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Hello all! I'm new to the scene, of both cars and forums so please bare with my ignorance. I've got an 04 civic ex coupe, and let me say I love it, and I am trying to figure out all I can about how often to change fluids and which kinds to use. I will say now I have no idea of what was used on it the first 116k the previous owner put on. All I know is she was from Texas and the dealer did the worst possible job at taking the tint off the windows. I wish they would have left it on, it looked sweet and would save me from putting new stuff on. Anywho since I've had it I had the timing belt replaced, and everything that goes with that, plugs, water pump, etc. I need to know because honestly I know very little about oils and maintainance. I saw there is a despute about synthetic and none and I always heard synthetic was better. I also saw that you should change the air filter every 15k which if that's true I'm due for that causes I'm at 133k. I don't know what 5w-20 means or whatever, I am completely clueless. Yes I could just bring it to my mechanic, but I wanna know what I'm putting in as I like to do most of the work myself. I'm 18 and besides work I still have time to do that type of thing. If it helps I drive my car probably a rough average of 50 miles a week. From home to work and then wherever else I need to go. Also, should I use a different oil in the winter than in the summer? Sorry if this was an information overload, I'm just trying to figure everything out that I can.

 
Rep Power: 257

Mobile1 synthetic 5W30 thats all you need.

 
Rep Power: 190

^Yup. Except I use 5w 20. Idk how much it matters.

 
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Have you not seen a decrease in mileage w/ the 5W30 or anything? I'm curious, I thought about using it and seeing how it reacted. I have a case left over from stockpiling oil for my Impala. I can pick up cases of it pretty cheap as Sam's Club but they don't stock the 5W20, haven't checked to see if I can special order it though.

 
Rep Power: 257

there is a minute decrease in mpg but not enough to warrant using 5w20 in a high mileage engine.

 
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for starters, "5W20" etc. refers to the weight of the oil. the oil that lubricates some parts of your car is thicker or thinner than others. you can find what kind of oil your car needs on the honda website, in the cars manual, or on the oil cap.
as for what brands of oil to use, everyone has there preference. my auto teacher says either mobil1 or valvoline. some of my friends use amsoil, very popular (supposedly) among honda owners. a buddy of mine who works at the shop i go to uses valvoline and won't use anything else. that's also the oil that the shop uses but he claims that's all he uses. he doesn't like mobil1 and he is very knowledgable about cars so i trust his advice. there are some racing oils like VR-1 i believe it's called or royal purple.
i use valvoline high milage. always use full synthetic if you can. my car is my baby and good oil is where it all starts in my opinion. never mess with using different weights of oil. if your car wants 5W20, it gets 5W20.
also, be sure to get a good oil filter. i like fram tough guard or high milage. some also like the K&N filters but i don't know for sure.
I would suggest changing every 3000 miles if you use valvoline. amsoil will supposedly run for 10,000 before it needs a change.
try different oils and find what you like.

2001 Honda Civic EX Standard