ThatDude

So i have about 150,000 miles on my Civic and gave her an oil change today. I've been using Mobil 1 Synthetic 10w-30 since I got the car but noticed the oil cap says 5w-20. I started doing some research and found out 10w-30 is thicker than 5w-20 and performs a little better in hot climates. I live near the Gulf and the summers are hot as hell with high humidity. It gets chilly during winter but usually no lower than 30. WHat does everyone think? I mean Ive been using 10w-30 for a good 15,000 miles now. Am I gonna notice a difference if I switch to 5w-20 or 5w-30 from now on?


This is kind of interesting
http://synthetic-motor-oil-air-filte...mmendation.htm


This to
http://www.driveaccord.net/forums/sh...ad.php?t=30256
"5W-20 offers an increase in fuel economy and to this point have shown to be pretty good oils, plus they offer better low temperature performance.

5W-30 offers good cold weather performance and good high temperature protection to an extent but have not shown to be notably better than 5W-20 oils in applications where 5W-20 is reccomended.

10W-30 offers the best high temperature performance.


Question: What are the negative aspects of using a 5w20 oil?
Answer: 5w20 oil has less film and shear strength than a 5w30, 10w30 or a 0w30 motor oil. This can lead to increased engine wear under today's demanding heat and high-stress engine performance conditions.

Question: Don't I have to use a 5w20 oil to maintain my factory warranty if my manual recommends a 5w20 oil?
Answer: Absolutely not. Vehicle manufacturers recommend using motor oils meeting certain viscosity grades and American Petroleum Institute service requirements. Whether the motor oil is a 5w20, 5w30, 10w30 or 0w30 or even a synthetic vs. a petroleum-based oil will not affect warranty coverage. The manufacturer is required to cover all equipment failures it would normally cover as long as the oil meets API service requirements and specifications and was not the cause of the failure.

Bottom line, thicker = less engine wear, particularly in summer California where temperature in my area could reach up to +100F for weeks. This is why I always use 10w30 for summer and 5w30 for winter."

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

I trust Honda. Whatever they tell me to use is what I use. 0W-20 is the new oil manufactures are using.

If Honda felt that 5W-20 was not good enough for the heat of the gulf then they would have said something about it.

mikey1

5W20 is what honda recommends,

there is no logical reason not to use it

lowlife9

i wouldn't go any heavier then 5w30 in a civic. anything after what they recommend starts to lower your MPG.with synthetics the weight goes down but the metal protection stays the same or gets better.

cb450sc

You have put 150000 miles on it and you just noticed that the oil cap had 5W20 printed on it? Could I suggest reading your owners manual prior to doing any more maintenance.

mikey1

i was going to say the same thing

pjb3

He didn't say he put 150,000 miles on it, he said it has 150,000 miles and he has used 10w-30 since he got it.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

10w30 is fine. that first number is the viscosity at 0C and if you dont live in freezing temps, you dont have to worry about it.

many of us run 5w30 and it works better, especially if you have an engine that has a bit higher miles. so the viscosity of a 5w30 and 10w30 is the same at 100c (at which its tested).

chozobody

Dont mean to be that guy, but I have been running synthetic 0w20 for the last 3 changes, and my engine has never felt better.

johndeerebones

Great for you. The science behind synthetics makes perfect sense. Round molecules vs. cornered, superior anti-coking, etc. With that said, synthetics are not worth their added cost unless you are driving a race car. If it has a turbo, maybe so. A GOOD QUALITY dino CHANGED AS OFTEN AS IT IS SUPPOSSED TO BE (that is caps because that is the main reason for any oil related trouble) is proven over the years to be fine. The overwhelming majority of problems seen in the shop are something else, oil causes very little of them. If someone feels that there is a need for something else and wants to spend the coin, more power to them. As said above 5-20 is what's called for. Alot of cars are using it now because it nets better mpgs. It has a little less friction than a 10 weight oil. It seems to do this with no net loss to lube capacity. I have personally been in several 5 weight oil using engines and they seem just as good as any 10 weight engine has been. Just know that over the past 10 or 15 years oil technology has gone leaps and bounds from what it once was....

As an aside absolutely nothing in my driveway will use Mobil 1 anything. While at the GM dealer, 3.6 Cadillac engines (OHV) ate cam bearings. The manual states Mobil 1 syn 5-30, and Cadillac owners refuse to stray from the book. Bad engines, perhaps. Not a chance I will take though. I also had to put a camshaft in a 4.0 I6 in a 2000 (I think customer, not sure on the year) because it ground the #2 intake lobe off. Bad parts? Chrysler junkiness? Probably, again not a chance I will take. I personally use Valvoline or Napa's house, both are bottled by Ashland Oil. Is it on the expensive side of dino, always. Like I said, good quality and keeping it changed is the single most important things you can do.

