Best engine oil?

[MustangSVT]

trying to get best engine oil for my new civic.

it has 4k miles coming up soon. and this will be its first oil change.

Its just a civic LX , so no v-tec in this one.

I was trying to use Mobil1 SuperSynth.. but they only had 5w-30 but Honda manual suggests 5w-20..:|

if this is a repost, please direct me to the original post. thank you. (ive searched but couldnt find it)

 

[Scarpozzi]

If you're going with a synth, stay with a synth...

I personally use the real stuff. I prefer Valvoline. Which basically means you can go with NAPA brand too since it's bottled by Vavloline. (and cheaper)

 

[flyfish]

Mobil 1 is a great synthetic oil. You will be just fine with 5W-30. I would use 0w-30 in the winter and 10w-30 in the summer.
Amsoil is better than M1 IMHO but, it's availability is limited. You may be able to get a 5gal. jug of M1 at WallyWorld for $18.88. A good filter is also important if you are going for extended drains, otherwise any filter will do. Although, I do not recommend Fram.
Learn a lot more about oil here.

 

[Goosemaster]

Don't just start using synthetic if you've been using the real stuff...recipie for disaster

 

[RU482]

I heard sugar is a great oil/gas additive

But really...you're trying to spend 100% more on an oil change to make an engine that will easily last 150-250k+ miles last 200-400k+ miles. Hmmm, that's pretty cool

 

[her209]

A co-worker (who is a real car buff) recommends synthetic oil over the natural stuff. His recommendation is Mobil 1.

 

[boyRacer]

mobil 1 is pretty much the consensus wherever i asked... since amsoil is expensive and hard to find.

 

[Ns1]

it's just a civic lx....might as well jsut stick with regular dino oil and changing the oil every 3k miles

regular oil + filter + labor = 20 bucks tops, do it every 3k miles

synethetic oil + filter + labor = 50 bucks, i personally do it every 4k miles, and i drive alot. it gets pretty expensive pretty fast

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Don't just start using synthetic if you've been using the real stuff...recipie for disaster

Did you even read his post? The car only has 4k miles on it.

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: Scarpozzi
If you're going with a synth, stay with a synth...

I personally use the real stuff. I prefer Valvoline. Which basically means you can go with NAPA brand too since it's bottled by Vavloline. (and cheaper)

Hmmm, anyone know who makes O'Reiley's store brand oil??

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Don't just start using synthetic if you've been using the real stuff...recipie for disaster

??? Proof please.

 

[Howard]

Mobil 1 synthetic, or AMSOIL, but you probably won't want to pay the premium for the latter.

Get a good oil filter, too. STP, Bosch and Mobil 1 are all good.

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: Howard

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Don't just start using synthetic if you've been using the real stuff...recipie for disaster

??? Proof please.

OK...I would call this quote from this
thread earlier today an environmental diaster...

Quote
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by: scauffiel
I don't think I'd run synthetic if I were you, not at that mileage; and not at the cost. Synthetic tends to weep out of older gaskets since it's more "slippery" than dino oil.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting. I guess I didn't know that. I put synthetic in my 99 Camry @ 87K miles. It started leaking oil like a siv. In the 5000 miles after that oil change, I bet I had to put at least 8 quarts of oil in. I then put some of that ~$3 STP stop leak gunk in...bam, within 3 days there was no more leak. No more synthetic for me!!

Now, this would not be relavent to someone with 4K miles on their car. But, if someone had alot more miles...like I did...and didn't think to use a "gasket conditioning" product or get a repair (i.e. expensive in shop replacement of a gasket (which can and most likely will be misdiagnosed) or messy self fix), then yes, it could result in multiple disasters. Either you would leak oil all over hell (and screw the environment), or you could run out of oil and fvck your engine.

Either way, it's something to think about

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Don't just start using synthetic if you've been using the real stuff...recipie for disaster

Did you even read his post? The car only has 4k miles on it.

my bad

<---needs t ostart reading whole posts

 

[isekii]

Sardines

 

[jlee]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Don't just start using synthetic if you've been using the real stuff...recipie for disaster

I switched to synthetic at ~126,000 miles, and it's working beautifully.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: CadetLee

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
Don't just start using synthetic if you've been using the real stuff...recipie for disaster

I switched to synthetic at ~126,000 miles, and it's working beautifully.

they usually dont recommend synthetics for high mileage vehicles because they tend to start leaking through old gaskets and seals... but i wouldn't know. my 13 year old car isnt worthy of synthetic... maybe one day when i get a new one.

 

[Scarpozzi]

My point on the synthetics....and I believe Goosey meant this too: You can use a synth with no problems. Just make sure you flush your system and don't be switching to and from. It's best if you stick with the same brand/weight of motor oil unless you really know what you're doing. I used to use 10w40 because of the difference in viscosity, but motor oils have changed a lot in the last 10 years, so I've switched.

More than you've ever wanted to know about Motor Oil.

