2020 Honda Passport-J35 Oil Recommendation

B

BTLew81

Joined
Oct 23, 2006
Messages
1,689
Location
Illinois
Hi all. As our family recently expanded, I am looking at replacing my accord with a new passport. I’m familiar with the car but also looking for oil suggestions from those who have more experience with the newer j series engines.

I know the manual calls for a 0w20. I’m fine with that but wondering if anyone is running 5w30? Also, any specific oils that seem to “work well” in these engines?

thanks in advance.
 
The J35s do well on any spec’d API rated oil. I’d run any name brand synth but stick to recommended oil for warranty reasons. Older generation VCM issues aside, oil issues are rare on these provided it’s serviced according to the MM.

Out of curiosity, did you consider the Pilot? It seems the pricing between the two is minimal in some trims.
 
0w20 protects just fine in these engines and they aren't picky. Pick your favorite color 0w20 bottle in the walmart oil aisle and sleep easy.
 
Napa Synthetic is on sale this month, so that would be my choice. It's Valvoline. Pick up a Napa Platinum filter while you're there :)
 
WagonWheel said:
The J35s do well on any spec’d API rated oil. I’d run any name brand synth but stick to recommended oil for warranty reasons. Older generation VCM issues aside, oil issues are rare on these provided it’s serviced according to the MM.

Out of curiosity, did you consider the Pilot? It seems the pricing between the two is minimal in some trims.
Click to expand...
I did and still am. Lol. I like the styling a bit better on the passport and it looks a bit less minivan to me. Maybe that’s just me.
 
I’ve ran various 0w20 in my ‘16 pilot: m1, pennzoil, amsoil, and currently on Shell RTG. Ran several UOAs as well with really not a whole a lot of difference as far as wear metals go. No need for 30 weight in it. Although won’t hurt it.
Considering passport, keep in mind that it comes with zf9 only as opposed to pilot that you can get with traditional 6 speed.
 
Hondas don’t seem to complain about oil. Use any D1G2 0W-20. I always liked SOPUS oils(QS, Pennzoil, Formula Shell) in Hondas.

The J35 is a good engine, but not without VCM issues on the 2006-2009 engines which Honda seemed to have addressed under warranty. Still, some opt to get a VCMuzzler to keep that in check.
 
I have always used a 0W20 oil that is high in moly. Now you are going to have people talk about the VCM and tell you need to get a VCM Muzzler. Honda had issues with VCM. There are 3 generations of VCM. The current generation doesn't have the issues of past generations. Me personally, I had considered a VCM Muzzler at one time but after putting 200k+ miles on my last VCM-2 engine with no issues, I felt it wasn't necessary. I have always used use a good synthetic oil and top tier gas on very fill up I'm not talking about higher octane rating i.e. Super unleaded. Top tier gas is a higher detergency gasoline standard than what the government requires and I have never had an issue with VCM-2 and now VCM-3. I am not an engineer and I am just sharing my experience. You will have people try to scare you and say if you don't get a VCM Muzzler you are going to have issues and your engine will blow up. Take it with a grain of salt and do you. There are many people who have had no issues with using a VCM Muzzler but I just have an issue with manipulating coolant temperature and the computer thinking the car has not fully warmed up. Engines are complex and who's to say that that manipulation is not harming things. Again, I am no engineer but the guy who invented the Muzzler supposedly is one and I haven't heard of any issues using a Muzzler at least that I know of. I just never had the issues people are talking about. Not to say there are not any because Honda has had issues with early iterations of VCM. Just do your research and do what will help you sleep at night. I just want to say there are people out there that don't use VCM Muzzlers and have gotten many miles on their vehicle with no issues. My recommendation, it is very important to use top tier gas as the J35 in the Passport is Direct Injected and I recommend a high quality 0W20 oil that has a lot of moly. I just have had outstanding results with my J35 when I use 0W20 that is high in moly. Most if not all Japanese car brands has high moly in their own branded oil to include Honda and Toyota.
 
parshisa said:
I’ve ran various 0w20 in my ‘16 pilot: m1, pennzoil, amsoil, and currently on Shell RTG. Ran several UOAs as well with really not a whole a lot of difference as far as wear metals go. No need for 30 weight in it. Although won’t hurt it.
Considering passport, keep in mind that it comes with zf9 only as opposed to pilot that you can get with traditional 6 speed.
Click to expand...
Any fuel dilution issues that you can see based on the UoAs? This is my only reason for toying with running a W-30 instead.
 
