Oil top off

[marmasatt]

Hey all, first time in the garage, be gentle. I honestly don't know the answer to this, and while I know what I want it to be, I'm not willing to risk messing up my car.

Recently purchased a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. Had it for about 6 months and I love it. Does have a fair amount of miles - 150,000. It takes synthetic 0W-20 for recommended oil. One thing I've noticed is that it either leaks or burns through oil at a pretty good clip as I always seem to be down before oil change. There doesn't appear to be an evident leak either. A few questions I have is can I switch viscosity like normal cars? And If I'm down like a court or 2 by each oil change, is it ok to add (mix) a normal/higher viscosity oil once in awhile for a "top off?" To be honest, part of what I'm getting at is I'd rather pay $2 if it's only gonna be in there a few weeks or a month as opposed to a pricey $7 top off. Thanks!

 

[razel]

For your car, I do not recommend going heavier weight. Honda has been going lighter weight over the past 15 years and yes, back in the day, mechanics would put heavier weight oil in older, olden engines to get more life out of them without having to fix the actual issue primarily because the owners didn't want to spend money. They just wanted to keep driving the car until they had to replace it.

The great news in your situation is you are not leaking oil! 1-2 quarts per oil change is very normal for 150k. Best thing you can do is to keep stay on top of your maintenance and set aside money for upcoming repairs... they will need to done and when necessary, at least you'll have money ready when it happens.

 

[marmasatt]

For your car, I do not recommend going heavier weight. Honda has been going lighter weight over the past 15 years and yes, back in the day, mechanics would put heavier weight oil in older, olden engines to get more life out of them without having to fix the actual issue primarily because the owners didn't want to spend money. They just wanted to keep driving the car until they had to replace it.

The great news in your situation is you are not leaking oil! 1-2 quarts per oil change is very normal for 150k. Best thing you can do is to keep stay on top of your maintenance and set aside money for upcoming repairs... they will need to done and when necessary, at least you'll have money ready when it happens.

Thanks. Can I put crappy oil in just for the top off or is that a no no?

 

[Jimzz]

Yes you can switch to 0w30 or 5w30 fine. The 5w20 and 0w20 were/are for CAFE reasons.

Try a high mileage 5w30 semi-syn like Valvoline maxlife or castrols HM oil.

And for topping off any oil is better than no oil. So yea anything 10w30 or thinner will be fine.

 

[jlee]

I have 6 quarts of Amsoil 5w20 left over from a customer order- I'll sell it to you at wholesale if you want.

Any oil is better than no oil- if you're going down two quarts by your oil change, start checking your oil every month or so and top it off in the interim. Your engine only takes 3.4 quarts with filter, so if you're two quarts low there's only ~1.5 quarts left in the engine. That's a recipe for a very bad day.

 

[BUTCH1]

I have 6 quarts of Amsoil 5w20 left over from a customer order- I'll sell it to you at wholesale if you want.

Any oil is better than no oil- if you're going down two quarts by your oil change, start checking your oil every month or so and top it off in the interim. Your engine only takes 3.4 quarts with filter, so if you're two quarts low there's only ~1.5 quarts left in the engine. That's a recipe for a very bad day.

Great advise there and keep in mind that oil also plays a part in cooling engine internals, as it's circulated throughout the galleries it picks up heat which it then loses when it's returned to the sump, running it 50% low is indeed asking for a failure. I don't agree with the poster above in that a tear-down in in your future, my engine will burn about 1.25 Qts in between changes (about4-6K as I go by the OLM) but I just check it every 3-4 weeks and if it's down 1/2 Qrt I'll add 1/2 Qrt, no need to wait until it's down a full quart. Some engines will just burn a bit and some will burn close to zero, there are a lot of different variables involved but I would not be alarmed one bit about it. Maybe seek out a forum for owners of your model/year car and see if this is a common occurrence with other owners.

 

[marmasatt]

Thanks guys

 

[salvorhardin]

Since it uses 0w20 you can buy a 5qt jug and whenever you do an oil change you'll have some left over that you can use to top it off once it runs low. That way you're not spending too much per quart and are topping it off with the same oil that you've been using. I've kept leftover oil for a year without any problems (used 4qts and after 4 oil changes had enough for another oil change).

 

[skyking]

my experience with synthetics is they do tend to go through an older engine more readily than regular dinosaur oil.
My other experience was a bad one with changing grade, I started sticking lifters on the first oil change in an older engine to a thicker oil. I went back to the thinner oil and the problem fixed itself. Granted it was a toyota and not a honda, but I would use caution when changing grade of oil.

 

[Blain]

One thing I've noticed is that it either leaks or burns through oil at a pretty good clip as I always seem to be down before oil change.

I once had an old Chevy truck that used 3 quarts on a 60 mile trip.
The old 292cu was leaking and burning. I resorted to topping it off with 90w to try and slow it down.
Yes, I did swap the engine out after I found a replacement. In my early 20s, cash didn't grow on trees.

 

[DrPizza]

At 150k miles on an '06, do people really think it would be worth it for future repairs to the engine? If it's burning through 2 quarts of oil between changes, I'd probably just switch to regular dinosaur oil and guess/roughly calculate when it was going to be half a quart low, and top it off at that frequency.

Incidentally, anything wrong with going about 1/4 quart over the "full" line, then adding half a quart once it's 1/4 quart below the "full" line? (Roughly 1/2 quart per 1000 miles driven)/ That's the schedule I've been using for my grand caravan. It's a little over 200k miles, and oil is very slowly weeping through the oil pan gasket (not enough to worry about, per the oil change guy). Exhaust seems clean - no smoke, and no loss in power - I'm guessing it's also weeping out of somewhere when the vehicle is hot and running. I hadn't been losing any oil at all between oil changes until 190k miles. Current plans: run it into the ground, and then sell the scrap metal.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Incidentally, anything wrong with going about 1/4 quart over the "full" line, then adding half a quart once it's 1/4 quart below the "full" line? (Roughly 1/2 quart per 1000 miles driven).

