and protect as well, just because I'm impressed by their commitment to improving their oils, and that one clearly has some interesting tech.

Not a K20C UOA and I screwed up the input information for the oil twice due to a mixup, but these results are for 0W-16 Valvoline Advanced in a RAV4 Hybrid in my family fleet. The viscosity is still a bit low for 16 grade so I'm now running 0W-20 in them to see how that does, but the wear rate is still excellent. I may have to try some Valvoline in my DE5 just because.

FWIW The Extended protection Valvoline is only $1 more for a 5 qt jug at my local Walmart over Valvoline advanced protection. The single quart bottles are the same cost too. I personally have used Valvoline simply because their HQ is in my hometown, and they sponsor grassroots motorsports activities. It is nice knowing they're actually one of the better choices.

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[jtlctr]

I’ve been using Valvoline EP since the first OC. I have no personal data, but it seems like a solid oil by all accounts. I should get it tested next change and see how it looks.

 

[johnloov]

Here is someone else that methodically does engine oil analysis and he went down from a thicker oil and slightly above the manufacturer requirements. OEM spec was a 0W-20 he tried all the way up to a 5w40, but realized he's not improving performance or protection and he tracks and modifies his car. Your engine will run hotter with thicker oil, take longer to get to operating temperature, and you're loosing ~5-6 hp with a 5w30 ( proven by Motul dealer - you're adding friction is my understanding ) and up to ~9-10hp with a 5w-40 on the FL5 Type R -- This gentleman's data pointed him to a perfect balance with a 0w-30 from his lab findings. You want instant protection cold or hot, and you also want to get to optimal operating temperature as fast as possible. He dispels a lot of the conspiracy non scientific theories regarding, just blindly run a thicker oil.



Worth watching the whole thing. From his data looks inline with some other data we've received, and engineering explained -- I'm leaning towards a 0W-30 engine oil maybe also. Engineering explained, that's important not to change the first number 0W but it's safer to go up on the second number due to the same reasons. Get the oil flowing fast, as cold engine starts are where most of the wear can occur.

These new engines have very tight tolerances, and it seems you want to get that oil circulating instantly and you want to get it up to temperature very fast.

The Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 0w-20 are thicker ( 8.8CST at 100c ) than my Honda oil ( 7.99 CST at 100c ) as a base line and the Valvoline Ultra Max life 0W-20 is also thicker at ( 8.7cst at 100c ) based on the virgin oil samples. From that data above that Valvoline seemed to really do extremely well over long extended drain intervals. There are also two people in the community here that have run 2 Motul API SP oils and they seem to do incredibly well with shear resistance.

So far the best we've seen in sheer strength were from the Motul 8100 line. One was Motul Eco Clean and the other was the Power 8100 5w30, and Eric who tracks his car very hard at Laguna Seca with twin oil coolers.

It seems Motul's 8100 line API SP engine oils seem to be the most shear resistant so far from the data I'm seeing.

After 5000 miles and many track day's, Eric's oil only sheared down to 10.24 CST at 100c from a 10.8 new !

This also matches the findings of the other gentleman -- he found through his engine oil testing of Motul 8100 Eco-Clean 0W20.

So far the Motul 8100 line seems to have the best ability to stay within its Viscosity index for the longest period of time. My understanding is the Motul Power 8100 is the second highest grade motor oil they make which has an Ester Blend. Motul 300V is their highest grade oil, which is a double ester blend, but it seems to shear down fast from some oil samples we saw, as it's designed for single track day use.

Seems like Both Pennzoil Ultra Platinum and Valvoline - are safe off the shelf excellent low cost oils, and seem better initially from the data than the Honda Oil, as you are starting at a thicker viscosity, but at the same time, we were able to prove racing on track on the OEM oil with frequent changes was safe for 3 track days and ~2500 miles. Blackstone said, I could even go 4000 miles, but I would not push that after loosing ~1.5cst.

Ultimately we are on the quest to find the best engine oil for our car with data to back it up ( least wear metals over 2000 miles and lowest oil shearing )

The three variables which would be most ideal to optimize is:

1) Engine Longevity - Least wear PPM wear for 2000 miles ( Aluminum and Iron )

2) Max HP ( Least friction )

3) Run cool - with OEM spec engine ( Least friction) PAO & Ester blends have been show in the lab to reduce engine temps by ~10%

Would be amazing to find someone with 0w-30 UOA data with our engines.

 

[johnloov]

I found this insight from an oil expert quite interesting. He explained that while moving to a thicker oil can help in some cases, going too thick—like switching from 0W-20 to a 40-weight oil—can cause problems in engines designed for thinner oil.

Engines built for 0W-20 typically use lower-tension piston rings and have tighter wall-to-liner tolerances to reduce friction and improve efficiency. These rings rely on the lower viscosity of 0W-20 to function properly. If you switch to a much thicker oil, the rings may not effectively scrape excess oil back into the crankcase, leading to increased oil consumption or burning.

Definitely worth watching.

 

[cryptolime]

I found this insight from an oil expert quite interesting. He explained that while moving to a thicker oil can help in some cases, going too thick—like switching from 0W-20 to a 40-weight oil—can cause problems in engines designed for thinner oil.

Engines built for 0W-20 typically use lower-tension piston rings and have tighter wall-to-liner tolerances to reduce friction and improve efficiency. These rings rely on the lower viscosity of 0W-20 to function properly. If you switch to a much thicker oil, the rings may not effectively scrape excess oil back into the crankcase, leading to increased oil consumption or burning.

Definitely worth watching.

well, the Australian and Japanese owner's manuals say you can use 5w30 and 10w30 so that seems fine. 40 weight seems too thick though.

 

[Rhorn]

well, the Australian and Japanese owner's manuals say you can use 5w30 and 10w30 so that seems fine. 40 weight seems too thick though.

Depends on the 40 weight oil. There are some 40 weight oils that are 'low' and are intended to shear into a high viscosity like Mobil-1 ESP.

Also depends on the use, its probably overkill and too thick for street use but it does have the benefit for track use espically since the engines run hot.

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