| Mileage & Castro GTX, big drop?
- Click HERE for Original Thread
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| Hobit |
| I recently changed my first oil after 4800 miles using Castro GTX 5/20, regular oil. I used to average both city and highway at around 17 miles/gallon. After the oil change, I am getting about 15m/g. No changes in driving habit or other personal factors. I always drive it softly. Do you have the same experiences? Does the MDX require synthetic? What is your gas mileage before and after the first oil change? |
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| G. COLTON |
There is no way that oil whould have a 2mpg effect either for the better or worse; unless for some unknown reason you got a bad batch of oil.
I do not know what you consider city and highway driving. I now have over 11,000 on my vehicle and range between 16 and 21 mpg over long periods of time. If I am in constant stop and go conditions I see on the low end. If I am on a trip with few stops I see the upper end. The average on a tank of gas when I am driving a mixed bag of around town and some short open road then I see 17 to 18 mpg.
I run Castrol Full Synthetic oil.
If you really think the oil was the difference I would recommend an immediate change of the oil. See if that makes a difference.
G |
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| csimo |
| There's no oil in the world that could cause a 2MPG difference. If there was that much difference in the friction inside the engine it would have been destroyed in a few hundred miles with the old oil. |
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| ScoobyT |
| At about 4500 mls i switched to Mobil 1 syn. 0/20. The milage went up by 1-1.5mpg. getting~ 24mpg @ 75ml/h now. Needless to say, best way to spend $37. (RSStrauss ,after rebate) |
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| ardvarkus |
I've got 99,500 on my X. Ive been using Castrol GTX 10W30 since day one.
Change every 5k or so.
I DO NOT BELIEVE ANY ANECDOTES about inproved mileage or reduced wear with synthetics...
Proof of the pudding is in the eating: I ran a Used Oil Analysis on the last chnge- they could not believe it had 99k miles on it. The only way to evaluate oils is to test THE oil in THE engine- all the blather about marketing hype is worthless. Change your fluids regularly. Period. Tranny, Engine, Coolant, Brakes, VTM4...
Over the last 99k mileage has been 17 to 22
A
PS For real info on oils, additives and tests check out www.bobistheoilguy.com (or BITOG) |
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| Hobit |
Thanx for the help fellows! I noticed a slight improvement today on highway driving. I will monitor the mileage for this tank.
ardvarkus,
Are you using the right oil viscosity? I thought the MDX requires 5w20, unless there is a difference between '01 and '04. |
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| ardvarkus |
quote:
Originally posted by Hobit
Thanx for the help fellows! I noticed a slight improvement today on highway driving. I will monitor the mileage for this tank.
ardvarkus,
Are you using the right oil viscosity? I thought the MDX requires 5w20, unless there is a difference between '01 and '04.
Yes - Based on the engine label, owners manual and service manual
Silly Honda would have you running 0W0 to improve their CAFE fuel economy by 0.1 mpg over their entire fleet...
A |
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| ScoobyT |
quote:
Originally posted by ardvarkus
Yes - Based on the engine label, owners manual and service manual
Silly Honda would have you running 0W0 to improve their CAFE fuel economy by 0.1 mpg over their entire fleet...
A
Why silly? Whats wrong w/ getting the most miles for your buck? |
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| ardvarkus |
quote:
Originally posted by ScoobyT
Why silly? Whats wrong w/ getting the most miles for your buck?
Oh, because they are trading engine life at 100k plus miles for a few tenths.
Run 5-20 in a car versus 5-40 and compare the trace levels of bearing materials after 5k miles of hard driving...
Just my opinion- I'm certainly not going to argue with the owners manual..not worth the grief!
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by ardvarkus
Oh, because they are trading engine life at 100k plus miles for a few tenths.
Run 5-20 in a car versus 5-40 and compare the trace levels of bearing materials after 5k miles of hard driving...
Just my opinion- I'm certainly not going to argue with the owners manual..not worth the grief!
A
Would you please explain why you think that 5-20 has less lubricating value than 5-40?
G |
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| ardvarkus |
quote:
Originally posted by G. COLTON
Would you please explain why you think that 5-20 has less lubricating value than 5-40?
G
No.
You'll need to look it up. Suffice it to say that at a given engine temp (say 220F in the summer) a high viscosity will have an increased abiltiy to prevent metal to metal contact in a rotating bearing. Of course the engine will spend ractionally more HP to pump the thicker oil. There is a point of diminishing returns- oil that is too thick will heat, and will shear down. A UOA will tell you how the oil is doing in your application.
