3750mi intervals for me

this is an interesting letter....

 

I think 2003 take 5w20 and most dealers cannot get that weight in synthetic. So they will probably put in 5w30. Thats what they did when I got my synthetic oil change. My next oil change will use Amsoil 5w20 like the manual says.

 

Please note that Amsoil seris2000 0w30 is the correct replacement for all 5w20 requirements.

 

If you are running a little low with the break-in oil, then topping it off with regular (same grade oil). What is the big deal there?

IMO If you change your oil at regular intervals, regular oil like Castrol should do. I really see no reason for the more expensive Synthetics. When I raced my motorbike 20 years ago, it was with Castrol GTX and never had a problem with the engine. The engine was pushed very hard for 45K miles. I would imagine that the Castrol GTX you get today is either the same or better oil from 20 years ago.

IMO

 

Yes, I used Castrol GTX for years (from the late 60s forward) until the synthetic was well proven. I mentioned this before and I got coking with the Castrol GTX in my Bimmer (it ran very, very hot at shut down). I should also mention that the series I had was notorious for cracking heads. (I went did tons of cooling sytem changes later on -- long story again).


So, when I looked at the Castrol GTX (20w-50) coming out of the "sump", it was never very dirty. However, there was a nice fat coat of "coke" sitting inside my head (I could see it by removing the timing case cover for valve adjustments and was coated all of the visible surfaces)! The engine ran fine despite this, but I rebuilt another engine (for another person) and suggested that they use synthetic. They said it was too expensive and noticed the same coking in their engine (similar setup w/hot foot and no cooling mods).

One case, one instance, and I'm not saying that's what it's going to happen in the Acura. However, when you see it in YOUR engine, it doesn't look pretty... (Dino oil == coking at high temps and synthetic in same engine == no coking at similar high temps)

There are some situations where that demonstration of frying oil in a pan means something. RE: does it really matter for the CLS… that is the stuff of endless quibbling!

 

And "break-in" oil can be: plain old non-detergent single weight. and/or plain old detergent single weight, regular oil, light-weight oil, and so on, and so on, and so on.


AND, when they set guidelines, they target an "average" driver or situation (at least in general)...

So, what happens when someone drives till 3750 miles and never gets above 1200 rpm. (case 1)

And someone who drives with the engine around 3000 rpm.

And someone who drives with the engine in 2nd around 4000 rpm.

The total distance that the piston's move is related to the speed at a given mileage.

In the case of driver with 1000-rpm average rpm, they would have a "normalized" piston distance of 1.

Now, with 2000-rpm average (with the same mileage), this engine would have a "normalized" distance of 2.

With 4000 rpm, the pistons would have "traveled" 4 times the distance of driver #1.

And so on...

So, one could generalize that after the engine is basically broken in after 1000 miles or so (well, depending on the treatment it got), the break-in for one driver going 2000-miles, could be equivalent to another driver who went 8000-miles (just based on piston travel). (OH, dear, time to worry – NOT…)

The simple answer on break-in from the manual is just like "One size fits all..."

At least the engines seem to run well (despite early changes of break-in oil and changes to the owner’s manual from 2001-2003!).

 

If I remember correctly, Consumer Reports did a test about 5 years ago in which they recruited NYC cabs and had them tried various oils and intervals b/t oil changes. I think that thair study showed no difference between 3-4k and 7-8k but deterioration at greater than 15k. I don't remember the details of their test though. Anyone here have more details about that test?