Rather than using honda engine oil what would be the best oil to use. do I use a synthetic oil or a natural oil.
if engine is in good shape mobil 1 5w30 if its not I hear its bad to use syn. so use 10w30 whatever
HTH
My personal favorite is Castrol GTX 10w30. That is what they use at some honda dealers too.
You want to use natural oil in your engine. Synthetic oil will be too thin and you may end up burning more oil then before. Natural oil is good in old motors and synthetic is good in new ones.
Later,
BR
yeah same here ive been boiling the good ol’ Castrol gtx stuff on all my cars. i think its jus the print on the side of the bottle that says " DRIVE HARD " that gets my attention, lol… but if your engine does not require a certian brand,weight,synth,natural…etc… then jus stick with what ever you can afford every 3000 miles er soo ya know. 10-30 is a good all around oil.
*note- you generally change weights every 30,000 miles
0 -30,000 = 5-30
30,000-60,000 = 10-30
60,000-90,000 = 10-40
90,000- + = 20-50
but it’s a combonation of miles, conditions, driving style blah blah blah… but that is a good starting point for oil specs. ask your local shop for advice if your not sure.
~Andee
amsoil is the best oil.
Originally posted by Speeddaddy
[B]
*note- you generally change weights every 30,000 miles
0 -30,000 = 5-30
30,000-60,000 = 10-30
60,000-90,000 = 10-40
90,000- + = 20-50
but it’s a combonation of miles, conditions, driving style blah blah blah… but that is a good starting point for oil specs. ask your local shop for advice if your not sure.
~Andee [/B]
uhh what are you talking about man? you DONT want to run 20-50 in a teg with 90K+ on it. use 5-30 when it gets colder out and run 10-30 in the summertime. All motor oils with the approval stamp on it are the same stuff. you can buy the cheap stuff and save some cash or you can buy the advertised stuff and feel all warm and fuzzy inside because you just spent 12 bucks for 4 quarts of oil.
Originally posted by d3.
[B]
uhh what are you talking about man? you DONT want to run 20-50 in a teg with 90K+ on it. use 5-30 when it gets colder out and run 10-30 in the summertime. All motor oils with the approval stamp on it are the same stuff. you can buy the cheap stuff and save some cash or you can buy the advertised stuff and feel all warm and fuzzy inside because you just spent 12 bucks for 4 quarts of oil. [/B]
26.99$CAN for 4L of Mobil 1 5w30 full synth.
I swear it runs and feels better with it 
(at least thats what the advertising does…)
I use Valvoline MaxLife 5W30 all year long… even in summertime when it’s 90-100 degrees outside… should I use 10W30 in the summer?
What about engines that burn oil? Are there any drawbacks of say a 20W-50 natural oil? Because my neighbor who’s been a mechanic for some 20 years keeps blabbing on about putting in 40 or 50 weight oil for these older engines. Thanx
older engines=older ring seals, wear and tear on walls of cylinders, etc. so, a thicker grade oil will help to reduce some of the blowby that causes you to burn the oil…
Originally posted by d3.
[B]
uhh what are you talking about man? you DONT want to run 20-50 in a teg with 90K+ on it. use 5-30 when it gets colder out and run 10-30 in the summertime. All motor oils with the approval stamp on it are the same stuff. you can buy the cheap stuff and save some cash or you can buy the advertised stuff and feel all warm and fuzzy inside because you just spent 12 bucks for 4 quarts of oil. [/B]
im sorry dood, point blank YOUR WRONG… but different :)… during colder climates is is good to use a “thinner” 5,10-30. and a “thicker” oil in the hotter zones. and to assume that all oils with a stamp on the bottle are good is a pretty gutsy move on your part as far as how you treat your machine. i do not know your level of experience with these things so i wont set you on fire as of yet. i wont even bring up the four quarts of oil thing either hahahha…
apparently everyone (except D3) 
knows that the more miles an engine has, the thicker weight oils you use…
hmmmmm?
~Andee…
<-castrol 10w-40
…my car just hit 130k today:sad: . but oils not burning and when i change it its alwasy still full. (so far knock on wood(im prolly gonna spring a leak tomarrow now))
my question is should a start useing thicker oil now or wait till i seem to be burning or loseing oil?
:sad:
basically if it works for you stick with it… if you dont have any leaks, your level is constant between oil changes. sounds like you take care of your ride… might jus wanna put in 20-50 if it heats up this summer. otherwise yo uhave nothing to worry about dood
`Andee
The way I see it, if you have an integra that has 90k+ on it and it is burning threw 5/10-30 like nothing, I don’t think you should try to remedy the probley by just going to thicker oil. If you used 20-50 and somehow between oil changes you were in a cold climate the 20-50 wouldn’t protect all of your engine components. Andee I see you’re from CA and sense the temperatures are more consistent there you would be able to run 20-50 without as many problems. Also I would avoid using 10w-40. Fing have you use 10-30 in your car? Does it burn threw it fast? If it does you might want to just go ahead and run 20-50 in your car because sense it starts at a heavier weight it needs less polymers to achieve that range (10-40) witch will give your car better protection. Some car manufacturers are threatening to void warranties if 10w-40 is used so watch out. For the stamp on the bottle part I was talking about natural oils. In my opinion if you are not going to run synthetic just buy some cheap natural oil with the stamp on it. I have 180k on my teg and run 5-30 in the winter and 10-30 in the summer with no problems. Most of the time I run natural oil that cost between $1.50 and $2.00 . Im interested in what you are running andee
:D3:
as quoted by ME :
“yeah same here ive been boiling the good ol’ Castrol gtx stuff on all my cars. i think its jus the print on the side of the bottle that says " DRIVE HARD " that gets my attention, lol… but if your engine does not require a certian brand,weight,synth,natural…etc… then jus stick with what ever you can afford every 3000 miles er soo ya know. 10-30 is a good all around oil.”
