I have had my engine opened by a performance workshop (b18c2) and the engine has been running in since then. After 1000kms of careful and patient driving, I had the engine serviced using Mobil 1, 5w-40 (Australia). After little more than 2000kms, the engine oil was only left with 2 litres and a conrod bearing had become damaged. The workshop is blaming me for using Mobil 1 in the engine as they claim the 5w is too thin for the engine and therefore caused the damage to the bearing concerned. I did notice however after they worked on my engine in the first place, my fuel consumption rose quite a lot and there was a lot of smoke coming from the engine. Can this really be the fault of the oil or is the workshop concerned just trying to get out of a warranty claim by blaming me for the situation. Any technical references or information as to why this could of happened would be really appreciated as I am really stuck here.

Paul.

 

Did you break it in with conventional oil? The Mobil 1 isn't too thin if it's 5W-40 as Honda recommends 5W-30. That just means it flows better at low temperatures. Anyways it isn't the oil that protects the bearings from wear as much as the additives that remain after the oil is sheared off the surface. Out of curiosity, did you have an underdrive crank pulley?

 

Is there anyway you can smell the oil for signs of gas...? Running as rich as you were, "might" have let some gas run down into the block. Destroying the oil, and it's ability to lube properly.

Might give your local Honda dealer a call, and ask them about using oil of that weight. That would be the best rebuttle, to there claim....

Just a thought.....

 

The engine was run in or broken in using agip synth 2000 10w-40 (i think). I don't know about the pulley, sorry. The fuel leaking into the block could explain a lot as from the oil being full it lost 2 litres in 2 weeks of normal to hard driving (2000km).
Another thing is that a Honda B18c should give me a warning light if there is only 2 litres of oil left in the engine, as there was which must mean the oil sensor may have been disconected by the workshop when they pulled down my engine. I don't understand engines really well, but I don't think the thickness of the oil would cause 2.5 litres of oil to dissapear over 2 weeks and 2000kms.

 

Sounds to me like rings weren't installed properly, and trying to break them in with synthetic oil doesn't help much either.

 

You should've started with dino oil for intitial break-in and then move onto synth if you still wanted to. Synth is too slick to allow the rings to seat properly.

 

if the shop told you that this oil was too thin, just slap them in the face and tell them that Honda recommends a thinner weight than that. theyre tryin to rip you off i think.......

 

I'm really getting that kind of feeling now..
I think they are just trying to rob me of some more cash. I think it may be time to switch workshops and scrap this bottom end. Time for 2.0?

 

thinner isnt better, honda went to the thinner oil for gas milage goals and they changed thier factory reccomended change interval from 7500 to 3000. Since honda has reccomended 5-30, techs have noticed bearing failures to be more common at 50-60K under hard driven conditions. choose your lube wisely. 10-40 is a good compromise oil and is what most european manufacturers reccomend and wont effect MPG adversely. our motors when modified produce well over 100hp/liter and the extra viscosity is a necessary thing. horsepower comes from your oil wedge not from your parts...

 

never break in a motor with synthetic

 

so the mechanic by using synthetic oil in the engine for running in has esentially damaged the engine before it's real life has begun.. am i right in making this assumption? i'm learning more and more about this as the saga goes on.
i think he has used a thinner running oil to flush the engine (for about 5 mins) before the synth was used to run the engine in. any improvment on using synth as the first oil in the engine?