Hi Bro,

Short trips is said to be 'bad' for engines apparently due to tendency or promotion of corrosion wear related to cold engine oil operation.

This corrosion wear is being 'reflected' in your low'ish 3000 km blotter spot of a rather high specs (with Ford and Renault OEM approvals) Syntium 3000 FR 5W30 here.

There is absence of grayed or darkened Centre Zone, which is good news.

However there appears to be emergent darkening of Aureole Zone/ Perimeter Ring, which imho remains harmless for now.

You may want to monitor and watch closely the potential further darkening of this Aureole Zone/ perimeter ring with continuing usage of this 3000 km FR oil.

The Diffusion Zone is light and clear indicating very low levels of combustion dirts/contaminant , another good news meaning it still has a rather large capacity to further adsorb further release of combustion by-products/contaminants with continuing usage of this used oil.

No signs of water moisture or glycol coolant contamination in this blotter, again a good news.

Thers appears to be very slight fuel dilution issue with very light coloured and translucent halo at the outermost zone which I believe remains harmless, despite the short trip driving patterns .

Overall, I would rate this 3000 km FR oil as fit for continuing service with very close monitoring of its trending of darkened Aureole Zone if it ever surface in due course.

This post has been edited by zeng: Aug 28 2021, 01:03 PM

that is good news. currently, I am using Syntium 3000 5w30 which is already due for change since July. I thinking about whether to continue the same oil or
switch to Shell HX8 X? For my past experience of Shell oil like HX7 5w30, the oil is on the heavier side and throttle not so responsive vs other oils I tried like Mobil, Petronas. Just checking how does this HX8 fare?

Hi Zeng,

Do you have any info on the minimum oil specification to meet the requirement for MB229.5?

I can't find any info on the MB 229.5 minimum requirement.

Yes, it used to be very very difficult to find.
Give me sometime please, I will come back to you.

TQ Zeng.

Penrite ATF FS Multi-Vehicle
21,087km on Honda City TM0 AT 5speed Auto transmissions.
50 hour blotter spot picture as above attached

This post has been edited by 90Boyz: Sep 2 2021, 08:13 PM

Hi bro,

Generally no 'structures' in this Penrite ATF FS Multi-Vehicle 21k kms blotter spot which translates as good news.

My 19k kms blotter with Trans-X ATF oil treatment in Type IV looks 'dirtier' .......
probably due to some dirt being dislodged from the ATF fluid system?

I'd phobia in extending oil change interval of regular mineral ATF (like Type IV, Dexron III etc) beyond 20 or 30k km ....
even though US guys are doing it at up to 100,000 km, with a fully synthetic ATF though.

This Penrite FS Multi Vehicle has a solid parameters/specs and should do well in applications calling for Dexron III or Toyota Type IV, imho.



Edit: Bro, mind sharing the odometer reading ?

This post has been edited by zeng: Sep 3 2021, 01:20 PM

Odo on blotter time were 145,570km
oil age about 1year 3moths old
btw i will redo the blotter as i felt that the engine wasnt warm enough for the test.
sunday morning will posting another 48hrs test .

This post has been edited by 90Boyz: Sep 3 2021, 04:00 PM

Honda City GM2 year 2009
Current Odo : 145,933km
Date: 03/09/2021
Blotter time : 8:00am (picture after 48hrs)
oil age : 21,450km
Engine oil used : Penrite ATF Full Syn Multi-Vehicle

This post has been edited by 90Boyz: Sep 5 2021, 11:08 AM

Hi bro zeng, with regards to the new updated specs of HX8 i tried to find about the oil whether is it mid saps or high saps. Seems like no info on this. While Petronas Syntium does stated clearly is mid saps. In between both which is more suitable for Direct injection? Typical driving is city drive and occasionally highway drive only.

Hi Bro,
This 21k kms Penrite ATF FS blotter shows total absence of centre zone, aureole zone etc , which implies good news or as new condition.

It is clean and transparent indicating nearly absence of contaminants in wear and/or absence of oil oxidation phenomenon etc.

This FS ATF should last longer than factory oils, I suppose.

Btw, what ATF oil does Honda recommends for this model , and what's the factory recommended change intervals if you don't mind sharing?

This post has been edited by zeng: Sep 6 2021, 10:24 AM

Hi bro Zeng,

Honda always recommend using their Honda genuine DW1 ATF oil which manufacture by Idemitsu Lubricants for Honda Auto transmission


As taken from Honda Website were the oil change interval for ATF.

Wow, 60k km oil change interval for DW1 according to Factory.

I'm not sure whether DW1 is always a fully synthetic from factory, other than Honda approval (which Honda isn't issueing, I guess) and appropriate DW1 additives, this Penrite fully synthetic ATF base oil should equal if not better than factory DW1.

What's your typical oci for DW1 as practised?

May be time to read out more on DW1.

Shell HX8 w/wo X MB229.5 is a high SaPS oil.

European OEMs like VW/Audi do recommend a high SaPS VW 50200 oil for their Direct Injection engines. However, I am not certain whether the same applies to MB.

May be someone knowledgeable on this can help throw some light on MB practice.

I wouldn't be surprised if MB recommends high SaPS oil in their Direct Injection engines, just my speculation.

On Direct Injection engines and SaPS content I do buy the idea that a Mid or Low SaPS oil is preferred to a high SaPS in a DI, though VW/Audi seems to deviate from this at times.....

In your general context, if the fully synthetic oci is say 14,000 kms and less I would likely pick a Petronas C3 to directly benefit (hopefully) from its 'friendlier' relations with DI engines.

If one is adopting say, 16000 kms or more oci I would likely pick any MB 229.5 high SaPS over a Petronas C3 for its assured performance in extended change interval.

