[SteveSW]

I changed my CRV's oil and filter at 5,000 miles, and decided to have the oil analyzed by POLARIS Laboratories (eoilreports.com). The 5,000 miles was mostly interstate, and all in warm to hot weather. According to the report, Fuel Dilution is 5% (by volume). There's also a lot of Silicon in the sample (162 ppm), which I hope is seals or casting debris that will fade over time.

I'll redo the oil/filter change and analysis at 10,000 miles.

I love the car, but will carefully document the oil contamination.

steve

 

[mnestrud]

I changed my CRV's oil and filter at 5,000 miles, and decided to have the oil analyzed by POLARIS Laboratories (eoilreports.com). The 5,000 miles was mostly interstate, and all in warm to hot weather. According to the report, Fuel Dilution is 5% (by volume). There's also a lot of Silicon in the sample (162 ppm), which I hope is seals or casting debris that will fade over time.

I'll redo the oil/filter change and analysis at 10,000 miles.

I love the car, but will carefully document the oil contamination.

steve

Honda break in oil has a high moly content which is supposed to stay in until the Maintenance Minder indicates needing a change - in theory your oil analysis should show that. I would suggest that the silicone shows your engine is still breaking in. You're not the first to do an early change and certainly the impact of the break in oil decreases as mileage increases. But just be aware that technically you didn't allow your engine to fully break in, according to Honda, and the impact of that is unknown.

Less likely, it could be due to outside contamination and you might take a peek at your engine air filter just to make sure it is seated well, not torn and isn't allowing dust through.

 

[SteveSW]

Honda break in oil has a high moly content which is supposed to stay in until the Maintenance Minder indicates needing a change - in theory your oil analysis should show that. I would suggest that the silicone shows your engine is still breaking in. You're not the first to do an early change and certainly the impact of the break in oil decreases as mileage increases. But just be aware that technically you didn't allow your engine to fully break in, according to Honda, and the impact of that is unknown.

Less likely, it could be due to outside contamination and you might take a peek at your engine air filter just to make sure it is seated well, not torn and isn't allowing dust through.

Thanks for the info. Yes, the moly was high as well (645 ppm). I'll hope that the 5,000 was good enough for a proper break-in.

 

[Dans15]

High silicon is normal for oil changes on fresh engines: as you say it’s from sealers and will decrease with time.

Polaris measures fuel dilution by gas chromotography, which is good, but doesn’t quantify dilution amounts >5%. In other words, if your analysis says 5%, it could be 5%, 8%, 10%, etc.

It would be great if you could post the report itself.

 

[joescrv2018]

When I first obtained my 2018, I had high dilution and Honda sent their engineering tech in to assess my issue. They changed my oil at 821 miles. I expressed concern and the ET said that the engine breaks in by 250 miles and that changing at 821 will no effect whatsoever. BS, or credible?

 

[advmgm]

When I first obtained my 2018, I had high dilution and Honda sent their engineering tech in to assess my issue. They changed my oil at 821 miles. I expressed concern and the ET said that the engine breaks in by 250 miles and that changing at 821 will no effect whatsoever. BS, or credible?

Modern engines with their much tighter tolerances do not break in until around 10k miles.
Thats why they run 200k without issues.

Both of my new motorcycles felt like the engine was running much "free-er" and wanted to rev faster after 10k miles.
One of them just turned over 120,000 miles and still runs strong.

Sent from my LG-H700 using Tapatalk

 

[Zip1]

The lab I used told me that Honda factory oil is NO different than the regular Honda oil available at your dealer.
The high molybdenum levels in the original oil analysis is from to grease used during engine assembly. It is much more important to get the silicone (aka sand and dirt) out of the engine ASAP, than to keep the assembly grease in there.

 

[UMRdyldo]

This report is very typical and not alarming for this vehicle. Good luck on your next report.

 

[williamsji]

The lab I used told me that Honda factory oil is NO different than the regular Honda oil available at your dealer.
The high molybdenum levels in the original oil analysis is from to grease used during engine assembly. It is much more important to get the silicone (aka sand and dirt) out of the engine ASAP, than to keep the assembly grease in there.

