Long Term 5w-30 use in Honda 1.5t
- Thread starter picklyrickly1073
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My wife's 2020 CRV EX-L, which is a proven dilluter because of almost exclusively being short-tripped and only driven about 3k/yr has been using Mobil1 5W-30 EP without any issues and with the dealers blessing. I find it easier not to obsess over it. Goes in for an OCI every 6 months. My Civic Touring Sedan is running Mobil1 0w20 EP as it's showing low OD, changing every 4-5k, will probably go to 5k next change. CRV,s seem to have more OD, ours because it seldom gets a good highway run. Everyone has different driving patterns but Honda's1.5t definitely works best when driven enough to get the oil hot enough to evaporate the fuel.
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Any reason you are still on 0w-20 in the civic?
Honda specs 0W-20. There is no reason NOT to use it, unless you have a specific use case against it.
Yes there are and they are valid reasons. Many new vehicles have fuel dilution, ranging from mild to ridiculous. A higher grade will help protect the engine when diluted with fuel.
It’s also beneficial to reduce wear even when not diluted. Plus many higher HT/HS oils carry European approvals that are superior to API licenses in terms of deposit formation, sludge resistance, ring deposits and other undesirable concerns.
When it comes down to it, unless fuel economy is your sole and overriding goal then there is no reason not to use a higher grade. Aside from a truly tiny fuel consumption increase the rest are benefits.
Reason is not having any significant problems with dilution, at 3000mi intervals viscosity is within specified values, will most likely go to Mobil1 5W-30 EP and 5k OCI's next time for the very reasons @kschachn stated so clearly in his post above. The only significant reason 0w20 is specified is to marginally increase mpg and get the credits, however that works, from the government for achieving higher CAFE numbers. Higher HT/HS, tiny decrease in mpg, better long-term wear values.
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You may be right, but oil analysis reports show low wear metals in 1.5T engines using 0W-20 or similar. This report is mixed between thin and thicker oils, and all show virtually the same wear metals in the oil.
17 Civic 1.5T, 89K mi; PP 5W20, 7.8k mi
About 4 months since the last oil change this time around. At this rate, the Civic will hit the 100K mile mark around October... and it's doing the job we bought it for... providing mostly trouble free miles to my daughter as her first car. No real issue with fuel dilution as reported with...
bobistheoilguy.com
And remember, the OP is running a 5k change interval.
Patman
Staff member
I'm happy running 0w20 in my Civic, I don't feel like my driving habits call for a higher HTHS oil. It's the port injected 2.0 with a CVT and I drive it very gently, and I never do short trips with it. The engine spends most of it's time at or below 1500rpm. I drive this car in ways to maximize the fuel economy and it's average over the last 13,000km is 5.1L/100km (46.1 MPG)
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My exact use case, most of my drives are to work and 35 miles where I’m hypermiling for fun, but with DI and the turbo it always has me going back to “5w-30 can’t hurt”. If I had the K20 or really any naturally aspirated port injected car, I wouldn’t think twice to use 0w-20 (and I did from 100k to 200k miles in my last car).
My old 1997 civic ran 5w-30 and the 2001 ran 5w-20 so I’m not really concerned about the 5w being too thick for cold, but none of those had a turbo or associated lines and I don’t know if the 30 is going to potentially result in unwanted deposits somewhere in that system. I doubt it will
Correct, deposit formation is not a function of grade.
It loves it. Been on 5w30 for about a year now, roughly 12k ‘miles, VCM disabled as well. No change in MPG, engine sounds pulls the same, no difference. My bigger concern is the fact that my VIN falls into the batch that were manufactured with the bad rod bearing, so I guess it’s a ticking bomb. Thinking of parting my ways with the car sooner rather than later
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I did pull some owners manuals from the Honda Italy website and of the 3 I looked at only the Type R showed 5w-30 listed, the others showed 0w-20, 0w-30, and even 0w-16 for I believe the CRV Hybrid.
I did already buy a few jugs of 5w-30 to try, but not seeing the 0w-20 exclusivity to be just a US thing.
I did already buy a few jugs of 5w-30 to try, but not seeing the 0w-20 exclusivity to be just a US thing.
Awesome. What year is your Pilot? I think I’ll got with the Amsoil SS 0W30.
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it's June 2016 build date. At 83k miles now
Higher viscosity (mainly HT/HS) oils have not ever, and will not ever create some “unforeseen issue” if the oil itself is of high quality. The two oils that come to mind as nearly universal, and that carry oodles of certifications, are Mobil1 0w30 ESP and Mobil1 FS 0w40.
If neither of those oils fit your fancy, find a 30 grade oil from a major that carries ACEA C3 certification and motor on. Again, there’s literally NOTHING that will be negatively impacted by a higher HT/HS other than a couple tenths of fuel economy. Any of those choices are better than keeping the 0w20 and not keeping tabs on fuel dilution, which will have numerous “unforeseen” issues if you ignore the warning signs.
Last week I did an oil change in my Civic 1.5T, using a hodgepodge of remnant oil in the garage. I usually use 0W-20, at 5k change intervals. This time, it was 3.3k, because it had been a year since the last change. Anyway, I mixed different brands of 0W-20 and 5W-30 synthetic. This engine has always been quiet as a church mouse. Love that about it. Anyway, with the ever so slightly thicker than normal oil, the engine runs smooth as butter. Yes, subjective. I don't care, though. Let's face it, we are all splitting hairs here. All good fun!
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