Hi
doletotodole,
When do you leave for your travels? And how long will this journey last?
As you already know, I'm a huge fan of Mobil 1 0W-40.
Before you can pick an oil, you need to decide what your goals are. For the most part, it comes down to either better fuel economy, or better engine protection. (I'm going to ignore secondary desires right now, such as availability and cost.) First, let's look at some of the features of oils, in general.
The primary function of oil is to keep your engine's moving parts from contacting one another. The absolute best method for doing this is to keep a film of oil covering everything. That's where viscosity, cling, and shear stability come into play. The next method for protecting against contact is adding compounds to create a micro-thin barrier. If your oil film gets too thin, these additives provide extra protection against metal-to-metal contact. These are compounds such as ZDDP and MoS2, and are your "last defense" against contact. After protection, the mix of additives will also help keep the dirt and combustion byproducts suspended in the oil, rather than allowing them to create layers of gunk on your engine's parts. These are the detergents/dispersants and acid-countering compounds.
Oil manufacturers pay to have their oils tested to different standards. All of the tests are expensive, so not every oil is tested to every standard. The standards that provide the most information (to you & me looking at the bottle on the store shelf) are the European ACEA standards. From the 2016 ACEA Oil Sequence Standards: "The CLASS indicates oil intended for a general type of engines: A/B = Gasoline and Light Duty Diesel Engines," and "The CATEGORY
[numbers 1 to 5] indicates oils for different purposes or applications within that general class, related to some aspect or aspects of the performance level of the oil." So, with that description, here are the certifications we would care about:
A1/B1 Category is removed with these Oil Sequences.
A3/B3 Stable, stay-in-grade Engine Oil intended for use in Passenger Car & Light Duty Van Gasoline & Diesel Engines with extended drain intervals where specified by the Engine Manufacturer, and for severe operating conditions as defined by the Engine Manufacturer.
A3/B4 Stable, stay-in-grade Engine Oil intended for use at extended Drain Intervals in Passenger Car & Light Duty Van Gasoline & DI Diesel Engines, but also suitable for applications described under A3/B3.
A5/B5 Stable, stay-in-grade Engine Oil intended for use at extended Drain Intervals in Passenger Car & Light Duty Van Gasoline & Diesel Engines designed to be capable of using Low Viscosity Oils with HTHS Viscosity of 2.9 to 3.5 mPa-s. These Oils are unsuitable for use in certain Engines - consult vehicle-OEM’s owner’s manual/handbook in case of doubt.
[Background info: A5/B5 replaced the basic A1/B1 Class by adding "for use at extended drain intervals"]
So, a quick summary would be:
A3/B3/B4 for engine protection
A5/B5 for fuel economy
Now, looking at the design of the PCX engine, we know that it's a high-rev, extremely fuel efficient design. Honda has put a lot of engineering into making more power
and keeping high fuel efficiency. This puts a lot of stress on the oil's ability to retain its viscosity (its High Temperature / High Shear (HT/HS) rating). Also, like several other vehicle manufacturers, this has unfortunately created a higher occurrence of combustion deposits and ring sticking resulting in high oil consumption in many of Honda's vehicles. All of the Mobil 1 oils do a great job of reducing deposits. The A3/B3/B4 oils have more robust additive packages and better viscosity retention. Mobil 1 (here in the US) also offers both a 10W-30 "High Mileage" and a 10W-40 "High Mileage" that meet ACEA A3/B3/B4 standards.
Matching the oil design to the engine design, I would always choose an A3/B3/B4 oil. When you add in your planned travels across extreme environments, it becomes even more critical to consider a more durable and robust engine oil.
Our next discussion will be on viscosity grades.