1997 Civic oil recommendations

[Lead Shoes]

I have a 1997 5 speed civic with 204k miles, I just repaired the rear main, clutch flywheel, and put in a used transmission off a 93 civic lx in it, it drives excellently now, no sign of oil burning after over 300 miles. before I was losing a quart every 1k miles through the rear main, it was dripping from everywhere inside the bellhouse..

I live in Minnesota, it gets really cold... , I would love to see this car go over 250k, currently I am thinking of going with Mobil 1 Advanced Fuel Economy 0w30 with a Pureone PL14459.

I am kind of hung between the 5w30 and 0w30 I drive about 9 miles to work one way currently, when I go back to college the car is only used for short in town trips like 3miles max every other day, and I wanted to minimize the wear and tear.

I also use MMO to keep it clean internally, how much can I safely add to it with a 4qt sump to boost the cleaning before I put in synthetic? I have always done around 1/4 a quart

 

[SLCraig]

If you are going to buy Amsoil, just use the 0w30 year round. That is a perfect oil for your climate, and the engine will see 250K on that oil if any.

 

[Lead Shoes]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
and the engine will see 250K on that oil if any.

I kind of figured that, it will last me the 4 years of college and some time after that with the 10-15k I drive a year..

 

[chubbs1]

Just go with the Amsoil as SLCraig stated. That is a perfect oil for your engine all year.

 

[ARB1977]

When I had my 97 Civic I ran Syntec 10W30 and a Fram X2 filter. That was my first car ever running synthetic.

 

[JeremyInMT]

I'm not a big mechanic kind of guy, but will a '93 transmission hold up to a '97 motor since the '97 motor is stronger than the '93 engine?

 

[Lead Shoes]

The 93 civic has 6 less HP than the 97, lol.

 

[hattaresguy]

I'd use whatever name brand 5w30 is on sale. Its an old motor that's probably lose, anything that's slick will work. Expensive synthetic isn't going to do anything other than lighten your wallet.

Change every 5k.

 

[Lead Shoes]

well I plan to keep the car till it drops, and if using MMO and synthetic stretches the car 1 more year it will save me more in insurance than the 100 dollars I may spend extra in the next few years.. seeing as I'm 18 full coverage insurance rates hurt

But at the moment I am running 3k OCI intervals to clean out the inside because I have no knowledge of the maintenance, other than the fact that the previous owner racked up over 40k miles from 2010-2011 (he left a bunch of oil change reciepts and window tags in the glove box) and he owned the car almost 2 years.. pure highway miles I am guessing, he was a traveling salesman...

 

[Lead Shoes]

Anyone else have any opinions?

 

[mjoekingz28]

You'd think the previous owner did alot of good for the car with all the highway miles. But seeing all the repairs he left for you....

Look into your manual. It will usually say to avoid oil additives. Oil is all it needs. Only resort to additives when you have a problem and you don't know how to properly fix things.

My car was burning a quart every 3k. Wanting to make things better, I did an MMO soak and within a few months consumption doubled to tripled to a quart every 1000-1500 miles.

Leave well enough alone. Put your worrying energy into the timing belt. Those older Civics NEED them changed or else.

As has been said: Run the cheapest name brand conventional for 5000 miles.

 

[hattaresguy]

Instead of worrying about something that's a none issue, oil, when was the timing belt last changed?

I have no idea why you would add MMO to a modern oil and engine, that's something my grandfather swore by in his 32 Ford. I thought it went out of fashion 30 years ago. If anything your probably doing more harm than good messing with it, old motors don't always like to be cleaned.

The only benefit to synthetic other than a lighter wallet is if you wish to extend the changes past 10k miles.

 

[Lead Shoes]

I am totally up on the maintenance with the car now, the last thing I have to check are the belts.

So far I have done, the clutch/transmission/flywheel/speed sensor/front o2 sensor/ cap and rotor/ plugs/ wires/ air filter/pcv valve.

I have gave it a run through with seafoam in the oil, and MMO ever since and consumption has fallen off big time, it doesn't always work for people but in my case it did.

I have never changed a timing belt before, I am assuming it cannot be too hard... can you attempt it with a basic ratchet set? I was looking in the Hanes manual it doesn't look too hard..

I also just found 6 5qt jugs of Castrol GTX on sale for 12.99 each.. worth buying it all up?