Do I need Synthetic?

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This question is regarding my 02 Civic with 88,000 miles on it. It's use for about 70%/30% City/Highway. I've been using Syn most it's life with 5k-6K OCI. With the new SN oil out, should I stick with what I've been doing for the past 8 years or go to dino SN at 5K OCI such as Pennzoil 5w20.
 
How many months does it take you to go your 5-6K oci? Without any further info it appears that you are not getting any benefit from running a long drain oil - other than having a squeaky clean engine - I worry about the squeaky part
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Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Dino will give you a "squeaky clean engine"

no need for Syn oil in your Civic.

+1 Pyb,QS or Motorcraft for that matter in 5-20 will give you a clean engine,long engine life,and no problems at a 5-6k oci in your Honda and use a quality filter at every 5-6k oc also.
 
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No NEED for the syn.

ANY SL/SM/SN 5w-x0 oil will protect your engine as well as it can be esp with a short 5-6k OCI. You can run either the 5w-20 or 5w30 and sleep well. My Dad's 2001 Civic has about 170k on it now with its new owner and is running just fine. And the new owner is one of these start it up and nail the throttle drivers.
33.gif


Take care, Bill
 
Originally Posted By: SuperFast
Dino PYB SN 5w30. if not dino PYB SM 5w30 why are you running 5W-20 in your civic. ? 5w30.


The owner's manual says 5w20, the oil cap says 5w20. Is there a reason why I need 5w30?
 
Keep doing what your doing except...

If saving money is a goal, you could start experimenting running longer OCI's. Or, keep your 5-6k intervals and run a 20wt "on-sale" dino.

Either way, you should be able to keep the Squeakness going.
 
Originally Posted By: Silver02ex
Originally Posted By: SuperFast
Dino PYB SN 5w30. if not dino PYB SM 5w30 why are you running 5W-20 in your civic. ? 5w30.


The owner's manual says 5w20, the oil cap says 5w20. Is there a reason why I need 5w30?

No there isn't any reason.

There is not a lot of difference between a 5W-20 dino and a typical 5W-20 GP III syn. But in my area there's not much difference in price either so why bother with a dino is the way I look at it.
I also take the reasoning, one step further. If I'm going to spring for a syn oil and I can get a 0W-20 for not much more than a 5W-20 with the obvious cold start advantages then that's what I'll do.
I have another reason for using the better syn oils; their simply dirt cheap compared to what our European and Aussie friends pay for the same product, so why not take advantage of that reality.
 
Originally Posted By: Silver02ex
Originally Posted By: SuperFast
Dino PYB SN 5w30. if not dino PYB SM 5w30 why are you running 5W-20 in your civic. ? 5w30.


The owner's manual says 5w20, the oil cap says 5w20. Is there a reason why I need 5w30?


Id like to see that Civics until the new one take 5w30 thank you.

Had 94 Civic.. 5w30
89 Civic.. 5w30
97 Civic.. 5w30

Why would 02 be any different

and FTR friend with 2005 Civic uses 5w30 in it too.
 
Originally Posted By: SuperFast
Also in matters of 5W20 i always say 5W30 since it as that extra layer of protection.

Not always and in some cases you're risking if not outright damage at least malfunction such as in variable displacement engines like the 5.7L Hemi which (gasp!) specs 5w20 because of the design of the valve train.

If you ran Xw30 in a Hemi will it grenade? No. Is the MDS system going to operate as designed (or at all?). No.

To understand how the system works read:
http://www.asashop.org/autoinc/oct2009/techtips.htm

Quote:

It's important to know this engine uses 5W-20 engine oil. If the wrong oil is used, fault code P1521 can be set, and the vehicle may show symptoms of a shudder - similar to a torque converter shudder - when the MDS system is activated and deactivated. Other symptoms may include MDS performance codes or engine misfire codes.

Before spending a lot of time with these codes, use the vehicle service history to find out what type of oil is in the engine. Because this is not always possible, the next best thing is to replace the oil (and filter) with 5W-20. This may have to be done twice to fully restore the system back to normal. Oil sludging, restricted oil passages or lifter contamination can also cause problems with this system.
 
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very few applications need synthetic, and your application is not one of them. For that OCI any SM/SN 5w30 dino will make that engine outlast the car.
 
Originally Posted By: kcfx4
Originally Posted By: FZ1
Stay with the syn. It's worked so far,hasn't it?

+1


+1 that honda will go a million miles on syn... heck they go 300k on garbage oil that never gets changed.

but are you still gonna want to drive it when the body has 400k on it even tho the engine is like new?
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
No NEED for the syn.

ANY SL/SM/SN 5w-x0 oil will protect your engine as well as it can be esp with a short 5-6k OCI. You can run either the 5w-20 or 5w30 and sleep well. My Dad's 2001 Civic has about 170k on it now with its new owner and is running just fine. And the new owner is one of these start it up and nail the throttle drivers.
33.gif


Take care, Bill


good point there, my friend has a civic with 250k on it. the only oil he has ever ran is gtx 5/20 and he goes 6-8k. the car still runs like new.. all highway miles tho
 
Originally Posted By: electrolover
Originally Posted By: kcfx4
Originally Posted By: FZ1
Stay with the syn. It's worked so far,hasn't it?

+1


+1 that honda will go a million miles on syn... heck they go 300k on garbage oil that never gets changed.

but are you still gonna want to drive it when the body has 400k on it even tho the engine is like new?


Nah man it will go a million more miels on dino 5w30 im being serious he doesnt need it.

Unnless she drives his syn 5W-20 into a time warp and ends up at kodiak valley lounnge in a hot tub and all oil thats not synthetic sucks.

Im sticking to dino 5w30 for his car. Unless he needs to waste money and wear his engine out.
 
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