On virtually all the boards I visit, oil is the number one topic- any what kills me is that less than 0.1% (maybe 0.01%) of the posters actually bother to test what THEIR oil is doing in THEIR engine- most rely on mfg blather, marketing hype and internet rumor.
The last thing I worry about with oil choice is mileage... (unless it is a two stroke : ) )
A |
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by ardvarkus
No.
You'll need to look it up. Suffice it to say that at a given engine temp (say 220F in the summer) a high viscosity will have an increased abiltiy to prevent metal to metal contact in a rotating bearing. Of course the engine will spend ractionally more HP to pump the thicker oil. There is a point of diminishing returns- oil that is too thick will heat, and will shear down. A UOA will tell you how the oil is doing in your application.
On virtually all the boards I visit, oil is the number one topic- any what kills me is that less than 0.1% (maybe 0.01%) of the posters actually bother to test what THEIR oil is doing in THEIR engine- most rely on mfg blather, marketing hype and internet rumor.
The last thing I worry about with oil choice is mileage... (unless it is a two stroke : ) )
A
In other words all you have is an opinion. You do not know for a fact that "lighter weight" oil has less lubricating power.?
G |
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| ardvarkus |
quote:
Originally posted by G. COLTON
In other words all you have is an opinion. You do not know for a fact that "lighter weight" oil has less lubricating power.?
G
Well you got me- I guess the lack of my citing chapter and verse on rheology theory is proof positive for a pinhead to assume 5W20 and 5W40 have equivalent lubiricating performance.
Why stop at 5W20? Isn't 5W10 no less than 5W20? Is all this mumbo jumbo just a scam by the oil companies, or perhaps do they actually have some basis in performance.
I do know for a fact that 5W40 will lubricate 'better' than 5W20 at higher ambient temperatures- I just don't need to prove it.
:) |
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| socalJD |
:lurk:
G. Colton, meet Mr. Ardvarkus, the site's resident curmudgeon. Altho not a true newbie, you obviously have not been on this site long enough to have the opportunity to 'meet' Ard . . .
score:
Curmudgeon - 1
G. Colton - 0
Needless to say, Ard's reputation proceeds him on all things that are MDX . . .
:lurk:
FWIW, I run Castrol GTX 5w-30 every 3,750 miles or so since 4,500 on the 'meter. |
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| G. COLTON |
quote:
Originally posted by socalJD
:lurk:
G. Colton, meet Mr. Ardvarkus, the site's resident curmudgeon. Altho not a true newbie, you obviously have not been on this site long enough to have the opportunity to 'meet' Ard . . .
score:
Curmudgeon - 1
G. Colton - 0
Needless to say, Ard's reputation proceeds him on all things that are MDX . . .
:lurk:
FWIW, I run Castrol GTX 5w-30 every 3,750 miles or so since 4,500 on the 'meter.
What is his reputation for? Trying to bull hiis way through answering a question that he obviously has no knowledge about.
We all get caught occasionally trying to just plain BS our way through something. Fortunately most are able to admit it and go on about their way.
Guess I have learned not to ask him to try to explain one of his statements or provide references. Too bad the world has to have people like that.
G |
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| ardvarkus |
quote:
Originally posted by G. COLTON
What is his reputation for? Trying to bull hiis way through answering a question that he obviously has no knowledge about.
We all get caught occasionally trying to just plain BS our way through something. Fortunately most are able to admit it and go on about their way.
Guess I have learned not to ask him to try to explain one of his statements or provide references. Too bad the world has to have people like that.
G
Big bad world, eh G.? Woe is you, huh? Try being a pissant with someone else- I'll not take the bait on a silly argument over "lubrication value".
Unless you define the term (Sorry, all my specs seem to omit "lubrication value" for any oil) it is an exercise in futility. Go ahead and pretend you were just asking a simple question and were just looking for clarification....
Maybe someone else here will bother to either (a) explain the difference in lubricating properties, or (b) take issue with my stance.
Look back over my several hundred posts and you will find that I rarely if ever took personal exception- and never a time when I'd 'bull' my way through a answer I didn't know.
And now, perhaps to the question you SHOULD have asked: Will 5W40 provide better lubrication in an engine that is labeled for 5W20?
Answer: How the hell should I know? Bearing flow, shell design, loads, heat dissipation are all un-knowable factors to non Honda emplloyees-
To GET the answer you would run each oil for 5k miles and compared a complete Used Oil Analysis, paying attention to oil degradation (shearing) and wear materials... that'd be a start.... but why trouble ourselves with actual tests when we can read crap on the internet over how important it is to run the latest synthetic and make decisions with no real basis other than hype
Again- let me know what SPECIFICALLY you meant by "Lubricating Value" and I'll try to get that for you.
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