Best oil for an abused Honda Civic

[rg144]

My daughter has this '92 Honda [automatic]. She and her twin brother never give this poor thing a break. She bought it with 160K on the ticker and proceeded to fry it's head gasket. So we popped in a new engine (off ebay + her brother's Auto shop class at tech school put a rebuilt engine in for $250).

So every time I look, the oil is dirty. I change the oil (with Pure-1 filters) with the recommended 5W30 dino (consider the break-in period a formality with these two). Then I check and, whoa!, the two of them have put 3K on the car in 1 or 2 months.

This engine is *not* going to have a good life.

I was in the car when my son was driving - I never drove a car like that!!! ... Severe service doesn't describe it.

So ... 5W30 is recommended. Mario Andretti is driving. Cruella De Ville owns it (she spun off the road in snow and took out the neighbor's split rail fence and small pine tree).

It's ready now for another oil change (I just bugged my eyes out when I looked at the odometer tonight because I looked at the dirty dipstic and checked the last oil change and it's already past 3K). (Doesn't burn a drop - those blessed Honda engines

)

If you were me, what would you drop in it?

 

[FL-400S]

5W30 Supertech synthetic. I think its $2.50 a quart if you buy a 6 pack. Should last you a few months longer than the dino anyway. And in case they total the car, at least you wouldnt have been pouring liquid gold into it (M1, GC, etc) Heck Im gonna start mixing some ST syn with mostly dino in my old tercel. Like a half quart to 3 quarts of dino, probably shell.

 

[BlazerLT]

Why are you condoning a child that is not respecting a nice vehicle that they are given?

Why are you repairing a car for a kid that is driving the **** out of it. Smack him on the back of the head and tell him to slow it down!

He is never going to learn anything if he drives the **** out it, abuses it and you fix it for him.

Tell him if he ruins this car he can buy his own.

I guarantee the car will last a lot longer after that.

 

[seotaji]

quote:

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Why are you condoning a child that is not respecting a nice vehicle that they are given?

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quote:

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She bought it with 160K

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Supertech is a decent deal for a good oil.

 

[JHZR2]

Honestly, I have zero tolerance for young drivers who push their cars hard and drive irresponsibly. So I have to agree with Blazer.

I am 24, just out of grad school, and had my 83 MB 300D, which had 228k miles on it, ran like day 1, and was going to last me a LOT longer. It was destroyed by a 20 year old girl who was driving too fast, not paying attention, and slammed into it (took the brunt of the force), as well as two other cars before she stopped. Thank goodness everyone was OK. Whats worse, she was uninsured!

SO I am sorry to come across as if Im telling you how to parent, but considering that I suffered a major loss (my car was showroom perfect), could have been injured REALLY badly, or riders in my back seat could have been killed, I am ****** off. Its tough to look back and think about what could have happened, and then condone driving that is racecar-ish and able to blow headgaskets, etc. on a mecanically fine engine.

JMH

 

[dropitby]

See what happens when you give out too much information.

Its a Honda put in some M1 5/30 or any synthetic oil on sale (Havoline synthetic $3.38) and let it go. If the oil is dark you may want to run some ARX first though.

 

[Bror Jace]

Without giving rg144 a speech about how to raise kids, I'd opt for one of the 15W-40 oils. Other than Delo (and of course Schaeffer), I'm not really sold that one is better than another anymore.

This will gently clean the used motor, will provide some additional hydrodynamic protection over the 5W-30 which is recommended.

And, of course, some extra barrier protection as well.

--- Bror Jace

 

[rg144]

Don't mind a bit hearing the opinions. This wasn't going to be technical discussion anyway. Just getting ideas ....

Good idea. Hadn't thought about ST synthetic. Cheap would be better, and synthetic will cut down the amount of time I spend on it. I doubt they'll even keep it for 100,000 miles.

