whenever someone came into the shop i used to work at and wanted a new motor.. we'd sell em some royal purple, 1000 miles later they'd come in with a spun bearing....... EVERY TIME

If a kid with an evo wanted a new upgraded transfer case... we'd sell em some royal purple, a week later... .busted transfer case....... EVERY TIME

you cant say royal purple looks good in an engine.. it looks like crap when its new.

you should not have to change tranny fluid every 3k miles. tranny fluid does not get hot and break down like motor oil... Hell, you shouldnt change a good synthetic oil that often unless you are on the track.. may as well run regular old castrol gtx or something if you are changing it that much.

 

Moving to UTH.

 

 

 

Syphon out the reservoir and refill with clean and bleed at the slave cylinder until it runs clear. may have to refill reservoir a couple of times.Just don't run it empty during bleeding process before topping it off.This service ,if done right makes a world of difference.

 

You should give the new Castrol Edge a shot. I've tried three different oils in this car. Mobil 1, Royal Purple, and now the Edge. I'll never use the first two again and I'm very pleased with Edge. Virtually NO burn/consumption as apposed to quite a bit with the Royal Purple and even more with the Mobil 1. Not trying to start an oil argument as theres already to many just some friendly suggestions. Oh and this is in an 01 with 81000 on the clock that see's 9000 rpms quite a bit

 

 

Delving into the off-subject realm -- but:
The appearance of an oil (as in it "looks great") is essentially meaningless . It just means the fancy dye they use is more noticeable than the particles it should be suspending. Oil can be as dark as crude and work every bit as well as clean oil.

The oil in my TDI gets dark pretty quickly - should I be concerned? Nope - the oil is doing exactly what it's supposed to be doing.

I've run 4 or 5 UOAs over the years on my S2000 - some oil samples were cleaner than others - some were pretty dark. Nevertheless, the results have remained consistent (very low wear metals, high TBN and a solid detergent package - and the lab chiding me for changing my oil too often - because it was always good for continued use). Surprising? Not at all - and anyone in the industry will tell you as much.

Clean oil after several thousand miles is not a measure of a good oil - and there are several in the industry who would argue the opposite. A measure of a good oil really comes down to how well it does its job(s).

Oil is the primary coolant, the detergent package of an oil keeps the internal components free of oil related deposits and inhibits corrosion, and obviously it lubricates and protects internal parts. UOA can tell you if and how well the oil is doing its jobs - it can indicate if the oil is getting too hot, if the detergent package is adequate at the time of sampling, and the amount of wear metals present.

The two best physical methods of determining wear levels in an engine without completely tearing it down are by measuring wear on the cam lobes, and to do a leak down test. Poor lubrication is often evident simply by pulling the valve cover and taking a gander at the cam lobes. Excessive polishing, measurable grooves or surface loss are an instant give away. Excessive leak down - esp. past the piston rings is another indication of excessive wear. Excessive oil burn either through valve guide or piston rings is another indication of excessive wear.

The cam lobes of my AP1 at 64k miles look factory fresh - with no polishing or measurable wear - the factory machining marks are untouched and make them look new. The leakdown done at 60k miles was slightly over 1.5% per cylinder - with the worst cylinder just below 2.0%. I drive the snot out of my car and it's seen a 10,200 over-rev with no ill-effects (I had Billman replace the intake retainers with AP2 retainers as a precaution - the stock ones were not cracked). Nevertheless - hard-driven, and accidentally abused - the engine is in pristine condition - in no small part because of the break-in procedure I used - and the oil I have used since the engine was broken in. Amsoil ATM 10W30 is what I've used (with the exception to a run of Amsoil 0W30, 5W40, and winter runs of 5W30 when I lived in a colder climate) - and with the measurable results, I can back up my claim that Amsoil delivers absolutely the best performance - no fancy color - just industry proven excellence. Run what you want - it's your car, and it doesn't effect me in any measurable way.

Please enjoy your purple oil - and may it forever "look good" for you. However, my condolences to your engine's internals if you do.

You can order Amsoil online - get on their Preferred Customer Program for $10 (for 6 months) and stock up on the oil. It's big savings over retail and the oil has a 2-3 yr shelf life (check the manufacture date). Order it over the phone on a Monday and it'll be there on a Friday (for most CONUS locations). I even had it shipped to my FPO address when I was stationed in the Middle East for 2.5 years (I took care of my beater).

 

Can you elaborate on the break-in procedure you used? Thanks in advance.

 

Mad Pup - break-in was as follows (generally):
The first 800-850 were as directed (minus a few accidental VTEC excursions) right at the VTEC threshold and below, slowly working up to the limit in that respect.
I bought the car right after it came off the truck - the last '03 sent along with the second shipment of '04 S2000s - the dealership didn't know what to do with a new '03 in the '04 model year... I did!
I watched them prep it to make sure no abuse by the dealership. Drove it off the lot straight to a three day weekend to break it in. Drove from Oklahoma City to Dallas, up to Vance AFB and back down to OKC.
I changed oil to a semi-synthetic (Valvoline I believe) and started to work up to the redline over the next few hundred miles.
At around 1200 miles, following some progressively aggressive driving solidly into the 8500-9000 RPM range - I switched to Amsoil ATM 10W30. I then drove the crap out of the car for the next 350-450 or so miles. I then changed oil again with Amsoil ATM 10W30, and drove the car "normally" form there.
My car is in VTEC a lot. It's not driven gently. The rest of the story involves dealing with a bad transmission (Honda fixing and then me changing out with an AP2 trans) and toying with rear-end ratios (currently 4.44 Puddy Mod Stage 4).