nke89

I recently purchased a used 2004 Honda Civic LX with 91,000 miles and was wondering what to do for the oil change. I think the previous owners had 5W-20 Quaker State conventional in it beforehand. What are some suggestions, stick with Quaker State, use a different brand of conventional or go with Mobil 1 fully synthetic? I have heard that some people have switched to Mobil 1 and started experiencing oil consumption. Since I haven't driven it enough I don't know if it uses any oil or not with the Quaker State. Thanks for the help.

Artificial

iTrader: (1)

I use Quaker State, no problems with it. I plan on running Mobil 1 Extended Performance for my next change though.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

Don't believe everything you hear. Most of them are nonsense.

You can use whatever oil you want at long as its a quality oil.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

From Valvoline.com:

Is it ok to switch back and forth between regular and synthetic motor oil? I heard this causes leaks? Is this true?

Switching between synthetic and conventional oil does not cause problems. Because the oils are compatible, you can switch back and forth as often as you like.


Can you mix different types of motor oil? For example, synthetic and synthetic blend or regular and synthetic? Is this going to cause problems?

Mixing synthetic and conventional oils will not cause any problems. The oils are compatible with each other.

and from Popular Mechanics:
Early synthetics got a bad reputation for leaking. This was because, despite the claims of the oil manufacturers, the seal-swell characteristics of the new synthetics were different from those of the mineral oils they replaced. If the seal-swell rate was lower, the seals shrank and oil leaked from crankshaft seals and rocker cover seals. If the rate was higher, the seals swelled a little extra and the engine was tight. Then if the owner changed back to mineral oil, or added a quart when no synthetic was to be had, things got really bad. The crank seals had become worn, in their turgid state, and then relaxed. The valve cover seals were compressed when swelled, and when the different oil was added, everything leaked like, well, an old English sports car.

Fortunately, the situation has improved and this problem doesn't really exist anymore; you should have no problem switching back and forth. Adding a quart of mineral oil to a crankcase full of synthetic will be fine. Read the fine print -- a lot of the "synthetics" on the market are blends containing a substantial proportion of mineral oil.

mikey1

thats the oil i have been using for the entire lifetime of my civic (230,000km)....never a problem, comes out fairly clean, and my engine does not burn a drop....needless to say im sticking with it....if its working theres no need to change brands or types....

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

valvoline maxlife 5w30? i know its technically a myth but i do burn oil when using a full synthetic, whereas i never burned any using regular or maxlife. not bad enough to consider switching back, since i like being able to change oil once a year.