thatsmrgimp2u

Alrighty folkks, im nearing the 6000 mile mark and its about time for my first oil change (according to the users manual). I want to switch to synthetic and im not sure wich brand or weight i should go with. Also if someone could recomend a good filter that would be quite helpful too. Usually id just browse the FAQ's sticky but i just dont have the time right now..... sorry =( thanks in advance.

tuner04civic

iTrader: (14)

if its only 6k stay with honda oil and honda filter, wait until you wear your engine in before synthetic, but mobil one is good for synthetic. imo

teg91ls

Engines "wearing" is a bad thing.. Switch to synthetic.. the oil weight you need says it right on the oil cap, and i would recommend a k&n filter or a pure one.

DDragon7

Moble1 5w20 or 0w20 with Honda OEM filter.

thatsmrgimp2u

Thank you all very much.

shroomster

LOCK THIS THREAD AND SEARCH!
TOO MANY FIRST OIL CHANGE THREADS!!


valvoline maxlife or honda oil....car comes from factory with extra additives in oil for break in period (first oil change).

if all else fails check through your new owners package. there may be some free oil change coupons in there....THEY ARE TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

Don't have to search far.... second post on the sticked thread.

http://www.7thgencivic.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=203129

In short, if you feel the need to go with synthetic, go with Mobil 1, if you really want to do overkill and have lots of money to burn (and I don't know why you have a civic in this case) go with Red Line. Personally, I use Motorcraft oil 5w20, you can pick it up at WalMart for $9 and some change for 5 quarts, more than enough to do you civic. Do you need synthetic in a Civic? No... believe me, synthetic will keep your engine from wearing, but your engine is not will altimatly kill your car. It's like protecting your gun safe with a small army and leaving the nuclear plant next door unguarded...

As for oil filters, I go with Honda OEM ones. Yes they are made by Fram, no they are not the same as Fram you buy at Wal Mart, yes there are better ones out there. But agian, you are spending lots of money for protection on something that probably will not go bad. Yes Honda OEM filters are expensive, but most dealers have this deal where if you buy two, you get one free, so that comes to around $10 for 3 filters not bad price IMO. Maybe you could pickup a better one for that money, but I've seen quite a few Honda's put more than 200,000 miles on with normal crappy Wal Mart Fram filters, so I'm not to worried about it.

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

Yes.... when I get time I will put together a 1st oil change thread and get rid of these... but I'm busy right now.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i am gonna start using K&N filters and valvoline until 60k then i'm switching to maxlife. I use lc20 which makes the oil like synthetic in many ways and I can afford the filter costs since I only get oil change every 5-6 months.

aznboysrfr

iTrader: (10)

HAMP oil filter and Amsoil 0w30 for me

teg91ls

yea really, who cant afford a k&n filter.. its like 7 or 8 bucks and it lasts 3-6 months. How is vavoline Maxlife more beneficial then say mobil 1? and imo 60k is not an "old engine" what maxlife is designed for, even though i think it is just a marketing scam.

teg91ls

aznboy, how do you like amsoil, Does the engine run smoother? and also how often do you change it

shroomster

seriously, p/m jrfish on this.....shortanswer is moly count.

teg91ls

um, i dont want to "pm" him.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

valvoline maxlife is not a scam. and yes 60k+ is hi mileage. it has additives that other normal oils don't. i'll wait for the oil experts to answer this.

teg91ls

i might switch to maxlife, and try it out, even though i swear by mobil 1

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

and don't forget to add lc20 you'll notice a big difference especially on the freeway. i got upto 90 last night and the engine wanted to keep going super smooth. it kinda turns regular oil into synthetic as far as better lubrication.

aznboysrfr

iTrader: (10)

I like it a lot. It's very smooth ... I changed it every 5,000 miles ... even though on the bottle, it states that it can last up to 25,000 miles.

There was some guy in his bigrig that was using Amsoil's truck oil and he would send his oil off to get it analyzed ... his drain intervals kept increasing and increasing (as they said he could go longer) ... until his last drain interval, he went 409,000 miles without an oil change.

story about that here

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

ehh.... okay

Read this, this guy is a tribologist with 20+ years experiance, I bet he knows more that all of us on this board put to gether about oil

If you believe the moly "bs" READ THIS

Now is that oil better than synthetic? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It's complicated. First off, it depends on the synthetic oil you are talking about, for instance Red Line oil also has extremely high moly count, but you can buy 5 quarts of MaxLife for less than 2 quarts of Red Line. Does a stock civic need Red Line oil.... I would have to say no. The other situation is if you drive say 20,000 miles in 6 months. With Max Life you would be changing your oil every 1.5 months at least, Mobile one you could go 3 months between oil changes, in that case I would go with Mobil 1. Is Mobil 1 better than Max Life (assuming you drive normal mileage), well it depends on th engine, in the case of the civic, I would say Mobil 1 is a waste of money because it is not turbo charged, it is not produce large amount of power, it is not revving super high, there just isn't a need for synthetic in a stock civic unless you are driving an insane amount of miles, and even Mobil 1 has to changed out every 6 months (expect for the extended life version). So, Wal-Mart sells Valvoline MaxLife at $12 for 5 quarts and Mobile 1 for $24 for 4 quarts (maybe 5 quarts... I forget, but I thought it was a 4 quart bottle), so do a little math and you can see you save about $12 an oil change. Yeah, I know some people would rather pay the $12 and think they getting a better oil that will make their car last for 100,000,000,000 miles, even though most people will end up selling their car long before it ever sees 100,000 miles. If you have the extra money and want to spend it on oil, go for it. I personally would rather put a nice meal in my mouth for $12. It really isn't that big of deal with a civic, but I have an F150 that uses 7 quarts of oil, so you can see how it can get expensive really quick. But in the end it just comes down to my cheapness and not wanting to through money away to each our own

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

If you like Mobil 1 and don't mind paying the extra $$$ more it, stick with it.

Jrfish007

iTrader: (3)

Oh yeah.... most of the Max Life / high milage oil (like Castrol version) are a scam, I wouldn't pay any more for that than normal oil.