Fuel, Oil, Cleaners & Other Maintenance Extending the life of your Civic requires the proper fuel, oil, and cleaners, along with other regularly scheduled maintenance.

ok to go thinner weight?

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Old Jul 11, 2005
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ok to go thinner weight?

almost 28k miles, mobil 1 5w-30 ever since after 5k (the factory oil).

would it be ok to go back to 5w-20 ?
how about going back to syn. blend and not fully syn. motor oils?

pros and cons of 5w20 vs 5w-30 ?


this in california weather... getting pretty heated here. car is daily driver only with spirited driving habits. like to drive a little hard at some point

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Old Jul 11, 2005
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you can go back to 5w20 no problem. in fact that's what i'd recommend. your car is made for 5w20, and using the heavier weight oil makes your oil pump work harder than it was designed and harder than it needs to.

you can switch between regular and synthetic as often as you'd like.

try havoline GF4 dino oil. it is just as good, if not better, than synthetic oil, save the TBN (drain interval). you can go 5000 miles on that oil no problem.
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Old Jul 24, 2005
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If its hot why would you want to switch back to thinner oil? thats the worst possible thing you can do. The hotter the temps outside the thinner the oil becomes. In the summer im going to start using 5w-30 and in the winter i will switch to 5w-20. 5w-20 is WAY to thin for the summer heat and puts extra wear on the engine.

Last edited by midnightblueEX; Jul 24, 2005 at 04:01 PM.
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Old Jul 25, 2005
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Very likely that 5w30 will shear down to a w20.. So I wouldn't worry about it too much. Only advantage behind the 5w20, is you may see an improve in gas mileage. The money I save on Chevron oil in 5w30 for 49 cents a quart I rather use that than pay full price for other 5w20 brand of oil, since Schucks doesn't carry 5w20 in Chevron. Like S2000man says, go with Havoline or Chevron, they are almost identical in specs.
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Old Jul 25, 2005
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eh 5w20 is fine. I'm using M1 0w20 full syn... imo, it's pretty good, but I usually burn a quart every oil change ...
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Old Jul 25, 2005
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I just changed to 5w-30 last night, feels so much smoother than running that thin *** crap 5w-20 in 90 degree weather.
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Old Jul 25, 2005
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Why do I ever try talking about how good the 5w-20 oils are when midnight just goes right off the deep end?
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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Originally Posted by midnightblueEX
If its hot why would you want to switch back to thinner oil? thats the worst possible thing you can do. The hotter the temps outside the thinner the oil becomes. In the summer im going to start using 5w-30 and in the winter i will switch to 5w-20. 5w-20 is WAY to thin for the summer heat and puts extra wear on the engine.

I think your right on the mark there. That's exactly what I do.
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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Originally Posted by S2000man01
try havoline GF4 dino oil. it is just as good, if not better, than synthetic oil, save the TBN (drain interval). you can go 5000 miles on that oil no problem.

What supports this statement? dino can never protect nearly as well as a good synthetic.
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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he..............

does this explains why my 02 vic with 0W20 oil.....seems to be NOISIER when i rev it during hot climate (92F+)????

jeez...........maybe this is due to the oil...not my spark plugs...
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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Originally Posted by Honda_trilogy
What supports this statement? dino can never protect nearly as well as a good synthetic.
WORD on that.

for those who disagree, visit BITOG...
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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Originally Posted by zen_master
he..............

does this explains why my 02 vic with 0W20 oil.....seems to be NOISIER when i rev it during hot climate (92F+)????

jeez...........maybe this is due to the oil...not my spark plugs...

yeah you will hear your valves more.
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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ah......well..

it'll actually be the last 0W20 on my car.....

Mobil1 discontinue 0W20....now there's only 5W20 on wal-mart shelf.....

hopefully 5W20 will help reducing the noise a lil' bit..
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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Mobil 0w-20 Is 5w-20 I Thought
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Old Jul 26, 2005
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^are you serious?