which means in my G2GS i run 20-50 Castrol (only the bottles that say Drive hard though hahaha). when im driving miss daisy my level is still full after 3K, when the skills must be displayed to kiddies in thier mommys civic hatch, ill burn 2qts. between OC. yup your right about it being cali n all with the more steady weather cond. sings “it never rains in southern california” lol but yeah i could use the 20-50 from the 99cents store accross the street from my work, but im the goofball that met a guy who drove a castrol sponsored mustang and liked the colors of the paint so i decided to buy some castrol oil for my next oil change hahahhaha… that was 12 years ago! ive tried alooot of different oils at times but the castrol is one that works for me. and plus whenever i buy the cases of it there is usually some sort of gimmik that says if i buy a case ill get a castrol fender cover or something cheezy from them hahahha… but i do agree that advertising does sell some bullishh…
but my friend always put’s the 10-40 “pep boys brand” (which is really havoline oil). its like 89 cents a qt. and hes never had a problem with it on his 60,000 mile civic.
so NO i dont think its better to spend 5 bucks a qt. if you dont need it or like its image.
~Andee
ok first off, you do not have to use a heavier wight oil just because you have a high milage vehicle. all a heavier weight oil will do is mask any problems the motor may already have, i.e. worn rings, knocking etc. just because the sound goes away for a little while does not mean it’s fixed.
a quick explanation of the numbering codes:
the first number is the winter viscosity(or the meausre of resistance to flow in a fluid) rating hence the w after the first number. If you are in a cold climate a 5w30 woul be good because at temperatures below freezing the oil will be thinner. after the motor warms up however it will flow just as well any 30 weight oil. Basically lower equals thinner, higher equals thicker, at a given temperature, usually 70 degrees F.
Another myth: Synthetics are “slicker” than regular dino oils, so therefore you shouldn’t use them in high milage vehicles or new vehicles. WRONG! While in the past this may have been true, but today it is not. The only thing different, besides overall content, viscosity wise between a synthetic and a conventional oil is it’s viscosity curve. As temperature increases it will gain viscosity slower than a conventional oil. I can’t really explain it very well, but if you check out the pennzoil website they have a much better explaination than i can provide. Also, if synthetic is so bad for new vehicles, why does the new corvette, porsche 993, and several other high performance factory come with mobil 1 synthetic straight from the factory?
Also, any oil that has the API (American Petroleum Institute) stamp on it is going to be pretty much the same as any oil that has the same stamp. Any oil with a rating of SG (preferably SJ, it’s the newest rating) or higher will be perfectly fine in our cars. The only thing different between brands is the combanation of detergents, pour points, and oxidation inhibitors.
To eloborate on what d3 was saying about manufactures voinding warranties if you use anything other than the recommended is completely true. A lot of manufacturers (Ford especially)are recommending 5w20’s and 5w30’s now.
The motor is designed to run that low of a viscosity for for emmisions reasons, and any prolonged use of a thicker oil will raise your emmisions and could possibly cause major damage.
For anyone here that doesn’t believe me: I’m going to school for all this, I’ve had to sit through many oil companies tech seminars and they all say what i have above, although much better because they have a much better understanding for all of it. Basically they all say anything with an API stamp on it is a good oil. just read your oil cap and whatever it says to put in, put it in. There’s usually a reason why the OEM recommends it.
As for the best brand, I don’t really think there is a best brand. They all have their high points. They each use a very slightly different solution to produce pretty much the same effects. I guess it really comes down to preference. I personally use castrol 10w30 in my integra. After I do the rebuild however, I plan on going to synthetic because of it’s longer life and reduced sludging effects. Plus it’s only about 2 bucks more per case than the regular castrol gtx that i use.
HTH. Later.
Secret
sorry for the long ass post btw.
I just realized a couple weeks ago that on the stock airbox on my car is states that 5w-30 is the recommended oil to be used on the car, if I am using 10w-30 now, wuould it be better to switch to 5w-30 or just stick with what i am using now? 
Flat out…point blank…amsoil 5w30, 10w30, consult your manual for when to run each. You can figure it out.
Amsoil fully synthetic is the best oil on the market, you’ll pay for it though. I myself go with the slightly cheaper Mobil 1. Both good oils.
since we’re on the topic of oils, anyone know anything about or even tried the Castrol GTX High Milege oil? Its rated at 10w-30. i saw it at kragens and was wondering if that would be better to use for high milege motors rather than the regular GTX 10-30/40 oils?
i use castrol 10w30 in the winter and 10w40 in the summer. (i live in so. cali)
from my experience alot of imports and newer cars have a tighter bearing clearance and the oil ports are smaller so you gotta have a thinner oil but not too thin. now, if you’re burning alot oil and thinking 20w50 will cure it, maybe it will but it just mean that your motor’s worn out. (if you live where it snows and always freezing then 5w30 is recommended)
*check your owners manual for proper grade:D