Hi all,
for those who were at MM'08 and had the chance to chat with Joanna and Hussein from Bilancia, then you probably might get a better recollection of what this thread is about.
Since Hussein is a friend who worked in TanChong for many years, and has fixed my car's many problems b4, i decided to give his recommendation for their in house engine oil a try. To be honest, the fact that Hicom oil was a BolehLand product made me skeptical. But i guess the fact that the additive was an American formula made me feel better la
Anyway, friends are friends, I decided to support him by trying Hicom 9000 fully synthetic oil. (I think there's a 3000 for Mineral Oil, 7000 for Semi-Syn oil, and then there was 9000 for Fully Syn oil). I havent tried the 3000 and 7000 because all I asked Hussein was "Which one gives more response and power?" SO all Hussein said was "9000"
Ok, so on with the servicing, drained my previous RockOil W30 fully syn oil, changed the oil filter, and he even used the airgun to air flush, to force the remaining small amounts of RockOil away. In went the w40 Hicom 9000 fully syn oil. Hussein even remembered my earlier complaint of the brakes having a lot of freeplay and went ahead to adjust the rear brakes for me. So that settled the "loose" brake pedal.
Started the engine, warmed up the car, and then went for a round. For those of you who have read till hear expect a Tiger and Dragon remark, sooo sorry to disappoint you. The oil indeed did make the engine smoother and quieter, but i guess thats because is W40. But the engine felt heavier, the rpm felt as if it was harder to climb, and i had to step harder. i was disappointed really, and the next thought that came to my mind was, shucks, gonna drain it after 3000km
alright, so jus suck it in, continued to use it, went home, went to work the next day. However, after about 100+km of driving, the car's performance improved! The response of the engine was better than the previous rockoil, rpm climb was lighter, and the pull of the car improved as well. Especially at 3-4k rpm where the torque is higher. Was all this at the expense of having a louder and rougher engine? No, it still maintained the smoothness. The engine roar was more muffled and controlled at high revs than previously.
I told this improvement to a friend of mine, and he told me about his company's marketing manager, using the oil in a 200,000+km plus Cefiro to travel to KL. The marketing manager knows close to nuts about a car except its a car, and it does what its supposed to do. Even this marketing manager says he dunno how to express it well, except the car jus felt smooth. At first i din dare recommend as very often, views and opinions are subjective.
FC wise, to me, no difference. Morning jam, evening jam, i can only wait for opportunities for a clearer road to rev the engine up and feel the pull of the car. For those start stop situations, a light tap (engine under 2k rpm) i can feel the difference. It feels more responsive, jus more oomph to it. I've only done about 500km with this new engine oil, but i must say, although its a malaysian product, its a better oil compared to the many other engine oils i've tried.
I think for those of you with the 15% promotion flyer from MM'08, and intend to service your car, you can give this Hicom Oil a try, besides, you get a free NanoBlok worth $68 which actually gets rid of odours when it reacts with sunlight (good especially for smokers).
NB: I am in no way making any commission, nor am I related to this workshop. I am just a Latio owner who got to know Hussein from TanChong and decided to support him as a friend as he has helped me solve alot of problems with my car. Posting my FR to share my positive experience with this Hicom Oil.
