Best oil for a 2001 Honda Prelude S

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I have a 2001 Honda Prelude S with approximately 76500 miles. I recently moved east to VA, and I'd like to know what type of oil is recommended for a mid-Atlantic location?
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My driving style is easy, no hard braking and generally no fast acceleration. I don't commute and drive my car 3 times per week--short trips in the city.

There are no known problems with the car. I've noticed that he runs rich and burns a minimal amount of oil. I've never had a problem passing inspection or emission.

Since I purchased the vehicle I have only used Mobil 1 full synthetic oil and oil changes are done every 5 months. I like Mobil 1 but very few places (one maybe) here seem to have it and I'd rather not order online. And, at my new location, I'm not able to change the oil myself. The nearby Honda dealership offers their Honda brand oil but I'm not sure about that option.

Should I switch to a high mileage oil?

Any opinions would be appreciated.
 
Any name-brand 5w30 synthetic would work fine for a 5k change interval, maybe even longer. Probably want to stick with 5k because you aren't driving much and don't have the ability to burn off many contaminants.
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
Any name-brand 5w30 synthetic would work fine for a 5k change interval, maybe even longer. Probably want to stick with 5k because you aren't driving much and don't have the ability to burn off many contaminants.


Agreed, even a good dino oil could be good as it won't do any better than a syn dispersing water, fuel and other containments due to your driving habits being quite hard on engine oils ... I would maybe even suggest a 5-6 month oil interval as opposed to an interval based on miles if you are doing less than a 1k miles/month.

You could switch to high mileage conventional oil if you decide to use a regular dino, if you are having some oil consumption or have a little leak somewhere. FWIW, M1 makes a high mileage engine oil but sounds like you will have trouble finding it. Otherwise sticking with a regular synthetic like you're used to would be cool too. There really isn't any wrong answer here unless you are looking to save some $$$.
 
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I would just keep using the Mobil 1. I have an engine in the same family (the 2.3) and I'm very happy with it. Piston slap noise on startup goes away quicker than with my last fill (QSHM); little or no valvetrain noise once warm. I have a feeling that non HM Mobil 1 is on the thin side amongst others in that grade (thus explaining the slightly better gas mileage I've been getting). I do know that these engines don't like 40 weight, I tried it once and the lifters made a lot of noise. Mine burns a fair bit of oil even after getting the valve stem seals done, so I'd rather have the M1 HM 5W30 in there, but they don't sell it in Canada. I think I stuck a ring years ago; and any thickener additives I have used in the past have either not helped one bit with that, or collected between the rings (I haven't had it apart to have a look). You should probably just pick an oil after carefully researching it, then find a place that carries it. I doubt the Honda oil is Mobil, and I found out their blue filters are the cheaper Fram variety.
 
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