0w-20 is 0w-20. and vice versa.
but im sure there are oil companies that are rated different when it comes to weight. its believeable that mobil 1's 5w-30 can be thicker than castrols 5w-30 (not sure, just trying to make an example here)
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by midnightblueEX
I just changed to 5w-30 last night, feels so much smoother than running that thin *** crap 5w-20 in 90 degree weather.
ah, the infamous cognitive dissonance mod.
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by Honda_trilogy
What supports this statement? dino can never protect nearly as well as a good synthetic.
the tests run indicate that it performs as good or better than most synthetic oils. in fact, it actually qualifies as a synthetic oil according to the "criteria", with the exception of the fact that it's from the same hydrocracked base stocks as regular dino oils.

synthetics nowadays for the most part do NOT provide better protection, unless you are in extreme temps. (think death valley) the ONLY benefits synthetics provide over a decent dino oil is protection in extreme temps, and longer drain intervals.

you can find this information from any knowledgeable tribologist. the tests have more than proven this. synthetics no longer really perform better than a decent dino oil. ever notice how on synthetic oil commercials they now talk about longer mileage between changes, or more often, protection from extreme heat and cold? yeah what they don't tell you is that extreme heat is like 110+ degree weather, or if you live where it gets way below zero, considering the pour point for most dino oils is still at least -25 to -30 degrees.

if performance is what you're looking for, then a decent dino oil such as the GL4 is the way to go.

Last edited by S2000man01; Jul 27, 2005 at 12:18 AM.
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by midnightblueEX
If its hot why would you want to switch back to thinner oil? thats the worst possible thing you can do. The hotter the temps outside the thinner the oil becomes. In the summer im going to start using 5w-30 and in the winter i will switch to 5w-20. 5w-20 is WAY to thin for the summer heat and puts extra wear on the engine.
to quote a statement from one such tribologist:

Let's say a car is recommended to use "SAE 5W-30". The statement is made that, if you're in Arizona, 15-40 might be better. It won't break down as fast in hot temperature. Multi-viscosity oils involve a tradeoff." First, engine oils don't "break down" per se. They do oxidize from being exposed to high temperatures over prolonged periods of time, but this has nothing to do with viscosity. All oil will get thinner the hotter it gets. However, to minimize this thinning effect, viscosity index improvers are blended into the oil. Thus, a 5W-30 oil will pour like a 5W oil when it's cold and will retain the thickness of an SAE 30 oil when it's hot, even in hotter temperatures such as the Arizona desert. The same rules apply to the 15W-40 oil. Making a statement to the effect that multi-viscosity oils will thin out just because it's 100 degrees outside is simply incorrect.
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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^thats some good facts to know. but lets say a civic uses 5w-20, how about for those whom race there car (assuming there not boosted of course), there engines would be at a very heated pace for a long period of time. by going with a thicker weight (30 in this case), would that help the motor run better at such high temps?

30 weight oil can handle heat better than 20 weight, correct?
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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[QUOTE=S2000man01]the tests run indicate that it performs as good or better than most synthetic oils. in fact, it actually qualifies as a synthetic oil according to the "criteria", with the exception of the fact that it's from the same hydrocracked base stocks as regular dino oils.

synthetics nowadays for the most part do NOT provide better protection, unless you are in extreme temps. (think death valley) the ONLY benefits synthetics provide over a decent dino oil is protection in extreme temps, and longer drain intervals.
[QUOTE]




Dude, did you get your info from a dino oil maker?

Do you know anything about shear? Dino oils shear down way faster therefore offer less protection even after only 100 miles of driving. Synthetics do not distort nearly as much as dinos therefore give you better protection and MORE HP than dinos.

everything about oil
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by jttegx
^thats some good facts to know. but lets say a civic uses 5w-20, how about for those whom race there car (assuming there not boosted of course), there engines would be at a very heated pace for a long period of time. by going with a thicker weight (30 in this case), would that help the motor run better at such high temps?

