Hi zeng
Total car mileage 13x,000km
Oil mileage slightly more than 3k km
24 hours blotter after a short drive.
Oil age: 1 year.
Liqui moly 5w30 fully syn from shopee paul hew.



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Hi Bro,

I suppose this engine is Honda City?

Liqui Moly has 18 'models' of 5W30, mind sharing which one is yours?

There is kind of absence of 'structures' such as centre zone, aureole zone/perimeter ring, diffusion zone, darkened jagged external edge etc, which spells good news in tip top condition of this 1 yr 3k km used 5W30 LM engine oil.

However there is presence of translucent halo at the outermost zone indicating fuel dilution phenomenon in this 1 year 3k km very low usage oil which would be 'supposedly' bad as it promotes corrosion wear.

This IMHO is irrelevant and harmless by looking at the blotter spot test image, an opinion which may be verified with a paid high rm UOA which I personally deem unnecessary for our context.

Overall, I would consider this 1 year 3k km used LM 5W30 of very low contaminants/dirt levels as fit for continuing service in the engine.....
dismissing the myth of 1 year oil life limit on engine oil in use as propagated online every so often by .......

This post has been edited by zeng: Mar 13 2021, 10:53 AM

The exact engine oil is this one
https://shopee.com.my/product/19534140/5592...32-1615604613.9

Thanks for the feedback. When i purchased this EO, my intention is to test it out properly and decide if i should stick with this EO but then mco kicks in. Hence the 3k km in one year. I only drove interstate once in this year. Most drive is within 5km aka neighbourhood run.

I dont think i tested out the EO properly for a conclusion.
The idea was to change it at least a year once but a bit occupied to make oil change with my trusted workshop as i intend to make some other parts changes too. Maybe ill delay the oil change a bit more.

This post has been edited by cempedaklife: Mar 13 2021, 11:08 AM

bro zeng

Hilux Revo 2.4G Auto 2019
Fuel: Diesel Euro 5
Odo: 30,606km
Oil: Helix Protect 0W-30 API SN Plus, ACEA A3/B4
Oil age: 4,810km

Driving condition: 50% tarmac 50% off-road, mostly continuous 6-8 hours journey
Off-road condition: Hilly, muddy, dusty, occasional water crossing (depends on weather)

The oil sample was taken hot right after 6 hours journey, 2 hours tarmac 4 hours off-road

Can I chime in as a fellow diesel owner as well. I think since you off-road quite a lot, you should probably look to replace your oil by engine-hours instead of mileage. I don't know if Hilux has a setting for you to see how many hours have you run your engine. I would use 200 engine-hours as a baseline and adjust from there.

Diesel oil blotter test quite easy to see because soot loading is normally the first thing that destroys the oil. Your oil don't look too dirty or sooty (not very dark in color, only light gray color) but its dispersancy is starting to fail (apparent dark ring in the middle because it's not a true diesel oil with high detergents and dispersants. It's a good gasoline/petrol oil by Shell that can also be used in diesel cars. But your car is also probably still under warranty so cannot use other oils.

Perhaps you can monitor for another 1500km + recheck with blotter test

This post has been edited by e-lite: Apr 28 2021, 10:48 PM

Hi bro,

Thanks for uploading your blotter spot test images.

There is a shade of gray/dark-gray in the centre zone, indicating presence of some heavy particles not being dispersed outwards away from centre zone.

Looks like aureole zone/darkened perimeter ring is about to emerge and being formed, indicating commencement of agglomeration of quite big/heavy particles. Is the detergency/dispersancy properties of this Shell Helix Protect fully synthetic 0W30 struggling with 4810 km usage , albeit with some off-road application?? IDK.

The diffusion zone is clear and not grayish, which is a good news IF there isn't much dirt particles to disperse to begin with.

However do note Diesel engines are typically prone to soot production, question being may be this 2019 Hilux Revo Diesel engine is so good that it releases very little soot in relative terms vs others? IDK.

There is absence of jagged darkened edge surrounding the diffusion zone, indicating absence of water moisture (at 4810 km usage and 8 hour drive probably).

No signs of translucent halo at the outermost zone indicating absence of diesel fuel dilution phenomenon.

Overall, I believe this 4810 km Helix Protect 0W30 is fit for continuing service.

My concern for now is to monitor very very closely the conditions of centre zone AND aureole zone/perimeter ring as well as diffusion zone.

Edit: Is this Shell Helix Protect fully synthetic 0W30 SN+ A3B4(?) really a diesel engine oil??

This post has been edited by zeng: Apr 29 2021, 01:16 PM

Thanks bro for your suggestions. And no, Hilux don't have engine-hours monitoring stuff. And btw, I've been servicing the car myself since new, personal choice I guess, hahah. They use 15W-40 API CI-4 at Toyota service centre if I'm not mistaken. And before this, I've used these diesel specific engine oil with normal diesel fuel:


CRB Mini Truck 15W-40 API CH-4 (Mineral)


Shell Rimula R4X 15W-40 API CI-4 (Mineral)


Caltex Delo Sports 15W-40 API CI-4 (Semi Synthetic)


Valvoline Power Commonrail 10W-30 API CI-4 (Semi Synthetic)


Caltex Delo 400 MGX 15W-40 API CJ-4 (Mineral)
I haven't tried this oil, but this one has a heavenly review from the off-road otais

I've been using these oil cuz it these were recommended by off-road otais in my area, and they say no need to use Euro 5 cuz it's like using Ron 97 in kancil.. But as I read more about it, the difference between normal diesel & Euro 5 is the sulfur content, in short, "cleaner" diesel..