 

[thedarkwolf]

If you not going to take advantage of the extended drain periods just save your money and stick to the good old dino juice. Synthetic is better but its over hyped.

You don't need to flush your engine to use synthetic. Its completely compatible with dino juice. I run my own mix of half and half in my turbo caravan.

 

[Eli]

LOL!

You guys are so funny.. You act like synthetic is some witches brew and you must be careful when you put it in your car.

It doesen't matter. You can even mix oils if you want to. Make your own blend. There is absolutely no danger in using synthetic oil in a car that has been using normal oil. There is absolutely no danger in using synthetic oil in a car that has 4k, 10k, 50k, 100k or 500k miles on it. The reasons for these line of thoughts have long been fixed.

You can use synthetic oil in any mechanically sound engines. It will not cause any problems.. If your engine leaks, expect the leak to get a little worse on synthetic. That is the only concern.

OK, that said.. just use Mobil1. It's widely available, and pretty cheap. If you have money to blow, get AMSOil.

I have gotten into the habbit of saying that your oil filter is more important than your oil, and I really believe this to be true.. afterall, even the best oil on the planet is rendered very un-oil-like if it has solid particulates in it. PureOne filters are good. AMSOil filters are spendy, but they are good also.

Also remember that your air filter is the first line of defense against dirt entering your engine. If it gets passed your air filter, your oil filter has to take up the slack.

The ultimate protection is a bypass oil filter. I am sure there are others on the market, but the only one I know of is the AMSOil Bypass filter system. Mmmm... 0.1 micron filtration.

You're lucky if your normal oil filter filters 30 micron particles nominally.

 

[Eli]

Oh, and as for the 5W-20 and 5W-30 thing, use 5W-30.

The only reason they recommend 5W-20 is for the 0.133MPG increase they can claim. Synthetic 5W-30 will be better than dino 5W-20.

 

[Ronstang]

Synthetic oil in a daily driver bought from the dealership is fine but definitely not necessary. You can spend the extra money for piece of mind if you want but that is about all you will get. I have done a lot of testing on oils both in lab type tests and on the dyno and they perform similar to petroleum based oils in "real world" situations. I don't care what the specs sayk, I'm talking real world application. I really don't care that I can get an extra 3 HP peak.....on a car making ovr 300RWHP already.

I really don't want to get into a long dissertation but experince in many engines have steered me clear of synthetics. In high performance modified engines they have caused many problems for me and friends. We lost 3 high dollar roller cam setups to Mobil 1.....in the first few miles. I have found abnormal wear on camshafts of quite a few Mustangs that were running Mobil 1. None of my friends run synthetic anymore due to our experiences.

It is fine in your Honda but I wouldn't run it in a car I have 5K or more in the engine. Dino juice is just fine too, it all depends upon the care schedule. Change your oil every 3K religiously and you will have no problems with just about any engine. I have taken apart engines with 300K miles that had almost no wear when they were serviced at proper intervals with regular oil.

Spend your money any way you want.......I'm sticking with Valvoline petrolem based oils.

 

[TechnoKid]

I know that the corvettes come with mobil 1 synthetic from the factory as does the viper and porsches and some mercedes and other high-performance engines. Rusty Wallace uses mobil 1 in NASCAR.

Could it be something other than the oil that causes abnormal valvetrain wear signs? If the oil were the only cause, I doubt that these manufacturers would make mobil 1 synthetic as the factory fill.

Anywho, mobil 1 5w-30 would be fine for the Civic LX. The 5w-20 really was just to make the engine run a little "hotter" and therfore be a tiny tiny amount more fuel efficient as stated before. The oil (synthetic) will last longer than the filter in normal conditions, so you could use the oil for say 5k or 10k miles and just change the filter at 5k intervals. Some big rig trucks run amsoil for thousands of miles before changing the oil; they just change the filter out often. Audi and BMW are now stating 10k mile oil change intervals on their cars; technology is improving in both oils and engine designs.

As for the oil filter, Purolator, Bosch, STP, Mobil 1, Supertech are all good. Stay away from fram and oem honda filters. The oem filters IMO are overpriced and you can get a much better filter at walmart for 1.97 from supertech. I personally use a purolator pureone filter on my honda (part number PL14459). If the dealer tries to bs you about warranty claims (should ther be any) because you didn't use an oem filter, remember the Magnuson-Moss act.

http://people.msoe.edu/~yoderw/oilfilterstudy/oilfilterstudy.html

http://kozmik.guelph.on.ca/gtdproject/fluids/oil_filters.htm

http://www.ntpog.org/reviews/filters/filters.shtml


Those are some links to stuff about oil filters.

 

[amdskip]

I'm putting Amsoil in my 96 civic here before too long. It has 65,000 miles on it too.

 

[TechnoKid]

Amsoil is good oil, maybe i'll try it someday, but to me, mobil 1 would perform the same, considering it costs significantly less than amsoil.