klapamos

Hey all,

My ap1 with newly rebuilt engine has burned about 6/10th of a quart of synthetic blend 5W 20 in almost 1000 miles. Should I be concerned? I was on near 5 hash marks and now at 2. I'm guessing I should switch to 10w 30 for my next oil change? Car was properly broken in and is running great! The last 1000 miles have been "spirited".

s2000Junky

Likely a good idea yes, since that is the stock spec oil, but curious about the details of the bottom end rebuild, such as what they bored over and with what pistons? Or is it sleeved?

Curious, what did the full rebuild cost you minus the removal and instillation and who did it?

klapamos

Car has OEM rebuild. New rings and cylinder wall rehone, machining of crankshaft. Original rods and Pistons.

windhund116

How did you break in the engine? What kind of break-in oil did you use? How did you run the engine (change RPMs or keep it steady RPMs) during this process?

Thanks!

klapamos

Kept rpm under 5500...mostly under 4K with varied RPMs. Not sure about the oil but it was changed after 600 mile break in period. Now that I'm thinking about it maybe I had 5 hash marks on the original oil prior to change. I'm thinking my best bet is to change to 10w 30 and see if I'm burning less oil. Even if im burning 1 quart every 1500 miles this is fairly common for an AP1...especially with the wrong oil?

windhund116

You changed oil filter, too?

Yeah, change out with new oil filter. Fill to full mark. And monitor usage.

Good luck!

climhazzard

Did the rebuilder suggest running 5W20? That's not a common weight for our cars..I would make sure it's a xW30.

Chuck S

Right. 5W-20 is not on any spec I've seen for these engines. 10W-30 is factory spec. 5W-40 in very cold weather.

Mineral or synthetic oil makes a difference. Bob's the Oil Guy Engine Oil 101 notes the following. Starting with a 5 grade oil starts off even thinner and only going up to 20 grade is below the required 30 grade.
I've found it beneficial to run to the engineering specs no matter how stupid the Honda engineers who designed this car were. Internet forums are always right. I'm running pure synthetic 10W-30. Benefit is in cold starting. Note mineral oil additives to thicken it eventually breakdown and thin the oil grade, one of the reasons for a shorter oil change interval for this oil.

-- Chuck

klapamos

UPDATE: Switched to 10w-30 Synthetic blend and car seems to idle better and has appeared to burn no oil in the last 300 miles =D.

windhund116

Very good! Thanks, for update.