Silicon measurements in an oil analysis are not necessarily related to dirt or sand ingress. See Blackstones notable explanation of this particualr elements sources in an oil analysis. https://www.blackstone-labs.com/the...abs.net/Bstone/(S(zrzfg155l4ioja555dhty5yz))/

 

[williamsji]

The lab I used told me that Honda factory oil is NO different than the regular Honda oil available at your dealer.
The high molybdenum levels in the original oil analysis is from to grease used during engine assembly. It is much more important to get the silicone (aka sand and dirt) out of the engine ASAP, than to keep the assembly grease in there.

That statement from the lab is both true and false. The oil is the same at the factory, but they also put additional additives into it to help the engine break-in efficiently and without causing any early defects as new parts rub with each other prior to fully seating-in. Keep in mind.. a brand new engine is a very tight engine and must break-in to a normal profile to ensure long life.. while not causing damage in the process.

So.. the first question is.. what purpose does moly in oil inside an engine serve? The answer is improved lubrication parameters. There is even a working theory among the vehicle enthusiasts on the internet that moly additives to oil are good for improving both lubrication efficency as well as fuel economy through the life of an engine. There is an entire industry that serves this niche in the enthusiast community with product for this purpose... either with specific moly additives, or with high moly oil products.

So.. in the above context, it makes complete sense that a vehicle manufacturing factory would indeed add some moly to the regular OEM oil for the purposes of helping the engine seat and break-in properly, with less chance of any break-in defects due to early friction before all the parts seat-in with each other.

 

[Zip1]

but they also put additional additives into it to help the engine break-in efficiently and without causing any early defects as new parts rub with each other prior to fully seating-in.

Interesting. I did extensive searches and could find no documentation (confirmation) of this beyond one Toyota document. I'd be interested is reading from your source. Otherwise at this point, I only have the expertise of the oil analysis lab.

 

[williamsji]

Interesting. I did extensive searches and could find no documentation (confirmation) of this beyond one Toyota document. I'd be interested is reading from your source. Otherwise at this point, I only have the expertise of the oil analysis lab.

Unlike Toyota, which are very public about their oils having specific (though ironically, it is actually unspecified ) additives... Honda remains mum about it as far as I know. The only specific comment I am aware of from Honda is to not change the factory oil until the MM tells you to.. or you have a required service earlier that requires an oil change as well.

So... to answer your question.... if you search for some prior posts in this forum showing multiple oil analysis for the same vehicle at different points in time.. you will see pretty consistently that the analysis results for the original factory oil ARE different... and those differences are not all just break-in byproducts. There IS more Moly in the first oil change, for example.. and while we do not know if that is from a specific and deliberate addative at the factory, or it is more about specific lubricants they use during engine assembly.. the end result is the same.

So, again, to summarize... the actual oil put into the engine is the same at the factory as it is at the dealers, but the engine leaves the factory with more Moly and a few other compounds then you will find in subsequent oil changes when compared using the same oil analysis provider.

 

[Zip1]

if you search for some prior posts in this forum showing multiple oil analysis for the same vehicle at different points in time..

Yep. Here's mine -

Used Oil Analysis

A used oil analysis is not inexpensive ~$25-35 per analysis. How I choose to spend my money is no one elses business. I can appreciate that some think this is a waste of money, if you are of that opinion please move on to a different forum topic. I have had two oil analyses done on my 2018 CR-V...

www.crvownersclub.com

 

[ronno3346]

Thanks for the info. Yes, the moly was high as well (645 ppm). I'll hope that the 5,000 was good enough for a proper break-in.

Should be. I changed mine at just over 5,000, when the maintenance minder was at 15%, which I believe is when they suggest you should start thinking about an oil change. The sticker they put on the car said the next one should be at 10,000 or 15% oil minder reading.

 

[rocky]

Thread will be closed until OP is ready to upload the UOA to the forum.
Thank you