Got my UOA back from my last round. Overall my results have not been stellar. The first was Mobil 1 0w30 put in by the prior owner with maybe a autox. The next was Motul V800 5w40, with a couple autox events. Lead came down a bit, but the wear package in the oil is not impressive at all.

This last round was Amsoil 10w30 with about 6hrs of track time, including a track that seems to cause a TON of sloshing, as evident by me filling a catch can every session. The car seemed to like this oil the best in terms of consumption, as I added 5.65 qt of makeup, but visually dumped at least 2qt out of the catch can. It also seems to have a nice additive package. With regards to wear, not good at all. This is my highest lead result and now aluminum is showing up. Viscosity was also not real impressive for a 10w30.

Needless to say the wear pattern with this engine is a bit concerning. Historically It runs great, made 206 whp with basically an intake and HFC, and other than a little rattle on occasion that seems to be a mystery noise it runs well. I did have a lower compression result after my last event, still in spec, but low (215ish on 2,3,4) and found that I had a couple very tight intake valves.

Lately there have been a couple odd changes, one it oil consumption seems to have suddenly slowed, I use to be around 1qt/1k now it is very minimal with the same oil. Two after my last oil change the pressure light flickers on EVERY cold start, accompanied by a timing chain rattle, indicating a brief moment of low pressure, it is very brief like a second or two, but I think it just started this.

So I can't decide how to proceed, my wife and I are in the process of relocating and I am currently acting as a single parent to my 3 year old. Doing anything on my own is going to be impossible, heck I can't even drive the car. Additionally, we are buying a second house and spending a crap ton of $ on stuff for that, so at least until we get through this transition I can't really fork over a ton on this car.

I literally just paid to have a new clutch and flywheel installed and maybe put 50 miles on it since. While doing the install my shop noticed my HFC is falling apart, so I am scheduled for a test pipe/retune Saturday, which will be the last chance my shop can do anything before I move 3hrs away. I was hoping to unwind from all the stress of this move with a track weekend in October. I also just put fresh oil in, but it was the Amsoil 10w30, as it was before I got these results.

I am considering tossing in some Archoil additive, which seems to have good reviews from very reputable people. Then taking it in for the retune and seeing how things go. If the car makes good power and doesn't blow up on the dyno then maybe moving forward with the track event and run the dang thing till it blows up. The more conservative side says I should get it to our new location ASAP and park it until I have a chance to drop the pan sometime this winter. But is it really worth the hassle for something that may or may not be a fix on a car with 140k? Not to mention I bought the thing to enjoy, not driving/tracking it in fear of loosing the motor isn't that. Plus I am not sure what future route I am going with the car, I really like the 9k rpm, but a new 2.2 block is very tempting.

I know I am putting a lot out there, but any thoughts?

 

Get ur living arrangements in order . Worry about the car later

 

Stop taking it to the track or auto-x for the next while and consider investing in a baffled oil pan prior to going back. If you are doing a lot of track or auto-x driving the wear numbers are going to be much higher than your typical street driving oil change interval due to high rpms and oil sloshing etc..

Post up your UOA results, it would be good to see the numbers and compare. Amsoil is a great oil in 10w30, probably best as a street driving oil, it has one of the lowest NOACK volatility numbers of any oil so it should burn off slower. You might want to use their 5w40 or 0w-40 signature series for track use if you stick to Amsoil and you are getting higher oil temps during your runs, though their NOACK voloatility numbersa are higher than the 10w30.

I'd recommend Redline oil for track use, it has a great anti-wear additive package and it is the only oil that did not shear in viscosity on my engine. On my trip to the Dragon this year (lots of high-g high rpm corners through the Dragon, Back of the Dragon, Snake, and other mountain roads) I exhibited the same wear numbers as I had on a previous normal street driving oil change interval, so the wear numbers were impressive. Redline is quite expensive though, but probably similar to Motul.

Post up your UOA numbers. You compression issue doesn't seem serious, probably not an issue, and it can often be improved with valve adjustments like you noted.