So, at the end of the day... there is no right or wrong oil really especially if (typical Asian) car OEM specifies SN/SM only.

Thrust, I still owe you the MB 229.5 thing yeah..

Edit: Approved Mid/Low SaPS oils for MB engines are MB229.51, 229.52 and 226.51 approved.

This post has been edited by zeng: Sep 6 2021, 11:22 AM

Previously was having issue with the AT pressure switch back in May 2020 that time mileage for the oil just only 18k KM, then foreman recommend me change the pressure switch as well replace the old oil and ATF Filter.




This post has been edited by 90Boyz: Sep 6 2021, 12:03 PM

Here's continuation of total 10w-40 semi syn oil at about 9.5k km. 48hr blotter.
180k km proton inspira.

Will arrange to change oil in 2 weeks time.

Ooops, sorry for being late in responding as I'm just back from outstation.

There is absence of 'structures' in this 9500 km blotter which means good news.

Centre zone is not darkened or opaque but transparent, meaning presence of very slight amount of heavy or big sized contaminants.

No sign of emerging darkened aureole zone/ perimeter ring meaning there is no sign of commencement of agglomeration of dirts/soots etc.

Diffusion zone is of very slight gray and transparent indicating very low level of light-weight contaminants.

No darkened jagged external edge which I used to interpret as absence of water mositure.

But I read lately that it could also indicate very mild or minimal level of oil oxidation of this 10W40 Total. To check up further whether internal combustion engine oxidation 'products' are generally super-light weight for it to be 'pushed' away further from the Centre deposit zone to support the above new found argument.

There is absence of translucent halo at the outermost zone indicating absence of fuel dilution phenomenon in this used oil.

Overall, i believe this 9500 km used Total 10W40 oil should be good for several thousands more km of usage.
2 more weeks is definitely not an issue.

This 180k kms Inspira engine seems to be well taken care of, imho.

Edit: 2000 kms ago this Total 10W40 oil at 7500 km had an emergent darkened aureole zone/ perimeter ring which did not deteriorate but seems to improve with further use .............. and that sounds good.

This post has been edited by zeng: Sep 17 2021, 08:17 PM

Hi Zeng bro,

2016 Estima 2AZFE 53700km
Oil brand unknown, recond dealer changed it. Most likely mineral oil as the sticker show change after 5k.
Oil mileage 5200km
I had added about 20ml of Toyota engine flush at 52500km.
After that my per trip fuel economy range 11+km/L to 15km/L. Before was at 11+ KM/L to 12+km/L. Oil colour is slightly darker now.

I am planning to change it to Toyota synthetic formulation 5w30 soon. And 60k km change to full synthetic. I have recond warranty so will need to follow the 10k KM OCI.

Thanks for your input.

Hi Bro,

Yes, the blotter is a bit on the darker side for a 5200 km usage and probably the 'main' culprit is the use of 20mL of Toyota engine flush as alluded by you which may have 'forcibly' remove some varnish/contaminants previously 'stucked' on the oil control rings of this Odo 53700 km Estima.

Is the slightly darker shade caused by the use of mineral oil as speculated by you?

After looking through Post #1 for blotters around 4000-7000 km against that of yours, I beg to differ with you for suggesting mineral oil as being in use. I wouldn't be surprised really if the recond dealer has given this car a semi-synthetic or fully synthetic PCMO petrol engine oil as there is absence of darkened jagged zig-zag external edge on the outermost zone of your 5200 km blotter , indicating there is absence of water mositure and/or very slight sign of oil oxidation which is good news.

The Centre zone (of around 8 mm diameter on real physical sample in hand) is slightly darker in colour but remains transparent indicating the presence of larger size contaminants and/or higher density metal wear or contaminants, which I would attribute it to the use of engine flush.

Darkened aureole zone/perimeter ring is absent, indicating absence of agglomeration of contaminants/dirt, never mind with the use of Engine flush in this 5200 km blotter.

Diffusion zone is transparent although it is also slightly darker for a typical 5000 ish km blotter indicating a certain level of medium/light density contaminants, which again I speculate to be caused by the Engine flush.

There is vaguely a very slight sign of translucent halo at the outermost zone indicating a very preliminary stage of fuel dilution.

The lowly usage of 5 month driving with 5200 km travelled may have caused this, or you may have been doing short tripping with this car thus far. Of course one may speculate it is fuel system tuning for which I do not think so.

Overall, I would speculate this used oil (whether or not mineral or full/semi syn) at 5200 km is fit for continuing service.

For how long ? I don't see another 2000-3000 km usage is a problem, never mind the recond car dealer indicated expiry of 5000 km oci .

This post has been edited by zeng: Sep 23 2021, 11:52 AM

Hi Zeng bro, thanks for the detailed analysis.

The darker oil colour only develop after about 500km of 20ML engine flush. The new oil colour is relatively light. From the refill cap the inside of engine is pretty clean before I added engine flush.

The slight halo could be contributed by Chevron injector cleaner around 52800km. Normal drive is 11km one way and some days can add up to total 60km/day. tail pipe do get noticeable amount of carbon. So could be burning rich at times but not too bad to get into the oil. Also results in some oil dilution. Will check my spark plugs when I have time. Japan spec is replace at 200k km for spark plugs and 15k km for engine oil.

Too bad I didn't learn of your thread when I had my Camry hybrid. Would be nice to compare the blotter. Generally at 10k KM oil colour is lighter colour then my 5200km one.

Will keep using the current oil and test at 55k Km. The small amount of engine flush should be safe.


This post has been edited by tchinhe: Sep 23 2021, 04:18 PM