Honda 3.5l...the dreaded oil question

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I never thought I would ask the dreaded question "What kind of oil for my??" But buying two 5W20 spec cars in three months at opposite ends of the displacement spectrum has my head spinning. I haven't run 20 weight in my CR-V in years but since I got extended warrenties on both the new cars, I figured I better play by the rules.

Are PP and M1 20 weights the best mainstream synths out there that everyone is using? I'm of mind to just run dino, the 3.5l seems pretty easy on oil, but...seeing as Supertech will reduce my credit score....
 
PP 5W-20/0W-20 is a great oil. I'd run that out to the end of the OLM. From what I've seen, the 3.5 isn't nearly as easy on oil as Honda 4-cylinders. Its not a sludger, but it spits out a lot of copper, and chews TBN's down to nothing pretty darn quick.
 
You probably can't find the PP 0W-20 down in this part of the world, but I would think the 5W-20 would do well in both apps. Of course there's M1 0W-20 but if it was me I'd still go the PP route.
 
My dads Honda powered Vue (same 3.5l V6) loves pretty well any 5w-20.

Best MPG seems to be with Pennzoil 5w-20 YB or Castrol 5w-20 GTX.

He follows the OLM and it seems to be around 6-7k.

Supertech ST7317 or Fram filters. Very hard to get off at times until I got a good end cap wrench.

Here is a photo of the oil filler around 80k.

img0020js0.jpg


Of course, it does not show all the deposits on the rings that people are worried about...
smirk2.gif
LOL.gif



Also WATCH the wording on the extended warranties, they sometimes CHANGE the OCI to something real low. My Dad had one that he HAD to get the oil changed at the dealership every 3,000 miles or 3 months. Lucky for him we had a 30 days money back on it.

He took it back... Never needed it. (this was on his 1989 VW Jetta)

Take care, Bill
 
Oh yeah, I always buy the Supertech 3717s. That's all the CR-V has had at least for the past 4 years. I never had an issue with them being difficult to remove until the very last oil change I did on my CR-V. I chewed up that thing. The OLM on the Ody is down to 15% at around 5500 miles. So I figured I'd go ahead and change it this weekend if I have time.

Luckily, on the Fit, at least, the filter is very easy to get to. It's on the front of the engine down near the bottom and there appears to be plenty of space around it.
 
Originally Posted By: addyguy
From what I've seen, the 3.5 isn't nearly as easy on oil as Honda 4-cylinders. Its not a sludger, but it spits out a lot of copper, and chews TBN's down to nothing pretty darn quick.

+1
 
Originally Posted By: JAG
Originally Posted By: addyguy
From what I've seen, the 3.5 isn't nearly as easy on oil as Honda 4-cylinders. Its not a sludger, but it spits out a lot of copper, and chews TBN's down to nothing pretty darn quick.

+1


Darn.

Maybe I SHOULD go synth, then...
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
My dads Honda powered Vue (same 3.5l V6) loves pretty well any 5w-20.

Best MPG seems to be with Pennzoil 5w-20 YB or Castrol 5w-20 GTX.

He follows the OLM and it seems to be around 6-7k.

Supertech ST7317 or Fram filters. Very hard to get off at times until I got a good end cap wrench.

Here is a photo of the oil filler around 80k.

img0020js0.jpg


Of course, it does not show all the deposits on the rings that people are worried about...
smirk2.gif
LOL.gif



Also WATCH the wording on the extended warranties, they sometimes CHANGE the OCI to something real low. My Dad had one that he HAD to get the oil changed at the dealership every 3,000 miles or 3 months. Lucky for him we had a 30 days money back on it.

He took it back... Never needed it. (this was on his 1989 VW Jetta)

Take care, Bill


wow that is pretty clean looking
 
Originally Posted By: BrianWC
Oh yeah, I always buy the Supertech 3717s. That's all the CR-V has had at least for the past 4 years. I never had an issue with them being difficult to remove until the very last oil change I did on my CR-V. I chewed up that thing. The OLM on the Ody is down to 15% at around 5500 miles. So I figured I'd go ahead and change it this weekend if I have time.

Luckily, on the Fit, at least, the filter is very easy to get to. It's on the front of the engine down near the bottom and there appears to be plenty of space around it.


I just did the oil change on my dad's 09 Odyssey EX-L and it was pretty much the same job as changing the oil on my wife's old Acura 3.2TL.

Just park it with the steering wheel turned all the way to the right. The filter is nestled in the opening in the passenger side upper A arm. I chop the top off a 2L coke bottle at an angle then slip that over the filter as I loosen it, then I just allow the filter to drop into the bottle. This way you don't get any oil on lower suspension members.