Not sure about the cold start light flicker, a few people report the same issue. The timing chain rattle is best addressed by a Billman TCT, I had good results after one of his TCT replacements.

 

 

Sorry I had intended on putting it up right away, but for some reason I can't add attachments. Let me know if that does not work for you. Yeah I like the idea of a baffled pan, but if I go that route I might as well just toss in new bearings on this engine. So sounds like tune it Saturday, take it easy on the car till winter with regards to track events and then drop the pan over the winter? I really want to get in one last event though and this track isn't too hard on engines or at least doesn't cause oil to enter my catch can.

The guy who works on my stuff also thought I should be running a 40 weight oil, so do I just dump what is in there now (basically fresh 30 weight) and toss in 5w40 or do I try the Archoil additive? I would basically be wasting $60 in oil busy going that route, plus a filter if I change that to drain the 30 weight.

To clarify I don't have a TCT rattle, just a moment on cold start with the quick flicker. To me it says there is the potential that oil pressure isn't coming up fast enough, which could be caused by excessive bearing tolerances.

 

^ thanks for posting.

I would say aluminum is still "reasonable" given the track time during the OCI, most likely piston wear or cam journal wear. Iron is also reasonable due to the type of use. Copper is surprisingly low, so that is a good sign. I would say the only black spot is lead, you obviously had some excessive bearing wear. One bad UOA may not spell doom to your engine, unless you have larger bits of metal in the pan. Check behind the VTEC solenoid screen for metal bits when you have a chance, easy to check. Viscosity was low, and given the track use and elevated oil temps you might see on the track that is probably the worse thing about this oil, which could have caused elevated bearing wear.

If you want to keep running the track consider a good baffled oil pan like Spoon's, and I would switch oils, and consider running a higher viscosity in whatever oil you choose.

Try running a street driven OCI next and see if the wear numbers return back down to normal levels, even a short OCI and test again.

 

I did have two previous results with no track time and I still had lead, so I do have a bit of a pattern. But yeah, all that lead and no copper...YET. So can I say that you would swap this oil out for a 5w40 if I am going to go to another event, as opposed to tossing in some Archoil? If I go that route do you suppose it would be ok to save the basically new 10w30 and using it for winter storage? I hate wasting fresh oil with 100 miles!

 

The lead in the second last run wasn't bad, it did spike up before that run though. You can have some lead wear, you just don't want to see it much over 4-5 ppms. But track use blows all of the typical universal numbers out of the water as most people send in data from street use , or a mix of street and track/auto-x. You have to expect more wear when you have track use in the mix of the OCI.

The 40 weight oil is a good idea as your oil temps are going to be much higher in track use, and the oil viscosity will be thinner at elevated temps, the 40 weight gives you an extra margin of protection as oil thins with increasing temps. When you have oil shearing down to a 20 weight (like your current sample) and then you take it to the track with elevated temps you are going to have oil that is pretty thin in the critical bearing surfaces, which explains bearing wear numbers.

I don't know anything about Archoil, it might be good, or it might not ?

I had a TCT rattle at start up, mine sounded like a rattle snake sound (best way I can describe it), I didn't have any oil light flicker, but the Billman TCT got rid of the noise immediately upon installation.

 

I have the Billman TCT. The noise is just a breif moment at start, like the pressure is taking a second longer. Maybe it is just excessive valve noise, but it isn't a startup knock like a bearing would make.

That Archoil is suppose to be crazy stuff, just google it and read some Bobs the oil guy threads on it. The one thing a 5w40 would do is provide a bit better cold startup coming into fall. I am thinking I should just dump the 10w30 and try that. Amsoil Euro formula is cheaper than signature, is it a lesser oil?

 

Ill comment on your oil consumption and oil light flicker.

Consumption: im betting it went down after switching from mobil 1? My f20c burnt mobil 1 like crazy, along with every other honda engine ive used it in (k, b, d series). Switching to valvoline drastically slowed consumption on my f20c.

Oil light flicker: what filter are you using? Maybe you got a bad one that is draining the oil.