Oil for a 2003 Acura 3.2 TL Base J32A1 ??

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Originally Posted By: bourne
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
First welcome to BITOG!
Considering how you drive your vehicle the selection is easy.
First choice is SynPower 0W-20.
Second choice is Durablend 0W-20.


Thanks Caterham ! Among 0w20s is synpower a good formulation ? I understand 0w20 "flows" better , but what about the protection during summer months ? I wasnt a big fan of the NOACK scores of Durablend 0w20 , 5w20 seems more stable. Am I wrong ??

BTW I liked the the PDS info spread sheet; very cool.

NOACK is not really much of an issue in 20wt applications since the oil temp's are so well contained.
The 5W-20 is basically a dino oil grade that's unique to NA. It really makes little sense to buy a 5W-20 syn' oil since you're gaining little over a 5W-20 dino.

The key to cold start performance (and during the entire warming up period) is choosing an oil with a high VI. That's the sole reason the Japanese OEMs have adopted the 0W-20 grade.
The leader in this area is Toyota and their 0W-20 has a 216 VI.
The Valvoline SynPower's VI of 169 is slightly below average for the grade and is lower than the CoP made Honda 0W-20 with it's 177 VI. (As a point of interest Honda/Acura Canada uses the Idemitsu made 0W-20 with a 200 VI.) SynPower will be about 10% heavier at 0C than the CoP made Honda 0W-20; not a big deal, but it's almost 40% heavier than the Toyota 0W-20 at the same temperature. Even at room temperature it's more than 25% heavier.
 
lol thank you .......... yea i figured if i was going to ask u guys for input id at least give u some info to work with. 24 in monitor FTW !!!!!

Is Toyota 0w20 being made by XOM , and if yes , then how does 0w20 M1 AFE compare to it ?
 
lol nice ! Thanks ! Funny , I live in Indianapolis as well. Guess Im trying Synpower 0W20 next . Will wait for a couple of oci and then get a UOA done when OLM goes off and go from there. Hopefully Ashland makes a future effort to improve their VI as more 0w20 spec'd cars go into production.

Slightly OT , should I worry about investing in P1 oil filters or are Carquest Red filters pretty decent for a 5k ~ 6k oci ?
 
I know that this is not on your list but in my 01, I use the edge with titanium or mobil 1 EP.

I run 10000k Ovid. The real problem with these cars is the transmissions..
 
hey thats what I have in my car right now ! Syntec with titanium. Good stuff, just tired of having to shop around all the time. This way the car gets inspected too. I do a lot of city driving , hence why I dont want to go really long on my oci yet.

And yes I agree , bought it used with 74k , tranny fix done according to acura. Had to get a new trans at 85k. Made Acura pay 90% , I covered 10% . Got a 3 year/36000 mile warranty with it since I covered some of the cost.
 
Assume you mean automatic trannies.

Apart from my '67 Mustang which had an auto, and yes, I had to replace once, every car I've had has been manual stick shift and I've never had to do anything.

Getting increasingly hard to find, though.
 
Originally Posted By: vintageant
Assume you mean automatic trannies.

Apart from my '67 Mustang which had an auto, and yes, I had to replace once, every car I've had has been manual stick shift and I've never had to do anything.

Getting increasingly hard to find, though.


Totally agree... manual transmissions are the best. In fairness, though, there are some GREAT automatic transmissions out there that will last a long, long time. In the Acura TL's in that second generation, that was not the case. Acura must have used Play Dough instead of metal.
 
Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Originally Posted By: vintageant
Assume you mean automatic trannies.

Apart from my '67 Mustang which had an auto, and yes, I had to replace once, every car I've had has been manual stick shift and I've never had to do anything.

Getting increasingly hard to find, though.


Totally agree... manual transmissions are the best. In fairness, though, there are some GREAT automatic transmissions out there that will last a long, long time. In the Acura TL's in that second generation, that was not the case. Acura must have used Play Dough instead of metal.


LOL yea I agree ! My 1997 Nissan 4 speed auto still worked just fine at 227k miles when I traded it in. No service on the tranny while I had it since 94k ( I know , [censored] of me , but I was poor as [censored] lol ! )

My new tranny seems to be shifting fine. But yea long run will be the true test. I almost wanna put a magnefine on after the warranty expires and do a full flush with Maxlife and add lubegaurd red.
 
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