Help me decide

[wolfox03SS]

I wish to know:

Would you attribute longevity to the heavier oil if he/she drives it like it's hot...

Or sticking a little closer to specification and changing it regular and early.

Maybe a bit of both?

I hammer my personal whip on the regular to keep her free breathing and clear on a just slightly heavier oil spec that really isn't very different.

Fuel economy isn't very different from CAFE and sticker MPG in my case, but actually very much better after rejecting xW-30 and ramping up to a 0W-40 on a Mobil product.

The only time she did rod knock on me was at startup after an induction cleaning where I executed a loaded up intake tract and stall it out method of upper cylinder cleaning procedure.

Oil was of course immediately swapped out afterwards.

On the regular, the moment my rig screams and pings "CHANGE OIL SOON" I'm up under her and dumping sump and filters and haven't had a problem, fuzzy pan bolt magnets or clogged filters. A few months back I had the oil cooler bypass lines off for a new gasket set... no crud.

The valve covers were also off for leaks after a good 175+k mile run and swapped gaskets. The valves and the covers literally wiped clean with paper rags.

 

[Vladimir Bonev]

Does he experience any loss of power with the 40wts?

There is, in his words, a slight hesitation in lower rpm ( lower torque ) , no change after the VTEC comes on.
I've driven the car, before and after we did the engine replacement, and I did not feel a difference between his old motor on 20weigh and this one on 40weight.

 

[hrv]

ATP 205 did in (ruined) the oil pump on my 1985 Olds 88.

Hard to believe that... ATP 205 has a very good reputation....no snake oil here...

 

[hrv]

Castrol euro 0W40 + Liqui Moly motor oil saver.
A friend of mine has an 07 TL with the 3.2 mated to a manual.
He got some bad rod knock around only 80k miles cause he believed "Honda knew best" and was using the 20weight oil they recommended.
Ever since we replaced the engine, the car sees nothing but 40weight oils and it now has over 120k miles on the replaced motor and no issues at all.

Liqui Moly... you mean that it is not another snake oil????

 

[wolfox03SS]

Hard to believe that... ATP 205 has a very good reputation....no snake oil here...

I have to one-up this. My '84 Olds Delta 88 307 after a rebuild absolutely sh*t out an oil pump after 300 MI. It was weak as hello-kitty from the start but the aftermarket was total bull-s*ite.

No chemical treatment killed it. It was garbage from the start with a leg in the dump from the beginning.

Later? Casting voids in the block ultimately killed it when the block split between the valleys right between the tube ends of the water pump.

 

[ka9mnx]

Some people say a slightly thicker oil helps with leaks others say it does nothing so I don’t know.

Internal leaks, maybe. External leaks, no.

 

[Link]

I wish to know:

Would you attribute longevity to the heavier oil if he/she drives it like it's hot...

Or sticking a little closer to specification and changing it regular and early.

Maybe a bit of both?

I hammer my personal whip on the regular to keep her free breathing and clear on a just slightly heavier oil spec that really isn't very different.

Fuel economy isn't very different from CAFE and sticker MPG in my case, but actually very much better after rejecting xW-30 and ramping up to a 0W-40 on a Mobil product.

The only time she did rod knock on me was at startup after an induction cleaning where I executed a loaded up intake tract and stall it out method of upper cylinder cleaning procedure.

Oil was of course immediately swapped out afterwards.

On the regular, the moment my rig screams and pings "CHANGE OIL SOON" I'm up under her and dumping sump and filters and haven't had a problem, fuzzy pan bolt magnets or clogged filters. A few months back I had the oil cooler bypass lines off for a new gasket set... no crud.

The valve covers were also off for leaks after a good 175+k mile run and swapped gaskets. The valves and the covers literally wiped clean with paper rags.

There is, in his words, a slight hesitation in lower rpm ( lower torque ) , no change after the VTEC comes on.
I've driven the car, before and after we did the engine replacement, and I did not feel a difference between his old motor on 20weigh and this one on 40weight.

Hmm, it’s kinda strange that his car would develop rod knock and it being due to a 20wt. There are probably millions of j35’s out there with hundreds of thousands of miles running on 20wts.

 

[Vladimir Bonev]

Hmm, it’s kinda strange that his car would develop rod knock and it being due to a 20wt. There are probably millions of j35’s out there with hundreds of thousands of miles running on 20wts.

The one I'm taIking about is J32, not the type S, and I don't think it was only due to the 20weight oil - the car spends a lot of time bouncing of the rev limiter, sometimes he will shift into first gear and bounce off the limiter while passing someone slow
That said - he hasn't changed his driving style on that second engine, only the weight of the oil.
Hell, when I borrow it, I also rev the nuts out of it - that Honda V6 must be one of the best sounding from all V6 engines!

 

[ctechbob]

Its not going to matter much what you put in it. Try a HM oil in 5W30, but those seals are rock hard, there's not much an oil or additive is going to do for them. Budget to replace the seals on the next timing belt and just deal with the seepage until then.

 

[THORROMIG]

Another vote with that mileage on a high mileage 5W30. I have heard nothing but good things on Valvoline Max Life High Mileage Syn blend & full synthetic. Good luck & keep us posted!!! I personally run nothing but 5W20 in my 08 TL with the 3.2L and with 127k on the clock -- still runs like a top....

 

[wpod]

M1 high mileage. 5W-30

 

[Intelligent Molecule]

Maxlife 5w30 blend.