The pain drain plug is a 17mm IIRC and it is within reach without jacking up the van either. Easy job.

I think the honda 3.5 will go indefinitely on PZYB changed at 5-6k interval or according to the OLM. Our old TL did this and still had original power, fuel economy and great UOA's when we traded it on our Odyssey at 75k miles. We're in a pretty severe service climate in winter too. Plenty of cold starts at -30C mixed with extended idling and short trips.

I understand the desire to use synthetic on a much loved and expensive new vehicle, but UOA's have showed me that for sub 7k miles intervals, good old PZYB does very well. Check Bill in Utah's posts in the UOA section for back up.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
My dads Honda powered Vue (same 3.5l V6) loves pretty well any 5w-20.

Best MPG seems to be with Pennzoil 5w-20 YB or Castrol 5w-20 GTX.

He follows the OLM and it seems to be around 6-7k.

Supertech ST7317 or Fram filters. Very hard to get off at times until I got a good end cap wrench.

Here is a photo of the oil filler around 80k.

img0020js0.jpg


Of course, it does not show all the deposits on the rings that people are worried about...
smirk2.gif
LOL.gif



Also WATCH the wording on the extended warranties, they sometimes CHANGE the OCI to something real low. My Dad had one that he HAD to get the oil changed at the dealership every 3,000 miles or 3 months. Lucky for him we had a 30 days money back on it.

He took it back... Never needed it. (this was on his 1989 VW Jetta)

Take care, Bill


You better autoRX that thing right away!
LOL.gif


That's how my 3.2 looks after 74,000 miles. It looks like someone poured clean oil on a never-started engine.
 
Originally Posted By: BrianWC
I never thought I would ask the dreaded question "What kind of oil for my??" But buying two 5W20 spec cars in three months at opposite ends of the displacement spectrum has my head spinning. I haven't run 20 weight in my CR-V in years but since I got extended warrenties on both the new cars, I figured I better play by the rules.

Are PP and M1 20 weights the best mainstream synths out there that everyone is using? I'm of mind to just run dino, the 3.5l seems pretty easy on oil, but...seeing as Supertech will reduce my credit score....
I imagine that this engine is similar to the 3.0 V6 in my '03 Accord. I've used a number of synthetics and keep a spreadsheet of my gas mileage. I can say without question that the highest average mpg I've observed is with Quaker State QTorque / Q Horsepower synthetic.

Btw I have tried Syntec, M1, Pennzoil Platinum, and MC 5W-20 Synblend in this car. I noticed no difference with any of those motor oils except that the engine was a bit louder with M1.
 
Originally Posted By: Carzzz
anyone tried 5W-30 in the Honda J30/32/35 engine V6 (03+)? How's the result?


Yes, I used Exxon Superflo 5w30 but I only had the car('04 TL) for just over 1 year before a Ford Explorer totalled it. So I can't tell you what the long term results but for that time frame any 5w30 oil would have been fine. It ran fine but that is too short a time frame to come to any conclusions.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Carzzz
anyone tried 5W-30 in the Honda J30/32/35 engine V6 (03+)? How's the result?


I've had my J32 on a 0w-30, 5w-30, and a now a straight 30 and there's basically no difference in performance or "feel" of the car. I don't bother with UOAs because I don't think they're valid for determining wear and I never go past 5,000 miles anyway. So far so good with the majority of the car's 74,000 miles on the straight 30 year round. With the straight 30, the valvetrain is completely silent with the only noise being the injectors.
 
I used a heavy weight 0w-30 HDEO (XD-3) in my wife's 3.2TL. The UOA was really very good. Terry Dyson told me to stop using it because there was too much phosphorus (an HDEO issue). The weight was not a problem. There was a very good UOA on a 5w-40 in a honda 3.0L v6 a number of years ago.

These engines are spec'd for up to 5w-40 in other parts of the world if I can believe what others have said here on BITOG. Incidentally, I find this quite believable.
 
Originally Posted By: Jim 5
I used a heavy weight 0w-30 HDEO (XD-3) in my wife's 3.2TL. The UOA was really very good. Terry Dyson told me to stop using it because there was too much phosphorus (an HDEO issue). The weight was not a problem. There was a very good UOA on a 5w-40 in a honda 3.0L v6 a number of years ago.

These engines are spec'd for up to 5w-40 in other parts of the world if I can believe what others have said here on BITOG. Incidentally, I find this quite believable.


Interesting. Was this just because of potential convertor poisoning or something else?
 
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