David:

Unfortunately (from a cost perspective), there are no Group II or II+ oils in the 0w-20 grade, at least not that I've found. If I was unclear in a previous posting, my apologies. At the moment, I'm using Havoline (Texaco) DepositShield 5w-20, which appears to be a II+ "dino". Unconvinced that my engine had settled in (I bought mine "used" but with only 5000 miles), I decided to run a couple fills of the DS, for two reasons. First, it's very low vis, at only 8.0 cSt hot; and second, it has consistently shown very good results in our UOA collection over at BITOG.

I did just order four cases of the Pennzoil Platinum 0w-20 from an online store. This stuff is virtually never seen on store shelves, but seems to have very good virgin stats. We have a retired SOPUS engineer who believes that unlike the rest of the PP line, this stuff is probably mostly PAO (Group IV), with some G-III, in contrast to the remainder of the PP line. Not that it matters much; PP is another oil that has routinely stellar UOA results, and doesn't show the iron spikes that have become so common with the M1 UOAs.

 

Gene,

Thanks for letting me know. Must have misread the post (is 52 too young to start going senile?). I do appreciate the work that you put in as a moderator at BITOG. There is always something interesting over there…

I have been using Mobil 1 for some time now in 3 Honda's and the TCH and so far have not had any issues with the iron spikes that others have had. All of the UOA's that I have received back from Blackstone seem normal but a lot of this could be due to the short 5000 mile OCI. With 3 girls driving that are NOT into cars, I change the Honda's at 5000 miles also as it's easier for them to remember that number instead of 7500 even though I put a sticker in the windshield.

I still use 5w-20 oil as it will work with all 4 cars (2001 and up) and it is easier stocking one grade. Once the current stock drops down (120 qts +/-) I have been thinking of giving PP a try. There are a bunch of folks at BITOG recommending it that I have a lot of respect for (including yourself).