Honda Civic Fuel, Oil, Cleaners & Other MaintenanceExtending the life of your Honda Civic requires the proper fuel, oil, and cleaners, along with other regularly scheduled maintenance. Keep your Honda Civic fuel and oil at the right levels to keep your Civic on the road longer.
Welcome to civicforums.com!
Welcome to civicforums.com.
You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, at no cost, you will have access to start new topics, reply to conversations, privately message other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join civicforums.com today!
Mobil 1 5W30 Full Synthetic is what I have been running in my car alternated with a Mobil 1 Filter or a Fram High Mileage Filter. (My dad goes on oil filter buying binges when they're on sale, so it's really whatever I happen to grab out of his dark garage first) Mine's a 2001 Civic LX, and I drained all the conventional crap out when I bought it and switched to Synthetic.
I just had surgery on my hand and I no longer have a garage to work on my car, plus my apartment complex decided to call me out for topping off my fluids in the parking lot so now EVERYONE knows we're not allowed to do vehicle maintenance on the sealed and paved lots. Anyway, I ended up getting an oil change at Firestone today. They wouldn't use my stuff, so I ended up with a Kendall Filter and Kendall 5W30 Full Synthetic.
Admittedly, I'm kinda nervous that the filter only cost $3.99 on my invoice whereas the oil itself was $39.99, but it was better than letting my current filter go on 8K miles, especially since my mileage was down 12mpg.
Anyone have any dirt on Kendall products?
To remove this ad, register today for free or log in if already registered!
Sponsored Links
To avoid seeing this ad in our forum please register at CivicForums.com
By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features.
kendall is pretty good, its not great but gets the job done. i hope they gave you synthetic for that kind of price.
Kendall and Motorcraft are the same. You are ok with that oil change. One Motorcraft comes in Red bottle, Kendall black bottle. Try to find someone that will change the oil with your oil and filter.
kendall is pretty good, its not great but gets the job done. i hope they gave you synthetic for that kind of price.
Yes, I got synthetic, after getting a funny look and having to reassure the desk guy that, YES, my 2001 is running SYNTHETIC and has since the 1st oil change.
He seemed to question the fact that a girl knew what she wanted and surprised that I actually had a clue about anything pertaining to my vehicle.
My hand should be healed by the time I'm due for my next oil change, so I'll do it myself with my stuff. Thanks, guys!
(Paid $45 incl tax for oil, filter, labor, and disposal after a $10 discount)
Eh. I use synthetic for a few reasons. 1, I'm lazy, and am not always on-top of oil changes every 5K miles, especially since I live in Ohio, where Winter likes to linger longer than we'd like (and before Ohio, I was in Chicago, and before that, Superior, WI). Synthetic is more forgiving, or at least Mobil 1 has been to me.
Changing oil in -15 degrees Fahrenheit sucks monkey balls.
2, Because of the climate I live in and the fact I have to drive in severe weather (both hot and cold), synthetic holds up better in temperature extremes.
3, Most of my driving is highway, and until recently, I was making weekly 550 mile round trip treks.
4, I like the added satisfaction of spending a little bit more money on things for my car, who is my 'baby'. Think of it as buying Pampers over the store brand. I was gonna say cloth diapers, but I don't even want to think of the demons an infant can unleash into an ass-napkin.
when hell freezes? lol. i doubt i could ever live there, i can barely afford to live and buy food, and my car is not CALI legal ha. prolly going to colorodo or wyoming.
hey does anyone have an idea of the best motor oil out there? i usually use castrol syntec and notice that penzoil costs the same and quakerstate is a lil bit cheaper... does it really matter what brand i use?
For me the best brand isthe syn. on sale. Right now Edge is a deal with $15 back on a 5qt. purchase. Advance auto has a sale on Edge plus filter Pure ONe, comes out to $2.00 a qt. Now that is the best this month...
when hell freezes? lol. i doubt i could ever live there, i can barely afford to live and buy food, and my car is not CALI legal ha. prolly going to colorodo or wyoming.
Better get a CRV
Quote:
Originally Posted by ottotheclown
For me the best brand isthe syn. on sale. Right now Edge is a deal with $15 back on a 5qt. purchase. Advance auto has a sale on Edge plus filter Pure ONe, comes out to $2.00 a qt. Now that is the best this month...
I use thre Syntec and have always used it in my Civic. I was told that it was more important to always use the same oil than the brand. Who knows. ( One of my old neighbors had an 01 with 185000 mile on it- with only the 1000 mile oil change.-still running)
hey does anyone have an idea of the best motor oil out there? i usually use castrol syntec and notice that penzoil costs the same and quakerstate is a lil bit cheaper... does it really matter what brand i use?
The best brand of oil might be Redline which is only 9.95 qt. Contains a very robust additive package. If 9.95 is too much, you might try Edge, on sale at advance for 25$ plus a Pure One filter. Or mobil EP which varies in price at Walmart.If price is your only concern I cannot suggest any one that is best.
Go to Bob Is The Oil Guy website, then to the forums that cover UOA andcheck out Mobil One and the high iron wear factors UOA after UOA.If you can live with the data fine.
honda makes its own synthetic, in the Bay Area they charge a whoppin $7 bucks a quart for it. fukin rip off since it doesn't spec even close to the top of the oil chart in comparison, however it is much better than a dino. if you don't specify for them to use synthetic, they'll use the standard honda dino oil. either case its honda made (unless they outsource the oil from somewhere...)
highest retail for mobil 1 here is $6 a quart, i've found it in discount down to around $4.50 if i grab a 12 pack on sale. if you're going synthetic, and are willing to do your own oil change (i don't let anybody work on my car, even the certified techs) then go mobil 1
Flash Honda does not make any of their motor oils. I know I work for them. The title certified techs is much like jumbo shrimps or goverment worker.The turnover with these techs will blow you away. Always do it yourself if you can.