From my observation, at 5000km, these oil tend to show soot "particles", by particles I mean something like a full-stop sized particles, too bad I don't have pictures to show..

Fuel economy increased drastically moving from API CH-4 Castrol Mini Truck to API CI-4 oil, Rimula R4X & Delo Sports was good, the worse is Valvoline Power Commonrail, noticeably heavier engine when reaching 5000km & there's "chunks" of things in the oil when drained, not particles, chunks..

And I was planning to try full synthetic HDEO like Shell Rimula R6 LM 10W-40 API CK-4 or semi Shell Rimula R5 LE 10W-40 API CJ-4

But as I was researching for the oil, I stumbled upon BITOG forums that explains the difference between light duty diesel engine oil & diesel HDEO, regarding RPM load, additives effect on catalytic converter, turbo lubrication etc.. This leads to the decision to follow manufacturer's recommendation on using ACEA B class engine oil, and at about 4810 km, the oil looks like this

not bad in my opinion, no full-stop sized soot particles, just fine-sized ones..

First time using ACEA B class oil btw

Thank you very much bro zeng for your detailed analysis..

No bro, this Shell Helix Protect 0W-30 SN+ A3B4 is not diesel specific engine oil, it just carries the ACEA A3/B4 spec that satisfies the manual

In your honest opinion bro zeng, should I continue with ACEA B class engine oil, or should I use diesel specific HDEO, better spec-ed ones like Shell Rimula R6 LM 10W-40 full synthetic API CK-4 or Shell Rimula R5 LE 10W-40 semi synthetic API CJ-4, for extended interval, in which only available in 20L pail here.

The only diesel specific 30 weight oil available here is this one

Total Quartz Diesel 9000 5W-30 full synthetic API CI-4

Like I said, your oil actually looks very clean but the oil is not doing its job in terms of detergent and dispersants. My diesel oil is black in color even though it's 1000km used only. If I got time, then I will take some pictures for you.

It is worrying that you can see soot particles in your oil sump which means your oil filter is not doing its job too.

From all your oils, I would recommend you use Delo Sports semi-Synthetic 10W-30. Good all rounder to give you high detergents and good fuel economy. Reason being is Delo Sports Semi Syn has very high amount of detergents that even Rimula R4X, Rimula R5 LE, Rimula R6 LM or Rimula Ultra cannot beat. The only one that can come close to it is Delvac 1 Fully Synthetic but that is so expensive.

Someone's UOA for Delo sports synthetic blend 10w-30 (credit to Winko Industrial):


This post has been edited by e-lite: Apr 29 2021, 03:03 PM


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Thanks for the clarification bro e-lite, will change the oil to Caltex Delo immediately.
Weirdly enough, Delo Sports semi synthetic 10W-30 is rare in my area, only 15W-40 is available, I believe the detergents & dispersants formula is the same aside from it's higher viscousity.

Agree with your assessment that dispersancy property of this Helix Protect 0W30's supposedly A3B4 appears to be failing and weakly at 4810 km usage in this Hilux Revo diesel engine, though it is fine for now.

Would be interesting to see how it will develop with time and continuing usage ......

This post has been edited by zeng: Apr 29 2021, 07:20 PM

🤔 your statement kinda got me curious too bro zeng, maybe I should try to extend it's usage & see how it develops over time, blotter test every 1k km

I forgot to mention that I've used Liqui Moly Pro-Line engine flush prior to this oil change, not sure if it affects the dispersancy of current oil...

All the 5 oils above are properly certified/claimed Heavy Duty Engine Oil HDEO diesel (CI4,CJ4, CK4, ACEA E7 ,E9 ) with various truck OEMs' approvals whose detergency/dispersancy properties requirements are very much higher that of a properly certified/claimed ACEA A3B4 PCMO meant for Light Duty Truck.


May I know what is the Euro spec of current 'normal' diesel fuel here other than the Euro 5 diesel on offer?
Euro 4 of 50 ppm sulphur ??

I used to hear horror stories of later model diesel truck engines having very pricy fuel injectors being damaged by Euro 2 (?) diesel fuels then.

Not sure if current diesel engines and its injectors are totally fine with current 'normal' Euro 3-4 diesel fuel.

Is it a waste of money for current later model trucks using Euro 5 diesel, which is supposed to be friendly providing good cleaning to fuel injectors ? Or it makes no difference, in practice ?


At 5000 km oil change interval, any of the above mentioned mineral HDEO 15W40s would be good for 10,000-15,000 km usage no sweat. If I were you, I would ignore any semi-syn or full-syn HDEO for any oil change interval below that of 10,000 km.


