09 Honda Civic SI : Questions...

[AlexanderTG]

Hi guys, new here and this is my first post.

Anyways I have a 2009 Civic SI that I've had since day 1, for most of its life it got Honda's synthetic blend and their filter. Recently I've been doing M1 5w30 with a Honda filter for DD.

During the summer I really go hard on the car, usually 4 track days and about 16-20 autoXs so I still run M1 5w30 but for the last quart I've been topping off with M1 15w50.

Recently I've been thinking about switching to a "better" oil, either Amsoil, Redline or Motul. I like that I can find M1 everywhere but would I benefit from switching? The car has always had a light ticking noise at idle but nothing loud enough for me to think somethings wrong.

Should I change anything? Haven't done any oil test but plan on doing one this summer to see what the car is doing on track.

Info:

2009 Civic SI, 61k, see every seaon, only engine modification is engine management software, bumps redline to 8600 from 8200.


Also not sure if this is the right place for these last two things but under track conditions (R-comps) people are saying we should over-fill the oil to try and reduce oil starvation when the car is really in the corner?

I've also heard that the oil filter from s2000s (which fits perfectly to the SIs) regulates oil pressure better at high RPMs and isn't a bad upgrade from the stock one (the stock one is used on just about every Honda engine except s2000s).

Thanks, Alex

 

[CATERHAM]

First welcome to BITOG.

Since you track your car I take it you have an oil pressure/oil temp' gauge installed?
That being the case, IIRC the OP spec' is 50 psi at 3,000 rpm.
I'm sure an oil such as M1 5W-30 would be more than heavy enough to maintain adequate OP. I don't see any benefit to running boutique from Red Line etc. for your Si.

 

[tommygunn]

Welcome to BITOG!

What is your current OCI? Do you follow the maintenance minder?

How much oil do you burn?

M1 is great stuff.

 

[gregk24]

Any API SN 5w30 synthetic should do just fine, dont see a need for anything heavier.

 

[Brule]

Originally Posted By: AlexanderTG

Recently I've been thinking about switching to a "better" oil, either Amsoil, Redline or Motul. I like that I can find M1 everywhere but would I benefit from switching? The car has always had a light ticking noise at idle but nothing loud enough for me to think somethings wrong.

Concerning your ticking noise:

The 03 Si engine is probably similar to yours. My top end was always a little noisy when I ran Mobil 1 [0w30 and 5w30 regular and EP]. It got very quiet when I used TropArtic 5w30, and later Pennzoil Ultra 10w30. Now that the Amsoil 0w20 is in it it's a little loud again. I recommend trying a Pennzoil [Shell] or ConocoPhillips product to address the ticking noise.

 

[Thugzy]

I'm running GC in my 2011 Si, but I cannot run with the S2000 filter. I had an 07 Si which the S2000 filter did fit.

I have 35,000kms on mine and have been running GC since 5000kms with no issues. I drive mine hard as well, often hitting 8000rpms daily...

FWIW GC is in my S2000 as well

 

[AlexanderTG]

I do not have an oil pressure / temp gauge installed, it's a bit of a process on these cars and since it's DD'd 90% of the time and not heavily modified I haven't gotten to it. I keep a heavy eye on water temp and do rough calculations to check on oil temp through that.

I usually follow the maintenance minder, except during the summer I change more often when tracking. With M1 I burn less than a quart between changes.

Yes the k20a3 and k20z3 are similar designs. I'll give something else a try.

I might give the GC a try, I think we can run the s2000 filter if you remove the dinky heat shield that is there... Not sure if that's smart or not... But would be nice to have the s2k filter, the build on them seems worlds better.

 

[zuluplus30]

I had a 03 RSX Type S (K20A2) with the Hondata K-pro back in the day. Also had an Injen CAI, Comptech Race Header, and Greddy Evo 2 exhaust. I loved that car. Ran a 14.1~2 all day long on [censored] Michelins. It suprised the heck out of a lot of unsuspecting people.

2 suggestions. I never did an oil analysis, but I ran Mobil 1 exclusively. It would drink 5W-30 when it spent any length of time on the big cam. I switched to 0W-40 and it made a huge difference in consumption for me. Mobil 1 esp in the SM versions tended to shear anyway so after a few 1000 miles it was more like a thick 30W, ie similar to GC's viscostiy. Also, there is a guy who posted lots of UOA's on his modded Si using PP 5W-30 and didn't have much consumption problems. He tracked his too and had steallar UOAs from what i recall.

I also thought you could run the S2K filter on the K20s? We used to do it on the B series VTEC's for a few extra psi.