Brands of oil claim to boost power but this independent California tuning shop put that claim to the test on this very specific brand of oil.
If you think of tuning engines as making them more efficient in producing power, choosing a high-quality oil and to crib a catchphrase from Castrol, keeping a mindset of, “liquid engineering” ever present, gaining power from a simple oil change is a no-brainer. So when I came across this article from MotoIQ earlier yesterday (Aug. 21, 2018) that posed the question, “Can an oil change make more power?” you bet I clicked it to find out what potential power they were able to squeeze out of their test subject. Turns out, ya, if you shell out a very reasonable amount of money for this Idemitsu Zepro oil, you CAN make power.
Being a site focused on performance sport compacts above all else, it was no surprise that their test vehicle was a bone-stock 2003 Honda Civic Si (please excuse the Getty Image above, it’s the only one I could find of this car.) These little hot hatches put out a respectable 160 HP and 132 lb-ft from its K20A3 at the crank. To the wheels, you can knock off about 20 from each. Nothing to write home about so any reliable sources of power that won’t break the bank is appreciated.
Keep in mind that this isn’t case of old oil versus new as they strapped their Honda Civic Si with a couple of quarts of fresh Valvoline 5W20 oil from Autozone in the crankcase before switching to this Idemitsu Zepro 0W-20 oil, which by the way, comes stock on some of the newer Japanese cars that need such thin oil and go through many stop-start cycles.
You can see the dyno results in the graph linked in the article above but a close inspection of the area under the graphs reveals the biggest power bump of about 8 HP around 5500 RPM and a bump of 11 lb-ft at around 3500 RPM. Power is improved throughout the entire rev range as well.
With such amazing results, you’d think this is some kind of expensive oil that’s three times the price of a synthetic equal. Not the case. A quick look on Amazon and you can get a 5-quart jug of the Idemitsu Pro 5W20 for just $27, which is not much more than say the equivalent from Castrol.
Whether you’re an autocrosser or a commuter, who doesn’t love a bit more power. For your next oil change, get some of this Idemitsu Full Synthetic in your cars that can handle the thin stuff, ASAP.
As an aside, my car’s 99 Civic that leaks a little with 240,000 miles running a 10W40 semi-synthetic, so, no, I won’t be using this stuff anytime soon.