BTLew81 said:
I did and still am. Lol. I like the styling a bit better on the passport and it looks a bit less minivan to me. Maybe that’s just me.
Click to expand...

I spent three days at a local dealer- they know me well so I get to drive as long as I want. I went to buy a Passport but............

Drove the Passport yesterday on a rural route- had only 155 miles on it and the loop was 12 miles. Passport got 16.5 mpg. Next was a Pilot- both EX-L-AWD it got 26.5 mpg for the loop and was a 6 spd... ( 159 miles on the ODO)

I liked the 9spd trans of the Passport ( both 2020) but the vehicles I drove lead me to believe the Passport is a gas hog.
Going to go with a Pilot Touring AWD instead. Also this is a lease and I saved $83 a month shopping one dealer against the other for the exact
same vehicle- all other terms the same. The Passport was a sportier ride but not worth the mpg penalty.
 
tbm5690 said:
Any fuel dilution issues that you can see based on the UoAs? This is my only reason for toying with running a W-30 instead.
Click to expand...
Nope, nothing dramatic. There certainly was some around 2% or so but didn't really have much of an influence on the vis. You can look up my posts on here, I've had all the UOA posted for my pilot.
 
Pim Tac pretty much nailed it.This engine is not picky, its belt driven valve train is easy on oil.

If moly is your thing Idemitsu has an excellent high moly formula.

My last fill was NAPA /Valvoline 0w-20 and I haven't burned a drop in 5K miles.

Leave the VCM alone, is part of what gets you the mileage and the gen 3 is really good.

I can get 30+ out of an AWD pickup truck if I baby it which is absolutely STELLAR for a vehicle with so much capability.

UD
 
tbm5690 said:
Any fuel dilution issues that you can see based on the UoAs? This is my only reason for toying with running a W-30 instead.
Click to expand...

I've been pulling all the UOA's from j35's I can find on the site and not seen an issue with it.

The OLM is a really refined & tested piece of software at this stage.

UD
 
We have a 2020 Pilot with the same engine.
I was worried like you about the 0W-20 and being direct injected.
My wife short trips it mostly - 75% city / 25% hwy , OLM went off at 15% when it had 4,900 miles.
I was going to have it changed at 5k even if the OLM didn't show it was ready, but low and behold the OLM beat me to it.
With that said ... Top Tier gas and an Italian tune up at least one every few weeks , I'm not worrying about 0W-20 in it anymore.
 
Bud_One said:
We have a 2020 Pilot with the same engine.
I was worried like you about the 0W-20 and being direct injected.
My wife short trips it mostly - 75% city / 25% hwy , OLM went off at 15% when it had 4,900 miles.
I was going to have it changed at 5k even if the OLM didn't show it was ready, but low and behold the OLM beat me to it.
With that said ... Top Tier gas and an Italian tune up at least one every few weeks , I'm not worrying about 0W-20 in it anymore.
Click to expand...
spring texas is where my pilot lives as well! I guess my wife does same type of driving and OLM goes off at around 4-4.5K, and that's where I'm changing it.

Make sure you change the ATF as well. It seems to degrade pretty quickly on these pilots. I've been lately monitoring tranny temps and it's running quite hot during in town driving at 195-200F. I'm still using DW1 for right now and doing a D&F at 10K intervals.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Help me select oil for 2020 Ford Explorer ST
Replies
7
Views
975
FatOrangeCat
F
1990 Lexus LS400 1UZFE Oil Recommendation
Replies
10
Views
691
Yah-Tah-Hey
Z
2020 CX5 oil capacity discrepancy
2 3 4
Replies
64
Views
4K
zfasts03
B
2014 Subaru Forester Oil Weight Recommendation Request
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
TwoTires
N
BMW dealer recommends other oil spec than manual recommends
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
edyvw
Back
Top