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I just bought a 2000 EX with 85,000 mile. It's my first Honda (except my generators!) and I love it. I live in AZ and the summers get well above 100 degrees, more like 110-118. Is the 5 20w still the right oil to use? What about synthetic vs regular oil. I drive the car 100 miles a day and would like it to last another 85,000!
Thanks!

 
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yes... you still want to use 5w20.... if you can find it and want to use 0w20, that is fine, by it really doesn't matter that much. As for dino versus synthetic, that is up to you. You say you drive 100 miles a day, so maybe using a good synthetic would be good for you. Remember the onloy advantage to synthetic oil is that it can go longer. Dino oil lasts 4000-5000 and synthetics can go around 7,500 and higher depending on brand and all that. If I were you, I go with Mobil 1 every 7,500 miles, but thats just me.

 
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So basically use the Mobil so I'm not changing oil every other weekend and to get a bit better protection cuz I'm running 75mph for 45 minutes straight? Thanx!!

 
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2000 ex?

I'd use 5w30 or even 5w40 in the really hot summers

 

I agree, 5w30 is fine. Dont know about 40 though really it wouldnt make a huge difference, you wont be needing to change it every weekend either way..

 
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In terms of wear metals, from what i've seen synthetic is no better than conventional. with synthetic you get better flow in cold weather, better protection against sludge, less evaporation, and better overall engine cleanliness. Highway driving doesnt put much stress on oil, so youll be fine with any oil.

 
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Thank you all for your info!

 
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id personally bump it up to 5w-30 with that kind of weather and mileage. but 5w-20 will still be fine regardless.

 
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Damn... your right, for some reason I had the oil weights backwards. With the higher milage and higher temps, you want a thicker oil, I would go with 5w30 too. sorry about that.


Yeah, you're not really getting "better" protection, the only reason I say to use a synthetic is because of the miles you drive, you can go longer between oil changes.

 
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also look into valvoline's maxlife synthetic. great oil for a car with an older/higher mileage engine. you can go probably 7500 miles between changes with that.

 
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5w30 it is! You all rock. Thanx!

 
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So is this a definitive answer, that it is OK to use 5W30 instead of 5W20 in the Civics? Will this void the warranty?

I was thinking of putting some Mobil 1 full synth in my 05 'vic, but they only have the 5W30 oil on sale.

 
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well, if you're car has higher miles, the bearings and rings and all that are broke in and the gaps are a little larger. So for a higher milage car, yeah it's fine. It really won't hurt.

However, I would suggest sticking with one type of oil, untill you switch to a higher milage oil.

 
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keep in mind the car we are talking about here is a SIXTH gen civic. not a 7th.

 
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OK, cool. Thanks everyone. I did buy some Mobil 1 5W30 on sales to try for the next oil change. My 05 'vic only has about 11K miles on it any ways and most opinions say it wouldn't matter either way performance wise but the engine will be better protected.

 
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greetings....first post, I joined to ask or to find answers to several questions...and 1 is about oil weights. Question: Can you use a higher weight oil than the 5w-20? I think the answe I have seen here is yes...I just bought an 01 CivicLX with 20k mi. I was thinking that 5w-20 was a little thin in the summer, especially, and was thinking of going to a 5w-30 syn. I didn't know if the oil gallies were so small or some of the engine orfices were just too tiny not too use anything other than a really thin oil. The concern is for the longevity of the engine...or will the engine be protected enough with a 5w-20 oil to last 200 - 300k mi?????

 
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You can use a higher weight than 5w-20 without worries. Although in my opinion it is not necessary. There is a lot of speculation that 5w-20 will not protect your engine, but there isn't any proof to back up these claims. I'm not sure if you're familiar with a used oil analysis, but basically people test their oil to find out how much wear metal is in the oil (among many other things you can find out), which is a pretty good indication of how well the oil has protected. After seeing many of these used oil analyses for 5w-20, it appears that 5w-20 protects just as well as heavier oil based on the wear metals found in the used oil.

If you want to learn a lot about motor oil, filters, and things of that nature, you should check out http://bobistheoilguy.com/ and their message boards http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi

many, many people there have asked the same question as you. but im gonna warn you, if you decide to check out those forums, please search before asking this question there. like i said, it has been covered numerous times and people are kind of sick of answering it over and over again

 
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Hello, and welcome to 7thgen civic!

To answer your question yes you can use other weights. If you look at oil charts provided by manufactures you can also see that just because an oil has a specific weight, some are thicker and thinner than others. For instance, Mobile 1 is generally a thinner oil. If it was a hot summer an oil like Mobil 1 5w30 would work fine, you may not want to use some of the thicker 5w30's, but a thinner one would probably work. I'm not getting into rather to use synthetic or not, but if you where going to use synthetic in hot weather, that would be my choice, Mobile 5w30.

yup, he right. Most knowedgable oil people say 5w20 works as well as most of the heavier oils. Generally people just say stick with what the manufacture says. But then agian some oils are thin like Mobil 1...

 
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thnaks for the replies.....!

 
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I always use synthetic, have been using Castrol 5w-30 fulls syn in my Civic for the past few months.. I also used syn in a 1996 Neon.. My theory is that if I can get 120k miles out of a Neon without it using a drop of oil then I must be doing something right.. I recently ( around 5 gas tanks ago) switched to 5w-20 and I get way better gas mileage from my Civic LX. From 360 miles per tank to 410... same driving habits ..

 
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Well, I was getting about 36 mpg without the A/C.....kind of remarkable...in the city, stop and go stuff....with the A/C about 30...I think the manwell says we have a 13.2 gallon tank...so theorectically I could get 475 per tank...does that sound way off?