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!
But as always, a little further discusion is needed. Some people have asked about this stuff and I really haven't gott into what it is and why it isn't that great in MOST Honda's, there was even a thread on it about amonth ago HERE.
Anyway, German Castrol (GC) is Castrol Syntec 0w30. It is distiguished with different markings and if in doubt you can look at the back and see if it reads Made in Germany. Note that some Castrol Syntec 0w30 is made in the US and this is not the same. All other Syntecs are not made in Germany and do not have the same properties. It comes in 2 flavors, Green or Gold. The green flavor is the older formulation from what I gather and I have never actually seen it in person. The gold, I have used this before, is what is currently aviable. And as I mentioned there is the standard US 0w30 that really isn't GC. Here are some photos of them
What makes it so different?
First of all is the base stocks are Class IV, which means it is a complete synthetic oil unlike the standard Syntech which a class III stock base, class 3 is considered "convential oil". It also has a different addative package.
The problem with GC:
GC was formulated for German cars, i.e. Benz and BMW mostly. These engines run some what large gaps in their eninges, precise but large when comapred to Japan cars, still smaller than most US cars. These larger gaps require an oil that is a little thicker, some people with M3's actually go even higher than 30 weight to reduce oil consumpution. As a result Germany decided they would make their own oil, hence GC. This oils is actually quite thick, very close to a 0w40 actually. This also give it tendency to "quite" the motor down, of course this is an objective thing.
Japan cars, specially Honda's, generally run tighter cleanrances and also have a tendency to be more "happy" at higher revs. For this type of situation a thinner oil, like Mobile 1 tends to be a better choice.
I'm not saying that GC is bad oil, but from what I have seen and read GC tends to work well for what it is made for, German cars. You can certianly use it in a Honda, it won't hurt anything, but most people report a slight loss of power at high end with GC in a Honda.
This oil may also be REALLY good for those select few with turbo's on their Honda's.... Just a thought.
GC is not a good oil for hondas, or any other vehicle which specs 5w-20. It's just too thick.
lol, yup I stole your pics I take it you are FD777?
Anyway, that was the basic conclusions I've noticed... My F150 with a 5w20 oil spec.... not that great for the price. My Accord (here I get to backtalk my self) does like it. Keep in mind this is a '98 Accord V6 that was speced at 5w30. But I'll wait to say if it is a GOOD oil in that engine untill I get the UOA, which I won't even be taking the oil out until next year, so it will be some time.
someone once said that you won't feel a difference in power using different oils.
I didn't believe it, but I didn't argue.
Well, I have yet to see any concrete evidence that any oil changes the amount of power. I have seen dyno's with different oil on the same day and same car, but dyno's have an error range of 3% and the losses where with in that 3% range of error. However, I think it can be amplified when an engine start to rev VERY high, like say my old GS-R that went up to 8300 RPM. Then a thicker oil will have more drag. If I remember my physics correctly, and I don't have the book infront of me, the equation for drag, velocity is squared, so once it becomes noticable, it will quickly start to rob power, and the RPM is essentially the velocity of the crank shaft and pistons. So that's why I say in high RPM cars, it's not as good.
Also, GC is close to a 40 weight at operating temps, so if the car was made for 5w20, and you go dump the equivlant of 0w40 in there, you may see some power loss. Now say you dump a thin 0w30, like M1, you will not see much difference at all.
But in short, everything I mentioned is just others personal opinion and observations. It could be that the GC simply quited the engine down (which many claim it does) and higher RPM they thought they where not as fast because the engine didn't sound like it was about to blow up. Not sure and haven't seen concrete evience of signifgant changes in power from oil yet.
So I'm not agreeing or disagreeing, can't get more on the fence than that
I think you will notice a different between oil weights. Maybe not between a 5w-20 and a 5w-30 (even though i did), but once you start getting into the heavier stuff you probably will. Also, m1 5w-30 is no longer on the thin side for 5w-30's, its now right in the middle. Recently changed the formula.
* I just wanted to add something weird i noticed a week or two ago when comparing the pds's for mobil 1.. Mobil 5w-30 may be in the middle now, but mobil 1 10w-30 is on the thin side. What's really suprising, is that mobil 1 5w-30 is thicker than 10w-30 at lower temps. This doesn't make any sense at all to me, but the numbers don't lie.
I think you will notice a different between oil weights. Maybe not between a 5w-20 and a 5w-30 (even though i did), but once you start getting into the heavier stuff you probably will. Also, m1 5w-30 is no longer on the thin side for 5w-30's, its now right in the middle. Recently changed the formula.
* I just wanted to add something weird i noticed a week or two ago when comparing the pds's for mobil 1.. Mobil 5w-30 may be in the middle now, but mobil 1 10w-30 is on the thin side. What's really suprising, is that mobil 1 5w-30 is thicker than 10w-30 at lower temps. This doesn't make any sense at all to me, but the numbers don't lie.
I use GC in other vehicles but not in my EX. Simply put, it's too thick. The numbers show this to be nearly a 40 wt oil and for our engines, it's way out of spec. Using this is similar to using M1 0w-40 and wondering, "Gee, it just doesn't have the same old spunk. Wonder why?"
Honda likes thinner oil. GC is great for extended drain intervals which is why it has the ACEA rating it does. GC is great for Porsche but not so with Honda. My recommendations are, syn oils for extended drains/hi performance apps, with the following weights: 0w-20, 5w-20 or 5w-30. I personally like M1 although Redline is good, as are others.
I take it you are FD777?
Not sure and haven't seen concrete evience of signifgant changes in power from oil yet. 
