I just picked up a 2003 Honda Accord V6 EX with around 170-180k on it (I forget exactly) and it needs an oil change. I was "warned" that the engine is already using synthetic (or semi synthetic I forget which he said) and "can only be used with synthetic from now on". Is that true? I mean I cant see how otherwise when going from dino to synthetic there'd still be some dino left which if its harmful should be no different than having a little synthetic in your dino oil...
Also what is the 'minimum acceptable oil filter' anyone would recommend? Considering i've seen videos showing that some on the low end (Frams?) are literally worthless or dont even properly filter due to poor manufacturing...
I know synthetic is better but i'm not sure if it's worth the money on an older car. I like the car but don't expect it to run forever and I dont know if the way Hondas did a kamikaze with their 5 speed automatics will show up again. (he says it was either rebuilt or replaced at 100k, but I didn't know if it would show up again as a problem when I neared 200k for instance or how much life I should expect from the transmission. I generally expected the engine to outlive the 5 speed auto transmission which in it's first year seemed to die alot. So I didn't want to waste money.)
FWIW he said he ran normal oil most of its life "then switched to synthetic to preserve what remained of engine life" (which sounds backwards to me, why not prevent the wear in the first place) so I was wondering if his switch to synthetic so late was pointless anyways.
Also what is the 'minimum acceptable oil filter' anyone would recommend? Considering i've seen videos showing that some on the low end (Frams?) are literally worthless or dont even properly filter due to poor manufacturing...
I know synthetic is better but i'm not sure if it's worth the money on an older car. I like the car but don't expect it to run forever and I dont know if the way Hondas did a kamikaze with their 5 speed automatics will show up again. (he says it was either rebuilt or replaced at 100k, but I didn't know if it would show up again as a problem when I neared 200k for instance or how much life I should expect from the transmission. I generally expected the engine to outlive the 5 speed auto transmission which in it's first year seemed to die alot. So I didn't want to waste money.)
FWIW he said he ran normal oil most of its life "then switched to synthetic to preserve what remained of engine life" (which sounds backwards to me, why not prevent the wear in the first place) so I was wondering if his switch to synthetic so late was pointless anyways.