Accord 2004 100K...switch to synthetic?

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Hi,

I just bought a well maintained Accord 2004 with 100K miles.

Where I live, winter overnight temperatures occasionally plunge below -4 F. The last owner used conventional oil and he kept the car in a garage. Cold days were not an issue for him.

So I was planning to use Full Synthetic engine oil (Valvoline Synpower or others) considering it offers a better cold start protection during the winter. According to the car manual, it is ok to use 5w20 Synthetic oil.

Base on some people experiences, I'm afraid synthetic oil will find its way through the engine seals.

I am looking for cold weather protection. Should I used a good quality conventional oil (Valvoline Max life), a blend or take a chance with full synthetic? What do you recommend?

Thanks,
 
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I would recommend Mobil 1 0w20, Pennzoil Platinum 0w20, Quaker State Ultimate Durability 0w20, or TGMO 0w20 (Toyotas own synthetic, available at dealer). 0w20 is back spec'd by Honda for your car. Synthetic wont cause leaky seals, it might clean up some crud that is hiding the leaks, but it wont cause leaks. Is yours the K24 or J30?
 
0w20 would be better, doesn't really matter what brand as long as you change it on time. Call around some Toyota/Honda/Subaru dealerships and see if they sell 0w20 for cheap, retail stores charge a HUGE premium for 0w20 in Canada for some reason.

If it's an automatic then do 3 drain/fills with Honda DW-1 ATF, it'll make a HUGE difference in cold shifts. Make sure you get the black bottled Canadian DW-1 that says full synthetic on the label, the silver American bottles may not be full synth (doesn't say on bottle).
 
-4 degrees? You could continue to do what the former owner was doing. There would be no repercussions in doing that.....heck, there are many conventional 5w-30 oils that'll flow just fine in -4 weather, much less a 5w-20 oil.....
 
It is a K24 and I made a mistake, it is a 2005.

Interesting
smile.gif
when have you red/heard that 0w20 is recommended for an Accord 2005? I can not find on google any info about it.

Yeah, that is what I am scared of...a hidden leak.
 
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
0w20 would be better, doesn't really matter what brand as long as you change it on time. Call around some Toyota/Honda/Subaru dealerships and see if they sell 0w20 for cheap, retail stores charge a HUGE premium for 0w20 in Canada for some reason.

If it's an automatic then do 3 drain/fills with Honda DW-1 ATF, it'll make a HUGE difference in cold shifts. Make sure you get the black bottled Canadian DW-1 that says full synthetic on the label, the silver American bottles may not be full synth (doesn't say on bottle).


Nice info! Thanks!
Unfortunately, it is a manual transmission. Any fluid recommendation?
 
My choice would be to use whatever 5w-20 synthetic blend you can buy at the best price, considering product availability and pricing in Canada is different than in the USA. Mobil Super HM is hard to beat for the money, but good brands are a plenty.
 
It's true Honda back-speced 5W-20 cars to 0W-20. Saw it on a chart at my dealer.
 
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Originally Posted By: double vanos
-4 degrees? You could continue to do what the former owner was doing. There would be no repercussions in doing that.....heck, there are many conventional 5w-30 oils that'll flow just fine in -4 weather, much less a 5w-20 oil.....


At my work, there will be no car shelter so the outside temp will be lower cause of the wind. But yeah, all my cars did fine with conventional. Synthetic just offers a better viscosity at low temperature.

I forgot to mention that I'm 10 minutes from my work and there are 6 traffic lights. The car wont have time to warm up.
 
Here's where I have to chime in. I just purchased a 2006 Acura TL with 145,000 miles that was very well maintained with whatever oil the Honda/Acura dealer uses, so I've been researching this site as well. The one thing I've noticed after being directed to the PQI America website is that one oil seems to have the best flow rate for cold weather over all others and that is Havoline full synthetic. I live in Nebraska and last winter we had over 100 days of temps that were below 0 Fahrenheit.(I laughed when I read one poster talk about cold starting his car in Texas at 51 degrees F.) The 5-20 or 0-20 will be fine, if you go to a Honda dealer now you will see that all their new cars are 0W-20 only. Here is a link to PQI America. This shows standard 5W-20 oils BUT you'll notice when you click on the Havoline that it is the synthetic. The pertinent measurement you are looking for is the one titled "Viscosity @ -30ºC mPa s (cP) (ASTM D5293)"
http://www.pqiamerica.com/Feb2014/consolidated5w20ALL.html

You'll notice that the Havoline is lower than the others. In this category, lower is better. In fact, I challenge anyone to find an oil with a lower measurement in this category,whether conventional or synthetic. The old Amsoil comparison you find online?
https://www.amsoil.com/lit/g3115.pdf
They didn't include Havoline in their study, and no surprise, Havoline matches Amsoil in that cold cranking category. When I got my TL, after much research I am using Supertech full synthetic for my first change, which was very hot weather, and I'd like to use the new Pennzoil Pure plus for a fall or spring change (I plant on UOA at least 4 oils in this car), but for winter, hands down the Havoline shows the best flow characteristics at cold starting so I'm going with that for the winter.
Tiboi, you may have trouble finding the Havoline locally, as the only place I have ever seen it is at an Advance Auto Part store. If you don't have one near you, perhaps you can order it from them online.
 
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As far as your manual transmission goes.. I had good results on a 99' Civic , using Genuine Honda Manual Transmission fluid.
 
And they are right with your transmission, whether it is a manual or automatic, do a fluid change. If it's an automatic and the fluid is still a nice red, do just one change. It takes nearly 3 quarts and they are $7/quart here in the US. If the fluid is dark red or smells burnt, do at least two changes. And after that, change you fluid once a year at the 3 quarts. (And I never realized that there was a full synthetic version in a black bottle for their ATF. I've never seen it locally. If you can get it, go for it.) For a manual transmission, change it out using the Honda MTF first, don't mess with the GM stuff that everyone switched to because of the 3 gear notchiness. Get a magnetic drain plug for the transmission instead and install it when you do your MTF change. And I'd recommend changing the MTF once a year as well.
 
Havoline isn't available or is very rare in Canada. Your best bet will still be the cheapest 0w20 you can get your hands on especially since you should be changing the oil more frequently under the severe service schedule.
 
Havoline can be found at Husky, but the price per quart isn't worth going out of the way for.

The OP's best bet is to find the cheapest 5W20 or 0W20 syn and rest easy. It's a DD with lots of short trips. This engine needs nothing special.
 
Originally Posted By: Tiboi


Nice info! Thanks!
Unfortunately, it is a manual transmission. Any fluid recommendation?


You wont be saying "unfortunately" a manual when you hit 250K+ and the trans still works fine. I have been having luck with honda genuine MTF, Amsoil MTF, and pennzoil or valvoline MTFs which can be found at most jobber stores.
 
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Havoline isn't available or is very rare in Canada. Your best bet will still be the cheapest 0w20 you can get your hands on especially since you should be changing the oil more frequently under the severe service schedule.


If you make a day trip to New York, it's available at Advance Auto for cheap...
 
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