I was doing some online research of synthetic oils, and found an independent test of Amsoil. The test concluded that the 5W-30 oil degraded to an upper-end viscosity of about 45 during the 14K test miles. This large viscosity change resulted in a 17 percent loss of fuel efficiency compared to original testing.

Have any HCH owners noticed similar degradation with Mobil 1 or other premium oils?

I see that Amsoil now has a 0W-20 oil available, and Castrol Edge also is targeting Mobil 1 with impressive claims. Would like to hear some real-world updates to the 'battle of the oils.' Thanks!

 

I found bobtheoilguy.com where people post their used oil analyses. In the posts I read, Amsoil viscosity seems to do very well over its service life, which contradicts the first-referenced test results.

 

It would seem all oils thicken as they age.

I'm a M1 user. Have a new box of 0w-20 ready to go into the HCHII with a Wix filter and crush washer.

I would use Amsoil if it were easy to get here.

I use to worry about oil and tranny fluids. Take samples and get them tested and such. Not anymore. Just change the oil every 10k miles and tranny fluid every 30k miles.

 

Honda 0-20 seems to do the job! M1 and amsoil cost about $35 a change and the M.M. does not care if its deno or synthetic. I use 3 liters with or without the filter change. Oil level stays the same between changes. I follow Honda's recommendation and only change the filter every second change. Hal

 

Periodic oil testing on my HCHII shows no degradation over a typical service life of 10K miles. Testing simulation suggests that 0-20w synthetic has a useful life of 15-20K miles when used in the HCHII engine.

 

Gary, those are some beautiful numbers, and very reassuring to see. Has anyone tried the relatively new Amsoil 0W-20? I noticed that Castrol Edge (which claims 8X better wear protection than Mobil 1) is not available in 0W-20.

 

I got a nice email reply from Amsoil today regarding my concern about viscosity changes during the service life of the oil:

Thank you for contacting AMSOIL.

In response to your inquiry,
It is not typical for our oil to thicken up or go up a viscosity grade even under extended drain intervals. The only time that will happen is if the oil is contaminated. Certain contaminates can cause the viscosity to change but that is a symptom of a mechanical issue.