Castrol GTX - Lots of VTEC and 3K changes.. Ok?

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OCB

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98 Acura Integra GSR VTEC motor with about 85K now. Just finsihed my ARX treatment.

I really like kicking this car into the VTEC alot. Manual calls for 5w-30. Will 5w-30 Castrol GTX hold up for at least 3000 miles. I do not abuse the car but like to push it to the red line probably more often than your avg driver.

I was thinking about synthetic but at this milage I'm not sure if I want to make the switch. I'm the second owner and bought it at about 60. Car has seen regular 3k changes with various dinos. The ARX has left me with a cam seal leak and I'm thinking it would get worse with syn.

So the question is would GTX be a fine conventional oil for 3000 under these conditions. Any suggestions for a better option? Thanks!
 
From what I've read on this forum, GTX is a great oil and that is what I'm usng right now for breaking-in my G35. 3000mi should be no problem for any dino. Other oils I've seen recommended are Chevron Supreme/Havoline, Pennzoil, and Motorcraft. Might be a good idea to try several of them and see if any stop the leak.
 
GTX would be fine and you may want to try the Syntec Blend, usualy gets good reviews here. With you taking it to red line so often I would say go to a 10w30 once out of the winter months, stays above 40degF. This viscosity will not break down as fast, which is especialy true of dino oils.
 
Long time user of GTX here. GF-4 changes everything! I don't think we have enough data to say which will be best in GF-4 final form.

I'd like to see some more data on Pennzoil and GTX in GF-4.
 
The cam seal leak isn't going to go away.

Here is the how-to on replacing the cam seal

The parts cost about $10 for the valve cover gasket and the cam seal.

It took me less than 45 minutes on my 2001 Acura Integra Type-R. I run 3,000 mile OCI with 5w-30 Castrol GTX and I run it to 8,400rpm all day every day
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GTX is great! 5w-30 winter, 10w-30 summer would be superb for your Integra. You may want to look into the GTX High Mileage as well, as it is thicker within each viscosity grade/better HT/HS etc. May offer better protection at 8,000 rpm with somewhat higher mileage on the odo.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions! So it sounds like GTX is a fairly good choice! Maybe I will stick with that for now.

Type-R

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Tell me about it.... I haven't had a chance to try one of those. So why do you go with dino on that Type R? Have you tried other DINOs in there? If I had picked up this car up earlier I would have put synthetic in for sure. At this point I just don't know if the switch would be good.


quote:

Originally posted by Logik:
The cam seal leak isn't going to go away.

Here is the how-to on replacing the cam seal

The parts cost about $10 for the valve cover gasket and the cam seal.

It took me less than 45 minutes on my 2001 Acura Integra Type-R. I run 3,000 mile OCI with 5w-30 Castrol GTX and I run it to 8,400rpm all day every day
smile.gif


 
Is this Castrol SYTEC.... Or is there a SYNTEC Blend as well. If I'm not mistaken I remember reading here that SYNTEC is not a "full synthetic"?

quote:

Originally posted by vtmecheng:
GTX would be fine and you may want to try the Syntec Blend, usualy gets good reviews here. With you taking it to red line so often I would say go to a 10w30 once out of the winter months, stays above 40degF. This viscosity will not break down as fast, which is especialy true of dino oils.

 
Only the 0w-30 Castrol Syntec that says made in Germany on it is a true synthetic, the others are just high-quality oils, but not a true synthetic.

The Type-R is awesome, I used to own a 1997 LS and I love the R so much more. Handles like it is on rails, and its pretty quick. Honestly not too much faster than a stock GS-R but the suspension is beautiful on the R.

I use dyno because I can't find GC, and Mobil 1 is known to be consumed faster than dyno and I burn oil a bit in VTEC because I hit it a lot. So I just use GTX and I don't consume much.
 
I have the same model integra as you, bought recently with 48K miles. Previous owner used valvoline dino oil. I just changed the oil at 50K to Motorcraft "Synthetic" Blend 5W-30 after reading favorable reports here. The reason is for good cold temp performance of this oil. It is $1.42 per quart at Wally World. Probably can go past 3K OCI which I will find out when I do UOA.

Regarding the cam seal leak; this is a common occurrence in integra motors. There was a recent post here about that after using AutoRx with a link to an Acura forum on how to replace it. You can search under the "Additives" section of the forums. Otherwise maybe give it time to see if the leaks goes away after the AutoRx treatment.
 
Thats good to know about the dino burning less in your engine. Thanks! When I tried a 96 special edition I actually felt like it was faster off the line than my GSR. But then you get close to that 6 7 and 8 on the RPMs and its all over.


quote:

Originally posted by Logik:
Only the 0w-30 Castrol Syntec that says made in Germany on it is a true synthetic, the others are just high-quality oils, but not a true synthetic.

The Type-R is awesome, I used to own a 1997 LS and I love the R so much more. Handles like it is on rails, and its pretty quick. Honestly not too much faster than a stock GS-R but the suspension is beautiful on the R.

I use dyno because I can't find GC, and Mobil 1 is known to be consumed faster than dyno and I burn oil a bit in VTEC because I hit it a lot. So I just use GTX and I don't consume much.


 
quote:

Originally posted by OCB:
Is this Castrol SYTEC.... Or is there a SYNTEC Blend as well. If I'm not mistaken I remember reading here that SYNTEC is not a "full synthetic"?

As stated above, there have been some major changes in oils recently.

To answer your question, there is both a Castrol Syntec and a Castrol Syntec Blend. The Syntec Blend seems to have held up very well for the few UOA's that are posted here.

Now, with recent chnages:

Syntec 0w-30 (GC) - we think its a group IV or better, but we are NOT sure yet.

Other Syntec weights - was group III, I'm not sure anymore (5w-40 & 20w-50 come to mind)

Syntec Blend - Once again, not really sure what the blended oil is , Group III, IV, or V?
 
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