Hi all, I am new here and I have been doing a lot of reading.
Wanted to get started by getting an oil recommendation for my vehicle, here is how it breaks down.
1. What kind of vehicle you have?
08 Honda Pilot, 2WD, VCM, J35Z1 engine, 117k miles. Bought it used at 99k.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
Owners manual states 5w-20 synthetic or non, API certified, change according to OLM (I usually change anywhere from 5k-7k using synthetic)
3. Where you live
Live in FL, its hot and humid.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
I drive defensively but I like to give it some gas, keep it around 78mph on the hwy and 5 over in the city
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
I use this car for work and I travel all over the state. This includes lots of highway and city driving. Traffic causes a lot of stop and go. I carry tools and equipment in my vehicle as well.
6. Whether your car has any known problems
Car runs flawlessly. Burning 1qt of synthetic 5w-20 or 5w-30 every 4-5k miles. I switched to 5w-30 to combat this and it did not help. I was getting CEL P0300-P0306 (random cylinder misfire on all 6 cylinder) about once a month on cold start (for 1 yr) dealer didn't know what was wrong. This is a common problem with some Hondas apparently and I have extensively researched this. I did not feel I needed a valve adjustment as the car ran great but I had the PCM firmware updated and relearned at the dealer about 2 weeks ago and the CEL has not come on since. Hopefully this fixes it, time will tell. But the car runs great with no misfires despite what the codes said.
If you have any preferences -- synthetic vs. conventional, store-bought vs. ordered online, how long you'd like to go between oil changes, etc. -- or any other info you think might be important, let us know that as well.
I definitely prefer synthetic. I like to change my oil between 5-8k. I don't care I can buy in store or online. Price is not really an issue either as I would rather spend $25-$35 more and have the piece of mind that my engine is taken care of (cheap insurance). I have read the Honda J35 is tough on oil and a lot of them burn oil. I like to do my own oil changes. The inside of the engine also looks pretty clean through the fill cap.
Last but not least, I ordered 6 qts of Redline 0w-20 today to test out on my next oil change. I know its overkill but I just want to see if it makes a difference.
Wanted to get started by getting an oil recommendation for my vehicle, here is how it breaks down.
1. What kind of vehicle you have?
08 Honda Pilot, 2WD, VCM, J35Z1 engine, 117k miles. Bought it used at 99k.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
Owners manual states 5w-20 synthetic or non, API certified, change according to OLM (I usually change anywhere from 5k-7k using synthetic)
3. Where you live
Live in FL, its hot and humid.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
I drive defensively but I like to give it some gas, keep it around 78mph on the hwy and 5 over in the city
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
I use this car for work and I travel all over the state. This includes lots of highway and city driving. Traffic causes a lot of stop and go. I carry tools and equipment in my vehicle as well.
6. Whether your car has any known problems
Car runs flawlessly. Burning 1qt of synthetic 5w-20 or 5w-30 every 4-5k miles. I switched to 5w-30 to combat this and it did not help. I was getting CEL P0300-P0306 (random cylinder misfire on all 6 cylinder) about once a month on cold start (for 1 yr) dealer didn't know what was wrong. This is a common problem with some Hondas apparently and I have extensively researched this. I did not feel I needed a valve adjustment as the car ran great but I had the PCM firmware updated and relearned at the dealer about 2 weeks ago and the CEL has not come on since. Hopefully this fixes it, time will tell. But the car runs great with no misfires despite what the codes said.
If you have any preferences -- synthetic vs. conventional, store-bought vs. ordered online, how long you'd like to go between oil changes, etc. -- or any other info you think might be important, let us know that as well.
I definitely prefer synthetic. I like to change my oil between 5-8k. I don't care I can buy in store or online. Price is not really an issue either as I would rather spend $25-$35 more and have the piece of mind that my engine is taken care of (cheap insurance). I have read the Honda J35 is tough on oil and a lot of them burn oil. I like to do my own oil changes. The inside of the engine also looks pretty clean through the fill cap.
Last but not least, I ordered 6 qts of Redline 0w-20 today to test out on my next oil change. I know its overkill but I just want to see if it makes a difference.
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