Let me first start off by saying there are many oils that will do the job. Their margins for failure are a different story.
Also, there are many different oils all claiming to be fully synthetic. The truth is a hydrocracked or ultra processed dino oil can be technically marketed as a full synthetic.
Amsoil (certain series are blends), Royal Purple, and Castrol syntech all are BLENDS of dino oil with some synthetic components.
Mobil 1 is a PAO synthetic (true synthetic base) and Redline is polyol ester (full synthetic).
I used 5w20 Red Line oil. I also use Mobil 1 in our other cars.
Polyol Esters are a better high temp lubricant, and they actually adhere to hot metal. No other lubricant can do this.
YOu can spend 1000s of hours on bitog.com. It's a great site.
I use Castrol GTX High mileage 5w-30. It costs a little more than some other conventional oils but its supposed to be good for extending engine life and preventing leaks on older cars. I'm not completely sure if it's worth it but it's not that much more $$$ and one of the more knowledgeable guys at autozone said it was a good way to go for me.
I've looked at several independent lab tests over the years; Mobil one full synthetic seems to always be at or near the top in every test result I've looked at.
However, if you engine is higher mileage and you switch from dyno oil to synthetic, it may be possible get increased smoke/oil consumption. If this happens, switch back to dyno oil.
Point of fact regarding Redline Synthetic multigrade oils. While its a great oil with a "nice package" , "Redline has not reduced the amount of ZDDP in their multigrade oils". Zink and Phosphorous can harm catalytic converters. Most other sm oils to include synthetic have reduced the zink and phosphorous to protect cats. Check out your oils.
when hell freezes? lol. i doubt i could ever live there, i can barely afford to live and buy food, and my car is not CALI legal ha. prolly going to colorodo or wyoming.
haha. 50% of the car's in cali isnt either...so dont feel so bad.
my car is pretty much going to stock (i have my stock exhaust, front lic plate, and removed my tints a few weeks ago...eeek)...im getting de riced...
__________________ 7thGen.MT.C.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gearbox
alot of people just talk to say something. most of the time they have no idea wtf is going on lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by manahoonie
lol. well we got newbs to use the SEARCH button.... NOW the next step is to look at the date
Okay, the best oil depends on YOU. How often do want to change the oil? How many miles do you have? How much do want to spend?
If you drive less than 5,000 miles in 6 months, don't waste your money on Synthetic oil. You will never get to see the benfits of synthetic oil, which the only benifit to is that you can go longer between oil changes, just stick with a good quality dino oil. ANd since you should be changing the oil at least every 6 month, it doen't make since to use synthetic.
If you drive more than 5000 every 6 months, ask your self how long you want to go between oil changes. I personally go 4,000 miles on dino oil (valvoline or motorcraft), because the extra milage you get from the synthetic is not worth the extra cost IMO. PLus I want to protect my car, the more frequently you change you oil the better protection you have agianst outside sustances killing you engine. And once agian, if you don't want to go 7,000 miles or on oil, then why spend the extra $$$$ on synthetics?
So, if you REALLY want to go a long time between oil changes, use synthetic. Generally I tell people who drive all highway to go with synthetic, since they can go upwards of 8,000 miles if they drive all highway, and for them, that may only be 1-2 months worth of driving. Afterall, it would really suck if you had to change your oil every 3 weeks. Now if you do more city driving (stop an go and stop and go) then you are putting more stress on the engine, and hence the oil. Specially since the oil must do more cooling, if you live in say San Fransico, where the average speed is about 5 MPH on a good day, then maybe you should run synthetic too, this is the only case I can think of where you should change a synthetic oil every 3,000 miles.
If you drive like most people, maybe 30-40 miles day, a mix of highway and city, your best bet is to go with a good dino oil every 4,000 miles or so.
OF COURSE, THIS IS JUST A GUIDE LINE, if you really want to know how long to go on a specific oil, get your oil tested.
As for brands, pretty much all your synthetic oils are good, stay way from Royal Purple. RP is a very good oil, but the TBN drop very quickly. This is a true race oil becuase most race engines only last 500 miles, so why make an oil that last longer than that? Don't get me wrong, it is probably one of the best oil on the market, but it just does not last long. Mobil 1 is probably the best you will find on a store shelf, Redline and the rest of those high end oils are all good, but not worth the extra $$$ IMO.
As for dino oils, I personally use Motorcraft and Valvoline, Castrol is good too, but generally I go just go with Valvoline before Castrol.
If you look at oil analysis, they all pretty much agree, that for the average driver, a good dino oil like the ones I mentioned above, last about 4,000 miles and a shelf synthetic last about 6-7k miles. So you figure out where you belong and what oil you need.
BTW, if you have over 65,000 miles on your car, I STRONLY suggest using Valvoline Max Life. Why? Because it has a 5 wt% moly count (highest around, which is GREAT for older engines as an anti ware addative) and is 22% synthetic oil and at Wal-Mart you can pick up 5 quarts for about $10-$12, which makes it pretty cheap. I use this in EVERY older car I have.
Re: best brand of motor oil? 
Thanks, guys!
-still running) 
Civic minded old man/ low-loud-loven it!
Re: best brand of motor oil? 
said it was a good way to go for me. 