As a practical matter, no. Going well over the "full" line can cause the crank to whip the oil into a froth, but 1/2 pint of oil over isn't going to raise the level enough to get into frothing issues.

ZV

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Most quick lube places would overfill by that amount anyway, since they fill up to full without letting the car sit.

 

[BUTCH1]

I once had an old Chevy truck that used 3 quarts on a 60 mile trip.
The old 292cu was leaking and burning. I resorted to topping it off with 90w to try and slow it down.
Yes, I did swap the engine out after I found a replacement. In my early 20s, cash didn't grow on trees.

I had a '62 Galaxy as a teen, $50 car, it burned so much oil the plugs had to be pulled and cleaned every 3rd day, the compression was so low it wouldn't climb steep hills without a running start. My friends nicke'd me 'Smokey Joe" LOL, I used to ask anyone for their drain oil so could continue to drive it.

 

[996GT2]

Hey all, first time in the garage, be gentle. I honestly don't know the answer to this, and while I know what I want it to be, I'm not willing to risk messing up my car.

Recently purchased a 2006 Honda Civic Hybrid. Had it for about 6 months and I love it. Does have a fair amount of miles - 150,000. It takes synthetic 0W-20 for recommended oil. One thing I've noticed is that it either leaks or burns through oil at a pretty good clip as I always seem to be down before oil change. There doesn't appear to be an evident leak either. A few questions I have is can I switch viscosity like normal cars? And If I'm down like a court or 2 by each oil change, is it ok to add (mix) a normal/higher viscosity oil once in awhile for a "top off?" To be honest, part of what I'm getting at is I'd rather pay $2 if it's only gonna be in there a few weeks or a month as opposed to a pricey $7 top off. Thanks!

How long are your oil change intervals? If it's 1 or 2 quarts every 7500 miles, that's not too bad for a car with those miles. If it's 1 or 2 quarts every 3000 miles, that's a bit worse but still not terrible.

I would just keep it simple and top off with 0W-20. If you want to save a little money, you should also be able to substitute 5W-20 without any issues provided that you don't live in an extremely cold area (-20F or below).

 

[nerp]

My recommendation is to stick with the manufacturer recommended SAE rating for the car but use a synthetic or synthetic oil labeled for high mileage engines. They include different chemicals and conditioners that might revive an aging seal just enough to squeeze off some of the leak causing some oil loss. You'd be surprised what can be accomplished with some of the newer synthetic oils on the market.

And as far as whether its worth caring for an engine with 150,000 miles on it, it depends on the condition of the rest of the vehicle. If you really take care of a car, it might be worth a rebuild or buying a remanufactured motor with a warranty from a good auto recycler and dropping it in if you consider the cost is equivalent to just the down payment for a new car and you don't have payments to deal with. A very well-cared for engine that has had ample time to get hot and up to temperature, not subject to lots of short trip driving only, can last for 300,000 miles. A specialist or someone with lots of experience with Honda engines might be able to overhaul the engine for less than it would cost for a replacement motor and you could easily get another 150k on it. But this shouldn't be considered unless you've also regularly maintained and flushed your cooling system and transmission. If at 150k you've never done any of that, you're in 'drive it until it breaks for good' mode basically.

 

[razel]

Thanks. Can I put crappy oil in just for the top off or is that a no no?

If you still haven't bought the oil yet, you can go for a 'heavy' 20 weight. The Castrol GTX is an excellent candidate. Viscosity for 20 weight at operating temperate (100C) is between 5.6 to 9.3. Castrol is almost a 9. 30 weights begin at 9.3.

 

[Midwayman]

When I had a car that burned a bit of oil, I always kept a quart or two in the trunk in case the oil light ever came on. Don't want to get somewhere and have to drive with low oil.

 

[Kadarin]

Ideally, you don't want to top off with a different viscosity than what's in the engine, as that can lead to unpredictable changes to viscosity. Though as others have said, it's better than not having any oil in there...

 

[DrPizza]

My recommendation is to stick with the manufacturer recommended SAE rating for the car but use a synthetic or synthetic oil labeled for high mileage engines. They include different chemicals and conditioners that might revive an aging seal just enough to squeeze off some of the leak causing some oil loss. You'd be surprised what can be accomplished with some of the newer synthetic oils on the market.

And as far as whether its worth caring for an engine with 150,000 miles on it, it depends on the condition of the rest of the vehicle. If you really take care of a car, it might be worth a rebuild or buying a remanufactured motor with a warranty from a good auto recycler and dropping it in if you consider the cost is equivalent to just the down payment for a new car and you don't have payments to deal with.

Two great points - one about the additives; I hadn't thought of that. Though, I think there are some additives to regular oil that do the same thing?

And, I live in Western NY. Unless you drive 50k miles each year, or you store the vehicle during the winter, by 150-200k miles, there's generally so much rust from the road salt, that it's new car time anyway. My wife washed her blue car on Friday. Saturday, I drove it to Buffalo and back. The car was white - completely covered in salt.

 

[jlee]

Ideally, you don't want to top off with a different viscosity than what's in the engine, as that can lead to unpredictable changes to viscosity. Though as others have said, it's better than not having any oil in there...

Elaborate?

 

[Blain]

Elaborate?

I'm guessing he means you wouldn't know exactly what the viscosity ends up being after the different weights were mixed.
But if I'm dumping whatever oil is on hand in to top off, I'm not sure I'd care much what the exact viscosity ended up being anyway.