Oh, and don't worry, I wouldn't categroize them as hazards on the highway. To clarify, the road was icy and on a bend in the road. The fence gets taken out like every other month even in good weather by other drivers! And the son is a decent driver (at least when I've been with him). But it's full throttle getting going. I always babied my cars. Mostly because they were hand-me-downs and on their last legs. If you abused them, they'd give up the ghost.

But you guys are right, the younger drivers are scary. They tell me stories of their friends who have been in 3 or 4 wrecks already, trashing BMW's. I was in Ireland in the spring. The insurance for kids there is like $2400 a year. And that goes for motorcycle insurance too. Keeps the kids off the road the first few years. Consequently the kids are all on-campus in colleges or else move to cities for work (the ones I met anyway).

 

[JHZR2]

I'd have to suggest German Castrol 0w-30 if you could get it, or else maybe redline 5w-30!

Why? If its revved up high, the redline is designed for race engines, etc., itll provide great protection, has some cleaning ability, and a pretty strong adds package for extreme situations.

GC is good because its a heavier 30wt oil, so if the engine is starting to wear some (I dont know how old the replacement engine is), it may help provide better protection on the wear surfaces, without as much loss (you say that it doesnt burn any as of now, but you never know when that might start).

HDEOs will help ensure that a thick oil is present, and the engine stays clean. 15w-40 may be too heavy though for this engine, maybe try the motorcraft super duty 10w-30 'wintertime' diesel oil, or delvac 1300 10w-30 if you can find it.

Supercraft is a good-priced fake synthetic oil that may provide better wear. The price is right, and you know its protecting as well as most any other oil out there.

Dark oil may not indicate anything. Have you seen how hot the engine gets when its driven hard? Ill bet head temps go up high during the transient situations especially, which this car gets a lot of apparently. There isnt anything that can be said against dark oil right off, I'd say that you really need a UOA to determine how the engine is wearing, as that will really determine if the oil is doing its job.

IMO, Supertech synth, HDEO, then high quality standard oil would be the best cost-effective choices. How much better/worse theyll do compared to the synthetic reccomendations could be seen with a series of UOAs.

If you go dino, I think that perhaps you might want to go with Castrol GTX over pennzoil... Although pennz. has a better additive package, GTX is apparently more shear-stable, and so might protect better in the transients, high rpm times, etc. But thats really a case for argument.

Auto-RX probably wouldnt hurt, for two say, 1000 mile OCIs with a halfway decent dino oil. You might also consider adding lubecontrol, which has a lot of followers and is good stuff apparently (havent tried it). It should control oxidation and breakdown of the oil, while adding in the cleaning. Probably a worthy investment for this car, regardless of which oil you choose.

Probably most important of all, since this car has an auto trans is to ensure that the ATF is replaced REALLY often, like maybe 1yr/12k. Hard driving surely will cause a lot of junk to get in there, and the AT will probably be toast long before the replaced engine gives in.

JMH

[ September 23, 2004, 04:32 PM: Message edited by: JHZR2 ]

 

[TC]

Abused, older Honda with an older, used engine...

Any name brand "SL" 5w-30 will do just fine. Go by price -- anything over 99 cents/qt is too much for this ride.

 

[nthach]

Chevron Supreme 10W-30, it's what I use in my Lexus and my dad's Toyota Cressida with 247,000 miles on it.

 

[Ugly3]

Change the oil every 3 months with most any API certified SL or SM oil (even Wal*Mart Supertech oil). Add a ST filter for maybe $2.50 and you will be all set for less than $50.00 a year.

Many safe miles.

 

[Bogatyr]

My brother in law has a similar vehicle, a 1992 Civic DX, 109k miles on it now. It's an oil burner, something I don't usually see in Hondas, but we bought it at 99k and I'm assuming there were some lapses in maintenance by the previous owner.

In any case, we're running Rotella 15w40 in it for now in an attempt to clean the thing up a bit. I'm tempted to try the AutoRX in it, but since it didn't do much for our RAV4, I'll prolly just save that for the Rover and the CRX.

