Best oil for new Honda - 50,000 miles/yr

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I hate used cars, I like to break everything myself. That Civic should get you an easy 200K, I also would use Amsoil with quality filters and change both at 15K with zero worries. Another idea is to move closer to work.....alas you must be in sales like I am and have to cover a decent sized state. Hope you get a decent mileage reimbursement.
 
They just upped my state mileage reimbursement and I couldnt be happier. Sadly though I usually only make one round trip that counts per week but thats still $30 I didnt have before.
 
I am the original poster and I do live in Pennsylvania. My work territory is "most of Maryland" hence the excessive miles. I don't get reimbursed by the mile, just a little gas money from the company ...... and a large tax write off.

I'm thinking of going with the Amsoil 0W20, good filter, and 15,000 to 17,500 OCI ...... as many of you have recommended. Or Mobil1 and 10,000 to 12,000 OCI. Decisions, decisions.
 
I have an Element and have driven 55k miles in it. (I have also had nine other Hondas in the past.)

Mobil 1 5W-20 is what I use. After the intial wear in period which still showed fuel dilution at 4800 miles, the engine settled into a very good UOA. I have had intervals of 7k to 11k, and the oil has been up to the task.

The E uses no oil until about 9000 miles needing a quart added. I use that point to determine when I change the oil: Instead of adding a quart, I change it instead of adding and wasting the quart in a thousand miles.

I use whatever filter falls to hand. The UOA shows no difference in filtration whether an expensive one from Honda or Wix, or cheap Fram.

I would never use RP, as I have had clients compressors harmed by it. I just cannot reconcile RP's claims with what I have seen.
 
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Originally Posted By: PT1
Originally Posted By: Pablo
Mike,

Amsoil ASM - Amsoil ASM 0W-20 Synthetic Oil

15K mile OCI's

Amsoil EaO20 Oil filter.


This is what I would do and go 15k. If you don't want to go with Amsoil then Mobil1EP would be my second choice. But Amsoil is the only oil I would run past 10k. I have a friend who has the same driving schedule and has run Amsoil 15k for years and over 300k in his trucks.


I have a 02 Mustang GT and use the above mentioned Amsoil and I change it every 20K, and I now have 66K on it and it runs like a top, and I do drive it like it was designed to be driven.


IMO there is no filter on the market that compares to an Amsoil EAO filter unless of course its a Donaldson, which is where Amsoil got its filter technology from. The synthetic nano-fiber technology was designed for the air induction (turbine intake) filtration system on the M1-A Tank for the US Army.

If you really want to extend your ODI then use a bypass filter and use UOA, the sky might be the limit.
 
Originally Posted By: MadMike4
I am the original poster and I do live in Pennsylvania. My work territory is "most of Maryland" hence the excessive miles. I don't get reimbursed by the mile, just a little gas money from the company ...... and a large tax write off.

I'm thinking of going with the Amsoil 0W20, good filter, and 15,000 to 17,500 OCI ...... as many of you have recommended. Or Mobil1 and 10,000 to 12,000 OCI. Decisions, decisions.


I suggest the Amsoil and Amsoil EaO filter. While your buying it, add a bottle of Amsoil P.i. fuel treatment to your order, or several.
 
Pennzoil Platinum looks like the cost/effective winner in synth oil. I could see taking it out past 10k, easily.

Remember, you are talking about a new car, not some old beater in the same situation. An old car, yeah...push out the ocis and save a buck, but in this case, I'd spend the extra dollars for an extra change or two, not so much on expensive oil. Since your driving is so excessive, that down-time or inconvenience doing the oil changes is a factor to you, that spending more on AMSoil is appropriate.

However, I can see five or even more 10k mile changes a year if I was doing the service myself. I already do 4 timed ones a year on my new Accord, about 7500 miles a pop lets me use over-the-counter on sale synths. Anyway, for you, I'm biased towards SIX DIY changes of cheap synth or good dino oil, re-using a decent filter like the grey Fram Tough Guard. Every two months is no sweat, kind of fun! That would be no more that $60 for SM dino oil and three $5 filters, $75 a year...maybe even use the oil life monitior if you have one. Factory maintenance to the letter, using the DIY skill to make it cheap. What's wrong with that?

Heck, spend the money and do some UOAs and experiment with brands, just for fun rather than going cheap. Since you drive so many miles, your ride could be a test-bed for the Forum, the belle of the ball. Everyone here loves Hondas, go for it.
 
I chose Amsoil ACD 30/10-30 and an EAO for my TL when I was commuting a lot. Though it spec'd 5-20 I figured the number of cold starts was very low compared to the number of fully warm miles and the ACD seems like a no compromise oil in my situation. Even though I don't commute like I used to, I'm sticking with the same oil.
 
Originally Posted By: MadMike4
Guys - Help me out here. I drive a lot of mostly highway miles for my work. I regularly put 50,000 miles a year on my car. My Jetta TDI did very well for me for 220,000 miles. It's gone now.

I have just bought a new '08 Honda Civic EX, 4dr, manual. I want to make it last 4 years and 200,000 (or longer). If I follow the recommended maintenance schedule, it will be in the shop ALL THE TIME and cost a fortune. I'm thinking of using a synthetic or synthetic blend and longer OCI. Please recommend an oil, oil filter, and OCI that will make the new Honda engine last and perform well but also work out well moneywise.

I've garnered a lot of info on this forum already. Great place. What do you think for my situation? Thanks in advance.


I would say MC 5w-20 with Mobil 1 filter!!
 
This car would be a great test-bed for the 3 top 5w-20 dino oils, MC/Havoline DS/PZ YB and compare to PP. Do a short run to flush the engine, then an extended drain and UOA, repeat with a different oil brand.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Could PP safely last 15K OCI if you did all highway miles ?


Before Honda cars were equipped with OLM's the schedule was 10k miles for normal operation and oil filter changed at every other oil change, this recommendation was with conventional oils. With this and some good UOA's on Civic at 10k OCI with conventional oils, I think it is safe to run PP with 15k highway miles OCI's, but only after warranty.
 
perfect test case for amsoil's extended drain products. Depends how many times you want to get under the car and/or how much spare time you have (or hit the nearest jiffy lube if you're not a diy'er). Cost would be close between short oci's with dino, and long oci's with amsoil.
 
Originally Posted By: buster
I'm thinking SSO actually @ 35k mile drains. They claim 35k or 1 year. I say give it a shot. 1 cSt differene between SSO and ASM. In other words, your car won't notice that SSO is a 30wt and ASM is a 20wt. Most likely.


This is exactly what I would suggest. Buster sums it up perfectly.
 
Originally Posted By: Shipo
I swap posts with an individual on another board that has both a Jetta TDI and a Civic, and both cars accumulate nearly 50,000 miles per year. This individual has been running Mobil 1 0W-20 in his Civic and has UOAs that suggest that his 20,000 mile OCI is just about perfect. FWIW, he's been running 25,000 mile OCIs on his Jetta with Mobil 1 0W-40, and based upon his UOAs, he's thinking to bump the Jetta to a 30,000 mile OCI.


20,000 on M1 0w-20?
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
Originally Posted By: buster
I'm thinking SSO actually @ 35k mile drains. They claim 35k or 1 year. I say give it a shot. 1 cSt differene between SSO and ASM. In other words, your car won't notice that SSO is a 30wt and ASM is a 20wt. Most likely.


This is exactly what I would suggest. Buster sums it up perfectly.


35k on SSO right out of the gate is probably not the best way to approach that goal. I would suggest SSO for 20k with a UOA to see where things are at, then if things look good start stretching out the OCIs.
 
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