1992 Honda Accord DX

[spinfire]

I have recently purchased a 1992 Honda Accord DX from my parents. The vehicle currently has 145K miles, and has been relatively well cared for during its life. I think it has mostly received 5w-30 and 10w-30 dino oil at 3000-7500 mile intervals. My guess is mostly my parents were hitting the "6 month" change interval instead as it hasn't been driven that much.

I'd like to switch to using a synthetic oil, although I'd also like to solicit some opinions on whether or not this is really worth it. My SO drives a Golf TDI which we maintain with Mobil-1 products and have been extremely happy with them, so I am partial to those. The Honda will certainly get driven, most likely more than it was, and I do like to rev it and drive it hard so a synthetic might be good in that regard. I care primarily about improving the running condition and longevity of the engine.

I'm also looking for some other tips regarding the general maintenance of the vehicle... I'll post these in the general forum later.

 

[CharBaby]

I've had these Accords. Longevity of the engine was designed by the engineers and built in at the factory. These are the toughest engines that I have ever tried to kill. If the running condition isn't what you think it should be, oil isn't going to change that! Other than preventative maintenance, they don't require much. I put, in excess of 300,000 miles on them using dino oil and 3000-5000 mile OCI. IMHO you would be waisting your money using synthetic on this particular vehicle. Just do regular OCI with a reputable dino motor oil and rev the snot out of it as you wish. Put the extra money towards the repairs that will occure just because of age itself. I've never used synthetic in a Honda and I have whipped them to death especially in my younger years. Im a little easier on them now just because I don't desire to drive that fast/hard any more. Fuel lines, brake lines, gas tank rot and body rot is what you will be facing with a 14-15 year old car. Especialy if you live in the salt belt. Is this car an auto tranny or manual tranny? The manuals were the best!

 

[Mike242GT]

If you don't have any leaking seals now, there's a good chance you will if you switch a 14 year old car over to Mobil 1 after it's been on conventional for its whole life. That's been my experience with half a dozen Volvos, anyway. A regimen of Auto RX might be a good idea.

 

[spinfire]

The car is a 5 speed manual (the way it should be...). I've also thought about changing the tranny fluid out because I'm pretty sure it has never been changed. The shifting isn't bad but second can be a bit hard to engage. Thoughts? I was originally going to put that as a separate thread in the tranny forum but since it has been brought up...

I was under the impression that the "synthetic oil will cause seal leaks" was largely a myth. Searching online reveals no real conclusive evidence about whether this is really true.

Auto-RX has always struck me as a bit gimicky and I've been skeptical.. but people here do seem to like it and trust it. I'll look into running a course of that. My quick peek down the filler hole didn't reveal too much nastyness. The Auto-RX site recommends running two courses of the stuff for engines over 100k. I'm not sure if this is worth it.

 

[m2200b]

If you're willing to spend and extra $20 on an OCI on syn
wheres the beef for $20 to run ARX and get some ring cleaning , power and a better chance at running syn without a nest of leaks.

145K is about where I leave off on the rev and drive hard so I can cruise to 200K but hey you can learn that for yourself.

 

[spinfire]

Quote:

---

If you're willing to spend and extra $20 on an OCI on syn
wheres the beef for $20 to run ARX and get some ring cleaning , power and a better chance at running syn without a nest of leaks.

---

Agreed.. No matter what I don't think the Auto-RX is going to hurt anything but my wallet, and most likely it'll help a bit.

Quote:

---

145K is about where I leave off on the rev and drive hard so I can cruise to 200K but hey you can learn that for yourself.

---

I'm not racing it or anything.. I just don't drive it like a grandma.

Thanks for all the insight. I think I will give auto-rx a try then make a decision about synth vs. dino.