So, I'd recommend the Rotella 15w40 for warmer climes. I'm going to have to poke around for what to do this winter. I'm assuming he won't want to spring for the synth 5w40 come winter, so we might go with something like Pennzoil 5w30 with the caveat that the oil be checked every other day or so...

Bogatyr

 

[TEXDOG]

rg144
find some delvac 1300 10w 30 and go 6k on it. at less than $2/quart you get max protection and a break between changes.

 

[rjundi]

Given this vehicles age and its drivers are just going to likely flog it, the cheapest oil is fine (ie supertech) esepcially at your intervals of 3k. I would not put a lot of investment into an old car that is getting beaten that may get wrecked or have another major component fail and cause you to junk it. Good luck.

 

[SWS]

I have a '03 Civic and have read that Civic engines do not idle very well on thick oil. They will also rev-up slower. My engine is 1.7L that is "oversquare" (62mm bore & 95mm stroke, as I recall), so it makes sense to me that this the small displacement with long stroke would struggle at cold idle with thick oil. I live in Northeast TN, so our climates are probably similar. I have chosen to use M1 5W-30 and so far it does fine. However, this will be my first winter on this oil.

Best Wishes as you motor along!

P.S. I have teens also --> I recommend that you refocus your kids on the importance of safe driving, make them leave for their destinations in PLENTY of time so they do not 'feel' that they have to hurry, do some "check-rides" with them, and enforce the law -and- your rules. As you know, there is always the tendency to push things a little faster, cut a corner a little tighter, etc -- this leads to bad habits and downright dangerous driving, wrecks, etc, as evidenced by their friends. They need to build good habits while they are under your direct supervision. Finally, regular full-throttle driving is abusive and really unneccessary. If they can be taught to moderate their driving now, even on an old car, then it will pay them real financial dividends in the long term, on newer cars, in fewer breakdowns and repairs.

 

[drive it forever]

Use only 5w30 or better yet a 0w30.Something cheap like chevron or havoline or any gf-3 api sl will do fine. On the viscosity side, the reason is simple, honda engines in general are built tight and are built as good as a race engine builder's balanced and blue-printed engine wood be. A 10w30 over a 5w30 will only increase engine wear more, because of it taking longer to flow to moving engine parts. How many times have you seen a teenager start up a cold engine and race off? Would you want your kid to have a 15w40 diesel oil in their car or 10w30 on a cold winter day in pennsylvania? I owned a 96 honda civic hx, bought it new, used 5w30 mobil1 in it exclusively, and put 142k on it before selling it. I abused the car from day one as i was 22 years old when i bought it. I went through the gears and bumped the rev limiter daily, and in fact, in winter with the heater on, i would feel a great but temporary increase in heat from the vents when i would floor the car getting on the freeway. The car never used oil on me, and my friend who bought it from me now has 187k+ on it.

[ September 28, 2004, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: drive it forever ]

 

[STSinNYC]

Brother-in-law used to have a 92 Accord wagon, bought it at about 100K, was burning about 1.5 quarts between changes. Ran fro another 70K miles and he gave it to one of his sons, still running pretty well.

Might think about a dino 5W-30 plus some Schaeffers 132, a relatively inexpensive way to add more protection and reduce consumption.

 

[Drew99GT]

quote:

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Originally posted by drive it forever:
A 10w30 over a 5w30 will only increase engine wear more, because of it taking longer to flow to moving engine parts.

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Like I've said many a time here, during the summer, your not gaining a thing by assuming that 5w-30 is going to get to engine parts faster. That's RIDICULOUS. You do realize that German Castrol 0W-30 synthetic is THICKER at 80 degrees F than all GF-3 10W-30 dinos?

I'd recommend 5w-30 winter, 10w-30 summer dino. And, like TC said above, go for whatever's cheap. No sense in throwing over $4 a quart oil in this Honda! Well, unless you've got money just burning holes in your pockets!