Speaking of Fuel Economy, I think you should seriously consider this Caltex Delo 400 MGX 15W-40 API CJ-4 (Mineral) whose UOA from @e-lite above displays tonnes of friction-reducing additives like Moly and Boron.
Not sure whether the other semi-syn or full-syn HDEOs would contain Moly and Boron too.


At 5000-10000 km oil change interval, I would give them a miss as it is not value for money.


I would agree with your position and Bitog's (where I used similar username) that your Hilux Revo diesel engine is good with the ACEA B spec'ed PCMO oils.

Your continuous usage of the current Helix Protect 0W30 A3B4 at much higher mileage of say, 8000-12000 km would be interesting suggesting a B oil is fine.....

However, at this preliminary stage of full-syn Helix Protect blotter, I'm unimpressed really with its blotter 'performance' thus far vis-a-vis that of a properly spec'ed HDEO CI4,CJ4 (E7,E9) mineral oils.

The used oil at 4810 km looks good on the dipstick.

Question: Are the diesel soot particles and combustion contaminants having agglomerated into larger/heavier size lumps , and getting stucked/sticked onto internal engine components and its surfaces while NOT being adequately cleaned off by detergents with a view of aggressively dispersing the suspended soot/contaminants around the body of lubricants?
Hence, the dipstick used oils looks 'clean'?

This post has been edited by zeng: Apr 30 2021, 01:01 PM

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/euro...uro-2m-tomorrow

No need to debate on Euro 2 or Euro 5 diesel anymore. All diesel at all pumps are now Euro 5 already. Now difference is whether there is 7% of palm oil, 10% of palm oil or even 20% of palm oil in the near future.

This post has been edited by e-lite: Apr 30 2021, 04:34 PM

If you want to open another can of worms, you can consider doing egr block/delete to reduce soot. But that is another debate on its own and I won't do it on my own car because it ruins fuel economy. If it is an off-road car + soot particles problem in my oil + outside of warranty + ecu retuned properly for partial throttle applications, then I may consider doing it.

But I have seen diesel cars done the simple egr block with just a metal plate and their engine oil goes from black to completely clean.

This post has been edited by e-lite: Apr 30 2021, 04:47 PM

Thanks for the latest update, always have been thinking we had moved away from Euro 2M some time ago to 3-4 .....

Euro 2 was bad for (Mitsu Storm) commonrail injectors.

Thanks bro zeng for detailed suggestions. I'm kinda on the fence right now, whether to use back HDEO at 5k km or continue to extend current oil & observe it's performance. I've done some research on other 4wd model oil recomendations, ACEA B3&B4 or C3 for Mitubishi Triton, Ford Ranger, & Chevrolet Colorado, API CI-4 for previous Isuzu D-Max, no idea on the new 1.9 model.

Starting with the end in mind, I strongly recommend HDEO E9/E7, CI4/CJ4 for all Light Duty Diesel trucks like Hilux, Triton, Ford Ranger, Chevrolet or Isuzu etc either in mineral (for 5000-10000 km), semisyn (for 8000-12000 km) of fullsyn HDEO (for 10000-15000 km or more depending on your comfort zone).

ACEA B3, B4 or C3 would be fine with the Light Duty Diesel trucks though it's efficacies is imho no match against an E9/E7 HDEOs .

Having said this, as a social service for lowyat forum, I would urge you to continue with your A3B4 Helix Protect 0W30 beyond 5000 km up to say 6000-8000 km whichever you are comfortable with, evaluate its blotter spot performance against future blotter spots of HDEO's with E9/E7 CI4/CJ4 ......
eventually make up your own mind or judgement as to the path you wish to walk down the road, equipped with appropriate comparisons, just my humble suggestion.

Note:Your Helix Protect 0W30 should be good upto 8000-10000 km . Any sticking/stuck of soot contaminants in the proposed extended oil change interval may be cleaned off or removed by subsequent usage of high detergent E9/E7 HDEO at whatever oil change interval you are comfortable with later on.
Hence, you are not quite killing a 2 yo diesel engine imo.

This post has been edited by zeng: Apr 30 2021, 10:12 PM

Your Hilux Revo specs very basic diesel oils like API CF4 and ACEA Bx and they should be fine .

However, my preliminary hunch is this 4810 km blotter spot of Helix Protect 0W30 B4 appears weakly imho, not that all other B4's would fare equally 'weak'.

I had seen an ACEA C3 blotter spot with 10,000 km usage in a Toyota diesel perform far far superior than this Helix Protect 0W30 at a lowly 4810 km ......
hence my caution of very very close monitoring of its blotter spot tests.

You may not need it, but a properly spec'ed HDEO , be it mineral or semi/fully synthetics, of CI4/CJ4 or ACEA E9/E7 has properties far superior than this Helix Protect imho, I have no quantitative facts and numbers to back up my position though.

As regards 'extended interval' which I highlighted above earlier on and I wish to repeat, a CI4/CJ4/E9/E7 HDEOs' in mineral is good for 5000-10000 km oci, semisyn for 8000-12000 km (or more) and fully syn (such as this Total diesel 5W30) would probably good for 15000 km upwards, if you are comfortable.

This post has been edited by zeng: May 1 2021, 11:01 PM