To the OP, drain it out then run it, drain the rest out, then put 5-20 in it. just kidding, don't worry until next change. Obviously don't run it after you drain it Too thick oil may eat up a couple mpgs, but it will be ok.

ezone

I wonder if OP understands which parts of what engines this would be important for....and why a majority of modern engines can use 5w20 and 0w20 with no issues.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

I use 5w30 and noticed a slight decline in my gas mileage. Car seems to run better though, and use less oil.. sohhh I'm not stopping

pjb3

While I agree with most of what you said I have to disagree with this. I buy synthetic oil on sale for not much more than dino and it provides superior high temperature oxidation resistance, high film strength, very low tendancy to form deposits, stable viscosity base, and better low temperature flow characteristics. When one of my kids doesn't bother to check the oil and there is only 3 qts instead of 4 when I change it or they go a couple of thousand miles past when it should be changed, I am grateful for the extra protection syn provides. As far as a turbo, I can't see why anybody would not use syn and risking coking.

ezone

20 or 25 years ago if someone drove 20k without changing oil, you'd pull the plug and wait.....and wait.... and wait.....and eventually it'd come out like tar or black peanut butter. I saw it rather often back then.

Yesterday I changed oil in an Odyssey that had 20k miles (documented) on the oil change, it was more than 2 quarts low, and the oil was only black. There were no globs of tar coming out of the drain hole. There was no sludge buildup that I could see when I pulled the oil cap off and looked inside. It was using the same bulk oil we use for the vast majority of our oil changes, the Honda labeled 5w20 "blend" that I have described here in the past.

Sort of a testament to the quality of the oil we use in our shop, I suppose.

Note here that if you run the lower quality oils, they may still sludge long before 20k.

Does anyone really know for sure what JizzyLube and WallyWorld are really putting in your engines?

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

They use whatever is available probably.

I have over 10K on my Castrol Syntec currently, have not had time to change it but have been contemplating using Honda oil when I do change it. I do burn oil, though I don't know exactly how much but am thinking that the Honda oil may be able to reduce the amount.

Does Honda make a "full" synthetic? I feel like a blend oil would be a step back from full synthetic!

ezone

Forget available, forget correct. Think CHEAP! Price is most important! Probably won't change anything right away if at all. Have you read my posts about my GFs Saturn and its oil consumption issues? Honda doesn't make oil. They have it "made" or blended to their specs with the additive package they specify. Ours comes through the Conoco-Phillips distributor. Yes, "full synthetic" is available with the Honda logo on the bottle. We only keep about a case on hand at any time because it's not a fast mover for us.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Yes, I did read about your GF's car and also about a Buick. That's what got me thinking about trying the "Honda" oil.

Was thinking that their aditives would be what they consider to be best for their engines as appose to Castrol which is for any engine.

I figured it would be worth a shot to see if it helps!

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Oil to me is a tad overrated.. I mean.. how likely is your car to fail from oil related problems? Most peoples cars fail from a lot of small things going at once. Cooling system failure, or rust long before oil has had a chance to deteriorate the engine far enough. Here and there you hear about piston rings going. I do an oil change every 15k (KMS) or so. My engine will use about a quart in that amount of kms. I pull black oil (I use semi synthetic Valvoline Maxlife). My car is getting ready to fail, but not because of oil. Because of millions of stupid little problems at once.

ezone

I actually got my truck out and drove it to work today, first time in a few years. Last time I changed oil in it we were using Mobil Clean 5000 or something like that. Now I'm leery of using our 5w20 in it because of the low HTHS specs, and I personally think the engine in the truck needs more than that (anyone care to guess why?). So I dumped in some 5w40 and 0w40 Euro stuff that was laying around...because that was all I could find on a moments notice.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

I'd take a stab at it if I knew what kind of truck it was

ezone

87 Mazda B2000. https://www.civicforums.com/forums/g...831-ezone.html

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

Very nice. Total guess here: I suppose older engines require a HTLS oil though Also recommended a heavier weight. They didn't care about mileage back then.

ezone

The valvetrain in my old Mazda is non-roller. The cam lobes slide against the rocker arms, there are no rollers or wheels to eliminate friction. Therefore, friction and shear forces come into play. The Hondas these days all use rollers so they can get away with much lower amounts of HTHS protection.

If you compare some of the old Honda engine specs from back when they recommended 5w30 to specs of today where we use 0w20, there isn't much difference. Crank and rod bearing oil clearance specs can be exactly the same, so I feel that in many cases there would be no harm done by running 5w20 or even 0w20 where a 5w30 was spec'd way back in the olden times.

Just wait, 0w10 and 0w5 will be coming in the near future for the consumer market.

Hell, they are already in use in DRAG RACING. Along with 0w2.......If they can use it in a drag racing engine.....

pjb3

I think it is more a testament to 5w-20 oils. When 5w-20 first appeared a lot of people felt it was too thin and couldn't protect as well as a 30 weight. A lot of used oil analysis showed that it outperformed the 5w-30 and 10w-30 oils and people began to realize to wasn't a thinner oil but a reformulated oil. In other words, 5w-20 is not just a thinner 5w-30 but a different base stock and add pack. I'm sure there are different quality 5w-20 oils and some are probably better than others, but I think they are more like synthetics in that there isn't really a "bad" one while there are some poor 5w-30 and 10w30 oils.

The few times that I have not changed the oil myself I used the synthetic oil change at WalMart. This was about 8 to 10 years ago and I used them for two reasons. When you specified syn they would pull the qt bottles of whatever brand you requested off the shelf so you knew exactly what oil was being used. The second reason was with the cheaper syn oil change they did not check or top off any other fluids so I did not have to worry about them adding antifreeze or ATF that was incorrect. i have no idea what they do today.

BlueEM2

iTrader: (1)

10w30 is greatly improved over many years ago too. The oil hasn't improved I think the addatives have.