30 weight oil can handle heat better than 20 weight, correct?
no. viscosity has little to do with a car's HT/HS (high temp/high shear). what is more common to happen is that the high revving puts the oil through a greater strain from the constant running on a track.

you have to remember that for the most part, your car (in the civic's case) keeps the coolant around 200-212 degrees. This also means that the oil won't get much hotter than normal operating temp. if your oil is getting hot, then so is the rest of your engine, including the coolant, at which point you'd see the temp gauge go above normal. this CAN happen in heavy racing in high temps, or in extreme temps such as death valley.

keep in mind, also, that your honda recommends 5w20 for the civic. if you're using 5w30, your oil pump is working harder than it normally would for the 5w20.
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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Originally Posted by Honda_trilogy




Dude, did you get your info from a dino oil maker?

Do you know anything about shear? Dino oils shear down way faster therefore offer less protection even after only 100 miles of driving. Synthetics do not distort nearly as much as dinos therefore give you better protection and MORE HP than dinos.

everything about oil
no actually my information comes from here:
http://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.php...post&p=5860836
Oils like Havoline's GF-4 are synoils essentially anyway. They use the same Group III bases as products like Syntec, with small amounts of esters, and far more moly. That is what makes them such killer lubes, and such great deals. Hate to say it, but synoils are largely marketed now to the less knowledgeable consumer, whereas they used to target the savvy owner. Since few people have kept up with the advances in "conventional" oils driven mostly from the demands of the auto manufacturers for better fuel economy, longer drain intervals, lower viscosity, lower oxidation, reduced deposits, lower wear, lower pour points (does that ring a bell - like a 1976 Mobil 1 ad?), and so on.
who is this you might ask? he's a tribologist. and has been in this business for over 30 years. all he does is live, eat, breathe, and sleep motor oil. so considering he probably has an engineering degree and is a long standing tribologist, i'll take his word over yours and some random web page you found over the internet.

and before you go spouting out BS about shear that you have no idea what you're talking about, you might want to look at UOA and VOA of several oils including the havoline GF4 i mentioned vs synthetic. sorry my little friend, but it protects just as good through a normal conventional oil drain interval as would a synthetic oil.

people often have this misconception that their oil is not protecting their engine as good at 2000 miles than it was at only 100 miles. this could not be further from the truth. in fact, in the first several hundred miles, the carrier oils are breaking down and releasing the addin packs that manufacturers put in the oils. so if anything, the oil becomes BETTER at protecting in the first several hundred miles.

and even beyond that, just because oil starts to get dirty doesn't mean it isn't adequately protecting the engine. if oil ISNT getting dirty, then you should be concerned. part of its job is to remove and suspend contaminants.

And synthetic give you more horsepower than conventional? lol. get out of here. i suppose next you're going to try to sell ice cubes to an eskimo.

Last edited by S2000man01; Jul 27, 2005 at 04:52 PM.
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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i live and die by mobil 1 fully synthetic, and im gonna keep 5w-30 in the summer, anyone who knows aything about cars will tell you thicker oil in the summer is a good idea.
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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if you race your car on the track and are at high revs, or are in high temperature areas, you can get some benefit from using both a slightly thicker oil (5w30) as well as one that has a higher TBN and HT/HS numbers when tested.

However, you should try to stick to a particular viscosity if you tend to race or drive hard a lot in these conditions, as your engine will get "familiar" with that viscosity in certain areas under such conditions. particularly at the ring/cylinder bore interface.

however, keep in mind if you go with a thicker viscosity you can lose a couple horsepower both from internal friction/resistance as well as your oil pump having to work harder. even so, if you're a road course or auto-x racer, it could still benefit you to do so.
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Old Jul 27, 2005
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yes i agree
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Old Jul 28, 2005
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Originally Posted by S2000man01
However, you should try to stick to a particular viscosity if you tend to race or drive hard a lot in these conditions, as your engine will get "familiar" with that viscosity in certain areas under such conditions. particularly at the ring/cylinder bore interface.

That's an "old wives tale"! Metal has no memory and can't get familiar with anything. I will be covering this subject next week with my right up on steel properties (what changes in steel with temperature gradients). I think that a lot of members will be very interested to learn how steel functions.
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